2024 Summer Olympics
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All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. The Paris Olympics are here, and fans worldwide are showing their support for Team USA. Among them, the ever-stylish Lady Gaga […]
Taylor Swiftâs live version of ââŠReady for It?â from The Eras Tour is the soundtrack to a new NBC commercial promoting the networkâs coverage of the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Swift shared the ad Saturday night (July 27) on Instagram, following her concert at Olympiastadion in Munich, Germany, where sheâs performing twice this weekend.
âSo ready to scream at my tv cheering for these athletes,â she wrote in an Instagram Story, adding a gold medal emoji to her comment while sharing a reel of the ââŠReady for It?â promo.
âBaby Let The Games Begin. #WeAreReadyForIt, @taylorswift. Primetime in Paris: 8/7c on NBC and Peacock #ParisOlympics,â the official NBC Olympics account wrote about the ad themed to Swiftâs bold Reputation album opener.
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The spot features U.S. Olympic stars including Noah Lyles, LeBron James, Carissa Moore, Jagger Eaton and more, with Simone Biles appearing at the end of the ad for the 2024 Olympics on NBC.
âAre you guys ready for it?â the famed gymnast asks with a big grin.
The 2024 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony featured performances from Lady Gaga and Celine Dion, as well as a pre-recorded cameo from BeyoncĂ©, who introduced Team USA in Fridayâs primetime coverage.
âWeâve got superstars and weâve got legends. Weâve got big dreamers who fought their whole lives to get here. Who gave up everything for one shot, and made it. That pride and that joy? Thatâs what gets me about this team. And thatâs what makes me believe in this team,â Beyonce, in a red, white and blue leotard, announced in the clip, which featured a patriotic rendition of Cowboy Carter track âYA YA.â
Find all the details about how to stream the 2024 Olympics here.
Check out NBCâs ââŠReady for It?â Olympics commercial, and Swiftâs Instagram Story reaction.
Kelly Clarkson was fighting back tears following Celine Dionâs magical performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
During the gamesâ opening ceremony on Friday (July 26), the iconic chanteuse, 56, delivered an emotional rendition of Ădith Piafâs âHymne A LâAmourâ from the Eiffel Tower.
Dionâs jaw-dropping performance of the 1950s track, which translates to âThe Hymn of Love,â marked her first live appearance since canceling North American concerts before revealing her battle with Stiff Person Syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that causes severe muscle spasms.
The moving delivery was emotionally overwhelming for Clarkson, who was covering the event as part of an NBC broadcasting team consisting of Mike Tirico and Peyton Manning.
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âIâve been inspired, Iâve been dancing, I was not ready for that ending,â Clarkson said, beginning to get choked up. âIf you know anything about Celine right now, she feels this is her purpose ⊠and if you know anything about what sheâs going through right now â Iâm so sorry, Iâm trying to hold it together right now. But then she got through that. That was incredible. In my field, she is the gold winner for vocal athletes.â
Dion previously seeded hope for her return to the stage in her recent Prime Video doc I Am: Celine Dion, in which she said of her determination to perform again: âIf I canât run, Iâll walk. If I canât walk, Iâll crawl⊠I wonât stop.â She was also spotted earlier this week greeting fans in Paris outside Royal Monceau hotel near the Champs-ĂlysĂ©es.
Elsewhere in Fridayâs ceremony, the Olympic cauldron was lit following a months-long torch relay, in which Snoop Dogg, BTSâ Jin and Pharrell Williams participated. Earlier in the day, Lady Gaga took the stage to perform a cabaret-style rendition of the French-language âMon Truc en Plumeâ (âMy Thing With Feathersâ) in a minutes-long, highly choreographed routine.
Watch Clarksonâs emotional reaction to Dionâs Olympics performance via TMZ here.
