Current:Home > reviewsSnoop Dogg at the Olympics: Swimming with Michael Phelps (and a bet with Russell Crowe) -FundSphere
Snoop Dogg at the Olympics: Swimming with Michael Phelps (and a bet with Russell Crowe)
View
Date:2025-04-28 00:02:19
Snoop Dogg has some skin in the (Olympic) games as a special correspondent for NBC's coverage of the 2024 Paris competition.
The rapper, 52, and "Gladiator" star Russell Crowe have thrown down on a bet over the growing rivalry between the U.S. and Australian swimming teams. Are you not entertained?
"Me and Russell Crowe have a little wager. USA all the way, baby!" Snoop Dogg said during a media conference call Wednesday with NBC's Olympics executive producer Molly Solomon and "Primetime in Paris" host Mike Tirico.
The swimming events help officially kick off the Paris games Friday with qualifying heats on the same day as the opening ceremony.
Snoop Dogg at the Olympics?Paris Summer Olympics chief predicts 'getting promoted or fired' over rapper's role
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
"The USA-Australia rivalry is one of the fiercest of the games," said Solomon. "We can't wait to see what happens on night one in swimming."
NBC's primetime, tape-delayed coverage of swimming features Snoop Dogg meeting the U.S. swimming team along with the superhero swimmer he calls "Aquaman" — 28-time Olympic medal-winner and NBC contributor Michael Phelps.
"You may know him as Aquaman. But people call him Michael Phelps. And me and Michael Phelps have a session in the pool where I may learn how to do the 25-meter (swim)," said Snoop Dogg. "I'm an athlete. So one thing about me is, when I'm around these Olympians, I feel like I'm just as good as them."
In his first Olympics gig, Snoop Dogg will meet athletes and their families and visit sites around Paris.
Fellow rapper Flavor Flav also has an official rolesponsoring the women's water polo team. "That's my homeboy. He's handling that, making sure they're underwater boogeying," said Snoop Dogg. "We're gonna spread ourselves around and make sure every section of the Olympics has attention. I'll be handling volleyball to weight lifting. We don't want to leave nobody behind. Because this is a hell of an experience for people who've been waiting for years to get here. We're just here to cover."
Snoop Dogg said he was born (as Calvin Broadus Jr.) prepared for the prestigious gig, but has done his homework.
"My preparation for primetime is being me," he said "People are going to find out I really know the sports, I know the angles, I know the conversation."
Tirico said he won't be jumping into Olympic pools like Snoop Dogg, but he's been impressed with the new TV correspondent's work.
"In all seriousness, spending time around Snoop at the track and field trials and in the build-up, he's so genuine and so real," said Tirico. "Viewers are going to see just a different side of the athletes, the sports and the places he goes."
Other celebrities working on NBC's Olympics coverage include Kelly Clarkson and Peyton Manning, who will host Friday's opening ceremony with Tirico. Jimmy Fallon hosts the Aug. 11 closing ceremony and Leslie Jones provides social coverage.
Snoop Dogg also carries the Olympic torch in the final Paris stretch before the opening ceremony. He recalled how boxing legend Mohammed Ali carried the torch in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
"That's what it feels like to me, my own version of this," he said. "I don't want to get too emotional. But I know this is special. I'm going to put all the energy and resources into love, peace and harmony. Because that's what the Olympics is about. And I feel like that's why they chose me. Because that's what I represent: Peace, love and unity."
Why isn't the men's US basketball dominating? Snoop Dogg knows
Snoop Dogg weighed in on the US men's basketball team's troubles after barely avoiding a huge upset against South Sudan on July 20, and squeaking out a victory against Germany on July 23. The world has changed since the Michael Jordan-led USA "Dream Team" of the 1984 Olympics.
"When the 'Dream Team' was formed. there was probably two players from across the water in the NBA. Now there's 40-something players in the NBA as we speak," he said. "There's so many superstars that aren't from America, that when you put them against America, it's sort of even."
veryGood! (6833)
Related
- Why members of two of EPA's influential science advisory committees were let go
- Delaware Supreme Court says out-of-state convictions don’t bar expungement of in-state offenses
- Hasbro cuts 1,100 jobs, or 20% of its workforce, prompted by the ongoing malaise in the toy business
- Zelenskyy will arrive on Capitol Hill to grim mood as Biden’s aid package for Ukraine risks collapse
- Friday the 13th luck? 13 past Mega Millions jackpot wins in December. See top 10 lottery prizes
- Boeing promotes insider to chief operating officer, putting her in the discussion about the next CEO
- Honey Boo Boo's Anna Chickadee Cardwell Privately Married Eldridge Toney Before Her Death at 29
- Myanmar’s military government says China brokered peace talks to de-escalate fighting in northeast
- This was the average Social Security benefit in 2004, and here's what it is now
- Grinch-themed photo shoots could land you in legal trouble, photographers say: What we know
Ranking
- NFL Week 15 picks straight up and against spread: Bills, Lions put No. 1 seed hopes on line
- Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton working his way into the NBA MVP race
- Raven-Symoné Mourns Death of Brother Blaize Pearman After Colon Cancer Battle
- Bengals QB Joe Burrow gifts suite tickets to family of backup Jake Browning
- Why members of two of EPA's influential science advisory committees were let go
- Iraq scrambles to contain fighting between US troops and Iran-backed groups, fearing Gaza spillover
- Adoptive parents sentenced in starving death of Washington teen
- Second person of interest taken into custody in murder of Detroit synagogue president Samantha Woll
Recommendation
Average rate on 30
Bronze top hat missing from Abraham Lincoln statue in Kentucky
The mother of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán is reported dead in Mexico
Journalists tackle a political what-if: What might a second Trump presidency look like?
Taylor Swift Eras Archive site launches on singer's 35th birthday. What is it?
The best time to see the Geminid meteor shower is this week. Here's how to view.
Air Force disciplines 15 as IG finds that security failures led to massive classified documents leak
Miss Nicaragua pageant director announces her retirement after accusations of ‘conspiracy’