Gold, Silver, And Bronze For NC State University Athletes In The Olympics

I love sports. Especially college athletics. And that allegiance for me translates into the professional world. Watching an NFL game and I don't have a "team" in the game. Hopefully, my alma mater will have an athlete on the team for whom I can cheer. (Luckily this is often the case!) And while I've been glued to the Olympics cheering for Team USA, I've loved getting to cheer on several NC State University athletes in the Olympics!

And that cheering has been rewarding for sure! So far NC State University Athletes in the Olympics have taken home gold, silver, and bronze medals.

Decorated swimmer Katharine Berkoff leads the Pack with two medals for Team USA in Paris. Berkoff was dominant at NC State (a 5x National Champion). Individually she took home the Bronze Medal in the women's 100m backstroke race. She also was a part of the Gold Medal-winning Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay.

The ACC overall has had a very successful Olympics (though the conference is claiming schools that just joined and athletes who have never competed as a member of the ACC which I won't "claim"). You can view a full running list of the ACC medals won in Paris here.

Summer Olympics 2024 is officially in full swing in Paris following an Opening Ceremony for the ages.

Seriously, this Opening Ceremony had something for everyone, and get ready for us to do our best Stefon:

-Can-Can dancers.
-Lady Gaga.
-A surprising sub-plot in the overall ceremony's narrative that involved a ménage à trois.
-References to the beheading of Marie Antionette, which led into a performance from French metal band Gojira.

-A buttload of rain.
-Priceless artwork from the Louvre coming to life.
-A silver horse galloping across the Seine in majestic glory.

-A catwalk from out of nowhere highlighting France's club scene and the country's influence on fashion.
-A brief performance from Les Misérables.

And then, as if things couldn't get any more over-the-top, Celine Dion delivers a stunning performance of Edith Piaf's "Hymne A L'Amour" from inside of the Eifle Tower. The legendary singer has been battling stiff-person syndrome, which is a condition that impacts the central nervous system. This condition has affected Dion's ability to sing. She revealed her diagnosis in December 2022, stopped performing and made very few public appearances while she sought treatment to return to performing.

Even once the Olympic cauldron is extinguished, people will still be talking about this triumphant moment.

Now that we've gone through all of our tissues from happy-crying about Celine, it's time to get down to business and talk about the athletes.

This 2024 Opening Ceremony was very unique for the above reasons, but also because it saw the Parade of Nations actually make their way down the Seine in boats of all sizes. Some small countries had a small boat to themselves. Oftentimes, there were multiple countries sharing a boat, while countries with large delegations had massive boats just for their athletes.

Regardless of boat size, pretty much every athlete got drenched by the pouring rain throughout the entire Opening Ceremony. However, the rain didn't seem to dampen the moods of the athletes. In fact, Kelly Clarkson commented, "Everyone is killing that wet look. Just sayin’!"

Now, because of the rain, this led to many of the athletes to wear clear plastic rain ponchos over their Opening Ceremony outfits, which had to be a bit of a bummer. (It certainly got in the way of checking out all of the various team outfits.) However, this also made us take a closer look at the fashion choices of each nation, and it's led to our very serious (wink-wink) assessment of the best and worst fashion choices from the Summer Olympics 2024 Opening Ceremony. Enjoy!