Beyonce is helping kick off the 2024 Paris Olympics. On Friday (July 26), the superstar singer surprised viewers by introducing Team USA in an epic pre-recorded video that aired during NBCUniversalâs primetime coverage of the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony. âWeâve got superstars and weâve got legends. Weâve got big dreamers who fought their whole lives […]
Exactly one new sport will make its debut at the Paris Olympics: breaking, an evolution of the phenomenon of B-Boys whirling and spinning in the Bronx during the early days of hip-hop breakdancing in the â70s and â80s. Itâs a complicated, difficult sport, and star athletes such as Canadaâs Phil Wizard train to move just about every part of their bodies, improvising instantly to tracks and beats they have no idea are coming. âWe were more culture, now weâre sports,â says Victor Montalvo, 30, one of the U.S. breaking teamâs four members, by phone from Philadelphia, a few days before departing for Paris. âBreaking has evolved. Itâs way different now.â
The breaking events, which kick off Aug. 9, involve one-on-one battles during which hip-hop DJs provide the beats and competitors take 60-second turns known as âthrow downs.â They choose from three broad categories of moves: âtop rock,â or standing dances; âfreeze,â a halted position on heads or hands; and âdown rock,â or flashy, acrobatic spins. In a competition last year, Jeffrey âB-Boy Jeffroâ Louis, 29, now on the U.S. team, repeatedly twirled his body while upside-down, feet in the air â balancing himself alternately on his head, upper back and a single forearm.
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âHis style is super-musical. He goes off feeling. He has a lot of character, showmanship, stage presence,â Montalvo says of his teammate. âHe just brings it all to life.â
Breaking, the sport, took off in the early 2000s when Red Bull sponsored events such as Lords of the Floor, treating the competition not like an old-school throwback but a series of hyped-up wrestling or boxing matches. Back then, Montalvo was learning his moves on his driveway with a cousin, and Louisâ older brother, Kenny, was teaching him and another brother, Pierry, how to do it. Today, theyâre two of the 16 B-Boys and 16 B-Girls who will battle for Olympic gold. They spoke with Billboard in separate interviews a week before todayâs opening ceremony.
Jeffrey âB-Boy Jeffroâ Louis
How familiar are you with the competition? Are you scouting?Â
Weâve been competing against these guys from the beginning of 2022, so weâre pretty much familiar with everybody. We know what everybodyâs going to throw out and what theyâre going to do. But everybody has a strategy, and weâre trying to strategize based on their strategy. Itâs like a game of chess. At the end of the day, I know my moves. The judges might see my moves falling in a different category than what I believe my moves fall in â so youâre trying to understand the judging system, but youâre also trying to understand where you fall in that judging system, and analyzing your strengths and weaknesses within that judging system. Itâs maintenance work right now.
What do you mean by maintenance?Â
Strength and conditioning. Doing physical therapy on my groin, because I had an injury a couple years ago, so Iâm just trying to make sure I donât strain it or injure myself. A lot of breakers are getting hurt because theyâre overtraining and pushing themselves. Itâs just getting into that mindset of donât overdo it.
How does physical preparation for breaking compare to a traditional sport?Â
Everybody has their own style, so you want to train the way your dancing is performed. Some people live on their hands. They can walk, flip, spin â and stay on their hands the whole time. Iâm more of a grounded person, so my trainingâs going to be different. I train through my fitness program, FitBreak, where I take breaking moves and combine it with traditional exercises.
How much do you study old-school hip-hop breakdancing?
I have to study everybody. If youâre involved in breaking, you have to go back. You have to know the history. There are a lot of moves back then that are not used right now. People might see it as âtheyâre basic,â but when you havenât seen something in forever, and something reappears, people say, âThatâs a classic move.â
Will your brothers be in Paris?Â
Theyâre part of my crew. Both arenât able to make it, but one of them is â Sweet P. Thatâs [Pierryâs] breaker name. He was with me at the last qualifier in Budapest. He was there when I qualified to make the Olympics, and just having him there was such a boost. My personality shined more, my character shined, my mindset, feeling like I didnât have to prove myself.
Any opponents youâre especially focused on?Â
Everybodyâs high level. One person I would love to met in the competition would be Phil Wizard. Everybodyâs saying this is the guy to beat. And my friend, Dany Dann, heâs from France, we just have one of the most natural connections whenever we battle.
