Mike Tirico discusses the 2024 Paris Olympics

well joining me now from Paris France is the one and only Mike too Mike I appreciate you making the time you're a busy man you're hosting both daytime coverage and NBC's prime time in Paris so I want to start with what it's like to be in that role how do you balance your day and and how do you prepare uh I think it's all of us who work the Olympics we don't sleep much these 17 days but uh you want to get up because if you sleep you miss some great event some record setting performance some performance of a lifetime the there's an adrenaline rush in it excitement and enthusiasm to the Olympics I think we've all worked on projects whether they are presentations or an event that you're trying to pull together in your community that you sacrifice sleep for success and this is one for the people who are involved in this and from our research team to our producers to our technicians everybody's in the same boat uh a little bit of sleep uh a lot of laps on coffee along the way and it's an honor really to be bringing the Olympics home to the folks back in the US and that keeps us going on a regular basis yeah and still plenty more to come we're officially in week two of the Paris Olympics there's been so many wonderful magical moments surprise moments that remind us just how special the Olympics are what has been a favorite moment of yours or or even like the biggest surprise where you're like wow I can't believe I just witnessed that well my biggest surprise is how smoothly it has gone to this point you know we're talking about a massive undertaking obviously the it's the largest peacetime Gathering you have in the world really if you think about it people from over 200 countries and delegations coming together in the spirit name of sport and competition but to do it across Paris that opening ceremony a lot of us were wondering how are they going to pull this off well they pulled it off may have been some controversy along the way there was a lot of rain but they pulled off an opening ceremony not in a stadium but through one of the greatest cities in the world that's remarkable to think about and the way that the parisians have welcomed this and celebrated this every day it feels like there's more passion more connection with the people who live here and uh I'll remember big performances by Simone biles and Katie Lei and all those folks the great teams we've seen from the US and other countries performing at their best but if you ask me with four or five days left what's the one thing that you think will be the takea away from these games it'll be Paris uh the way this city has made this Olympics come to life at the time the Olympic Games needed it I think it's been just a perfect connection of city and timing for the Olympics to keep the Olympic spirit going as we get to ready to host a home Olympics in Los Angeles in four years yeah well since you're there experiencing it firsthand and you said Paris has really done a great job keeping that Olympic Spirit Alive what do you think La can take away from this time around at the Olympics that they can maybe Implement when when it comes to 2028 you know those long legal pads when you start making a list and there's a lot of things on the list I think they've got a long one now what they've seen uh Paris do in terms of connecting with the athletes and the city being a part of but LA's got great plans as well no I think it's the love of sport in America uh people going to come from all over the country we have not had a summer games in the US in over 30 years so for a lot of folks they are not old enough to remember the Olympics being in their country and that passion and there's also always a home nation bump where if you are the host nation it seems like your athletes perform their best and I was speaking with a discus thrower from the United States and she shared with me that as she was watching a French woman compete during these games she had a little of bit of an inspiration to come back and do it again in four years because she saw the energy of being and participating in the home Olympics and I think that tells you what LA and America can bring so uh these are athletes if they're striving to get to the Olympics and their neighbors of yours North Carolina get behind them support them and help them live their dream because one of them could be a HomeTown hero in four years and make America proud all the way across the country yeah absolutely so if you're putting money on it you're saying maybe some folks who would consider retiring that compete for Team USA are going to hold out and say I'm going to go one more go round 2028 in La I want to compete on home turf there's there's no doubt in my mind that's the case now can they physically I don't know will they be able to they don't know but I bet you there are going to be people who if this Olympics was held in Brisbane Australia where the 2032 Olympics going to be probably would say okay that's the end of the run I've given enough to this sport but a lot of folks are going try to hang out for one more because talk to any athlete who competed in La 84 or Atlanta 96 or in the winter game Salt Lake in 2002 or they classed in 1980 and they'll tell you there's nothing like winning medals winning a gold medal in your country so I think we're going to see a lot of folks try to hang on for a little bit Yeah certainly looking forward to that and before we wrap up I do want to ask because part of the coverage that NBC has been giving us is some entertainment as well right bringing in some special guests or you have some new co-host but what's it been like to have folks like Snoop Dogg next to you doing his own version of calling highlights yeah you know it's it's every day in my life that I walk around the corner and Martha Stewart's on the couch next to me or Snoop or the folks from Saturday Night Live it's it's certainly been a little different for us but I think it's been fun you know the Olympics appealed to everyone from 9 to 79 and Beyond uh you get little kids watching with their grandparents so it's summertime maybe you have folks who are visiting their families and they're at a beach house or they're somewhere spending summer together because of school vacations and they can watch the Olympics together well you know we're giving you a little bit of uh that broad spectrum with the people who are talking about it and what we found is they all love the Olympics like all the celebrities who come here or the people like Martha and Snoop who you mentioned before they're Olympic fans it's genuine it's real and to see people who we know are some of the most famous and recognizable people in American pop culture have this true genuine love for the Olympics and the Olympians I think it gives the Olympic movement a boost but it also lets everybody at home know hey this is sports it's competition but it also appeals to more people perhaps than even an NFL game or an NBA game so that that's been the fun for us and we're glad that they've connected and you know hanging with snoop's pretty cool I'm sure it is we appreciate your time we appreciate getting to hang with you and and you're joining us from Paris looking forward to the rest of your coverage and the rest of the games Mike that's kind thank you so much great to visit with you