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Laughter and confetti fill the air.
There are gold medals and baguettes, shimmering pompoms and a replica of the Eiffel Tower. But this is not the Olympics.
Not yet, anyway. Instead, it’s Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Al Roker and Craig Melvin gathered in the legendary “Saturday Night Live” studio, which has undergone an Olympic makeover — rings and all — for a photo shoot in honor of the upcoming Games.
Decked out in Team USA attire, as soon as the co-hosts arrive on set, they are poking good-natured fun at one another. As Kool and the Gang spills out from a nearby speaker and the anchors croon “Celebrate good times, come on!” the set of their first-ever TODAY cover shoot feels like a family holiday.
It’s the right song at exactly the right moment, because — just days before all four of the TODAY anchors head to the 2024 Summer Olympics — the moment is a celebration, and the excited energy is palpable.
“It’s really the first time the world is getting together without any restrictions. This is a true, post-pandemic Olympics. It’s behind us, and it’s so thrilling,” Savannah tells TODAY.com before adding, “And it doesn’t hurt that it’s in Paris. Everybody is so excited to be there.”
That includes Hoda, who says, “I think it’s a dose of something we all need, want and are ready for, and it’s going to be amazing. I can already imagine it. I can already see it. And I think it’s going to infuse us with what we need right now.”
After a pause, she adds, “This is the Olympics we’ve been waiting for.”
On set, a producer hands the co-hosts pompoms, prompting them to immediately chant in unison: “U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!” The photo shoot has quickly turned into a pep rally, one the whole world will soon join in on as more than 10,500 athletes from over 200 national Olympic committees will assemble in Paris with a single dream: to bring home the gold.
Along with the athletes, at least 2 million spectators are expected to descend on the City of Light to view the Games, and billions more will be watching at home as NBC and Peacock air the 329 events of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
A veteran of 13 Olympics (and counting), Al believes this year’s Games will be one for the history books.
“It’s kind of the same feeling when we did the Olympics in Athens. To be at the Olympics in Athens, literally the home of the Olympics, was something very special,” he tells TODAY.com. “I think it’s going to be like that in Paris.”
In part, that’s because 2024 marks 100 years since Paris last hosted the Summer Olympics. It’s also because in the years since the 2016 Rio Olympics — the last Summer Games before COVID — the world has become a different place, one affected by political divides and the lingering effects of a global pandemic.
What hasn’t changed, however, is the indomitable Olympic spirit.
From the lighting of the Olympic flame on July 26 to the last flag lowered at the closing ceremony on Aug. 11, the Games will unite cities and nations as they cheer on the world’s best athletes — something Craig says he celebrates not only as a journalist, but also as an American.
“It gives us an opportunity, for about two weeks, to cover something every day, in-depth, that unites us. Something we can all celebrate,” Craig tells TODAY.com.
“We all root for Team USA. There’s no bias to check, because all of our biases are the same. And, so, it’s a fact that this is one of the few things left that truly unites all Americans.”
But at the heart of the Olympics are the athletes and the journeys that have led them to the Games. And all of them have a story to tell about the wins, losses and heartbreak that got them there.
“The Olympics, they’re not sports stories. These aren’t stories about athletes. These are life stories,” says Craig.
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