What is your battle plan?Â
When I try to think of moves, it hinders my style. Going back to the beginning of how I started dancing â why I fell in love with breaking â itâs that freedom of movement. My goal in Paris is to get into that traditional Jeffro style of just moving and listening and connecting. When Iâm that free, Iâm unstoppable.
Itâs like youâre describing a jazz musician improvising.Â
Yeah. You have to be able to connect with your whole surrounding, whether itâs the floor, the music, the DJs on set, the crowd. Because if youâre not, you can tell, thereâs some unbalanced factor in your dancing. You have to have a conversation with your opponent through moves, and if youâre not doing that, then youâre just showcasing.
Victor Montalvo
How are you training for the Olympics?
For now, Iâm simulating the battles. Iâm doing a lot of breaking interval training, which requires 30-to-40-second rounds and 30-second rest.
Which competitors are you thinking about as youâre prepping?
Thereâs been a couple athletes that are in the same bracket as me, so I have to watch out for them. Iâm just worrying about myself for now â bettering my style and moves and concepts.
How surprised have you been that breaking turned into an Olympic sport?
I feel like the whole community was shocked. We did not expect it. This was out of our heads. It was really cool, like, âThis is a new goal we can achieve.â Weâre stepping into the sports world. Weâve never had that opportunity to show the dance, and now we do. Itâs really cool to see the positive reactions and the support weâre getting. There are a lot of people supporting me who havenât seen breaking â or havenât seen it since the â80s.
Which members of your family are coming to Paris to watch you compete?
I have my cousin. He was the one who taught me breaking â my first ever power move, which was the windmill. From there, it never stopped. Heâs coming to the event. Heâs not going to be in Paris the entire time. Heâs going to be there for my event, then heading back to the U.S.
Where do you get inspiration for your moves?
You see someone you look up to and you create your own path. Itâs all about taking, but recreating. Most of the moves weâre doing are from tribal dances, martial arts. Itâs a melting pot of inspirations.
What do you want viewers to know about this new Olympic sport?
We canât repeat in our competition. Letâs say in figure skating, you have a full routine that you have to practice, and itâs like two minutes. In breaking, we have 15 full routines, 15 signatures that we rehearse, and we canât repeat them. So once you do that one signature, you canât repeat it the entire event. Because you get points taken off, youâve always got to come up with new things each round. Itâs all based off of improvising and adapting in the moment. You never know whatâs going to happen.
How challenging is it to train for this type of improvisation?Â
Even with your moves rehearsed, youâve got to have your moves in your head. You might forget [during] the third round, so youâve got to adapt. Itâs all like a mind game.
That sounds tough.
Itâs just competing. Iâve been doing it for so many years â Iâve been competing internationally for 12 years, but in total, Iâve been competing for 18 years â and you just start understanding the formula and start having this muscle memory from all the dancing youâre doing. It comes alive without even thinking. It comes out of nowhere, like your body knows what to do.
07/25/2024
The Ădith Piaf classic is one of the most famous songs ever to come out of France.
07/25/2024
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
The 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony is almost here! The opening ceremony will kick off on Friday (July 26) and the games will conclude on Sunday, August 11, with events taking place in Paris along the Seine River. The ceremony will be airing live exclusively on NBC and Telemundo for Spanish-speaking audiences. It will also be available for streaming on Peacock.
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If you need more incentive to watch the ceremony, Lady Gaga is set to perform. Thereâs speculation that Gaga will perform a duet of  Ădith Piafâs classic âLa Vie en Roseâ with Celine Dion â both have been spotted in Paris, according to Harpers Bazaar. Dion also took to Instagram and posted on July 24, âEvery time I return to Paris, I remember thereâs so much beauty and joy still to experience in the world. I love Paris, and Iâm so happy to be back! Thank you to our wonderful friends at The Louvre!â Other rumored performers include French singer Aya Nakamura, Dua Lipa, and Ariana Grande.
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Donât fret, if they canât make it, youâll be sure to spot your favorite athletes in Paris. Basketball player LeBron James and Tennis player Coco Gauff are set to serve as the two U.S flag bearers.
Keep reading for details on how to watch and stream the 2024 Summer Olympics.
How to Watch the 2024 Summer Olympics
The 2024 Olympics Opening Ceremony will air live on NBC. You can stream on Peacock, DirecTV Stream, Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV, and FuboTV.
Peacock subscriptions start at $7.99 for Peacock Premium is and $13.99 for the commercial-free Peacock Premium Plus. Peacock also offers a student discount which drops the price down to just $1.99/month.
DirecTV Stream is giving new users a five-day free trial when you sign up for one of the four packages offered. Every package includes streaming access to local channels like NBC.
For those looking for another alternative, you might also want to consider getting Hulu + Live TV. Itâll give you access to the entire Hulu library in addition to more than 95 live TV channels â including NBC for just $77/month.
You can also stream the 2024 Summer Olympic Games on Sling TV. Sling Blue is $45 per month, and it includes a total of 46 channels: NBC, ABC, Fox, and additional news and entertainment channels.
Unfamiliar with FuboTV? If youâve been looking for live television for a good price, check out Fubo. Subscribers can stream hundreds of cable, network and sports channels with Fuboâs Pro package which is $74.99 a month for 192 channels such as NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, TLC, AMC, MSNBC, ESPN, FS1 and Nickelodeon.
2024 Summer Olympics Schedule
Mark your calendars for the opening ceremony on July 26. Browse the timeline of events below, and for the complete schedule, click here.
Opening & Closing Ceremonies July 26, Aug. 11
3Ă3 Basketball July 30-Aug. 5
Archery July 25-Aug. 4
Artistic Gymnastics July 27-Aug. 5
Artistic Swimming Aug. 5-10
Athletics Aug. 1-11
Badminton July 27-Aug. 5
Basketball July 27-Aug. 10
Beach Volleyball July 27-Aug. 10
Boxing July 27-Aug. 10
Breaking Aug. 9-10
Canoe Slalom July 27-Aug. 5
Canoe Spring Aug. 6-10
Cycling BMXÂ July 30-Aug. 2
Cycling Mountain Bike July 28-29
Cycling Road July 27, Aug. 2-3
Cycling Track Aug. 6-11
Diving July 27, 29, 31; Aug. 2, 4-10
Equestrian July 27-Aug. 6
Fencing July 27-Aug. 4
Football (Soccer)Â July 24-Aug. 10
Golf Aug. 1-4, 7-10
Handball July 25-Aug. 11
Hockey July 27-Aug. 9
Judo July 27-Aug. 3
Marathon Swimming Aug. 8-9
Modern Pentahtlon Aug. 8-11
Rhythmic Gymnastics Aug. 8-10
Rowing July 27-Aug. 3
Rugby Sevens Jul 24-30
Sailing July 29-Aug. 7
Shooting July 27-Aug. 5
Skateboarding July 27-28, Aug. 6-7
Sport Climbing Aug. 5-10
Swimming July 27-Aug. 4
Table Tennis July 27-Aug. 10
Takewondo Aug. 7-10
Trampoline Gymnastics Aug. 2
Triathlon July 30-31, Aug. 4
Volleyball July 27-Aug. 11
Water Polo July 27-Aug. 11
Weightlifting Aug. 7-11
Wrestling Aug. 5-11
Coca-Cola has worked with the International Olympic Committee for nearly a century, but for the first time in their 96-year relationship, the brand and the producers of the Olympic games have collaborated on a song that both organizations will use beyond the Paris 2024 Olympics, which start tomorrow (July 26).
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The upbeat, unifying âHello World,â written by Ryan Tedder with additional lyrics by Anderson.Paak and performed by Gwen Stefani and .Paak, was released by digital service providers around the world on Thursday (July 25). The video, available on the International Olympic Committeeâs YouTube channel, features the two artists dancing in front of the iconic five Olympic rings, interspersed with electrifying footage from past Summer Olympics.Â
The song and video will be featured throughout the Games as the International Olympic Committee and the Coca-Cola Company will leverage the song across their marketing and communications programming during the two-week Paris competition, with the intention to use it in future Olympics Games as well.
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Instead of picking a specific artist or licensing an existing song for the project, Josh Burke, global head of music and culture marketing at the Coca-Cola Company, and Brian Monaco, Sony Music Publishingâs president/global marketing officer, met over dinner to discuss broader concepts.Â
âWe were brainstorming ways to work more closely together, and I pitched the idea of creating an original song for the Olympics,â says Monaco. âWe chatted over the next few weeks and decided to test out some demos to share with the Coca-Cola team and the International Olympic Committee. I called Ryan Tedder because he is an amazing songwriter and he and I have a solid track record working with some of the worldâs top brands. We immediately started hashing out concepts for the song.â
The creative brief for Tedder was simple. âWe wanted a song with broad appeal that would resonate worldwide, an uplifting and bright song that would inspire everyday greatness among athletes and music fans,â Burke says. âIt was also important to us that we wouldnât try to create a âbrandâ song or âjingleâ, and weâd have to give up some control, which is very difficult to do! We trusted Ryan and the process and thatâs how âHello Worldâ was born.â Tedder has worked with Coca-Cola previously, including on Spriteâs Limelight 2023 program.Â
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âItâs not every day that youâre given the opportunity to write an official song in celebration of the Olympic Games, and I am grateful to be part of such an incredible collaboration,â Tedder tells Billboard. âThe Games are an important way for all of us to come together and celebrate each other globally, and we wrote this song with that in mind. I grew up watching every Olympics since childhood, so this is a lifelong dream. I hope this song inspires and uplifts. Â Iâm excited to share âHello Worldâ with all of you, and I want to thank Brian Monaco, and the teams at Coca-Cola and IOC, for their partnership and support.â
Once Tedder finished the song, the search for the right artists began, landing on Stefani and .Paak, both of whom are repped by Full Stop Management. âGwen & Andersonâs energy together is undeniable, and both have these incredibly unique and iconic voices that were a perfect blend this global track,â Burke says. â We also loved that this was the first time Ryan, Gwen and Anderson have collaborated, and the story of two very different artists coming together is a nice nod to Cokeâs legacy in music and the spirit of the Olympic Games.â
Coca-Cola and IOC worked hand in hand on the project. âThe IOC were our partners every step of the way, from concept to execution, and they were incredible collaborators in this process,â Burke says. âBeyond the Olympic rings, the footage is from their archives and also features several athletes that Coca-Cola is collaborating with for our broader Olympic brand activity for Paris 2024.â
Coca-Cola has an existing partnership with Universal Music Group and worked with UMGâs Interscope Records, Stefaniâs label home, to release the song. âIt was crucial that we treated this release in the most authentic way possible,â Burke says. âAnd with the same care as any major single.â
Going forward, Sony Music Publishing will administer the majority of the song globally (.Paakâs portion is handled by Warner Chappell) and work with Coca-Cola and the IOC on future projects.
For .Paak, blending their different genres to create something âwas the real magic of creating with Gwen and Ryan on our new song,â he said in a statement. âWhile we hope the song becomes an instant hit and gives listeners worldwide a new sound to groove to, we also hope to inspire fans and athletes to embrace the differences that make them unique as we celebrate the excitement of the Olympic Games.â
Franceâs acting sports minister AmĂ©lie OudĂ©a-CastĂ©ra has set the Olympic rumor mill alight after he cryptically hinted that CĂ©line Dion and Lady Gaga will perform a duet at the Paris 2024 Olympic opening ceremony. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news According to French journalist Thierry Moreau, who posted […]
There are plenty of songs you could pick to get pumped up for your one big moment. But if you only have one shot at an opportunity that comes once in a lifetime, there is only one that guarantees that you will own it and never let it go: Eminemâs iconic Oscar-winning 2002 8 Mile […]