Under-the-radar storylines for the Paris Olympics

Everyone knows about Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky and Kevin Durant, right? Their feats are legendary and millions of fans will tune in to see those American superstars compete at the Paris Olympics, which begin Friday.

A big part of the Olympics’ charm is in the appeal of lesser-known athletes and obscure sports that blip onto our cultural radar only once every four years.

Add to that the Games’ outsized impact in arenas such as politics and pop culture, and the result is 16 days of did-you-see-that moments, must-read stories about athletes and issues that provoke even casual fans.

Look, LeBron James is going to make news. It’s what he does. But if you want to impress friends and co-workers with your inside knowledge, here is a preview of some of the stories percolating just below the surface.

Happiness is a warm pup

Being an Olympian takes a toll physically and mentally.

Only in recent years have athletes opened up about their struggles with the pressures of representing the hopes and dreams of a nation.

“It just sucks when you’re fighting with your own head. … I have to focus on my mental health and not jeopardize my health and well-being,” gymnast Simone Biles told the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute. “I know I brush it off and make it seem like pressure doesn’t affect me, but sometimes it’s hard.”

During this year’s Olympic trials, USA Gymnastics brought therapy dog Beacon to help Biles and her fellow gymnasts cope with the stress of competition. The 4-year-old pup earned rave reviews.

“Thank God for Beacon,” gold medalist Suni Lee wrote on social media.

“He picks up on the stress and will pull to that person immediately,” Tracey Callahan Molnar, Beacon’s handler, told ESPN. “[Therapy dogs] absorb the stress of the people they’re relieving the stress off of. So even though he might be lying still for two hours, he’s wiped out afterward.”

Beacon is just one of the mental health resources available to U.S. Olympians. Track star Noah Lyles said the Olympic committee is more open about mental health resources than it used to be.

“Before, it was kind of a situation like, ‘Yeah, people go through it and we have a few programs,’” Lyles said. “I feel it wasn’t talked about much before COVID. … Now, [the U.S. Olympic Committee is] a lot more vocal about the programs that they have for it and how to actually get involved.”

Rivalry renewed

The showdown between the American and Australian swim teams should be electric after a year of buildup and trash talk since the world championships in Japan.

Australia’s swimmers took home the most golds at last year’s international competition. The U.S. placed second but led in the total number of medals.

“Australia coming out on top of the world is one thing, but it is just so much sweeter beating America,” swimmer Cate Campbell told Australia’s “Today Show” in 2023. “Bring on Paris. That’s all I have to say to the U.S. Stop being sore losers.”

Campbell, who didn’t make this year’s team, later walked back the inflammatory comments, but not before word spread to the American swimmers.

“If somebody said that to me, I would lose it,” retired swimmer Michael Phelps, a 23-time Olympic gold medalist, said in a video for NBC’s social media accounts. “I would make them eat every word.”

The Americans likely didn’t need any more bulletin board material heading into Paris. Team USA swimmers say their friendly rivalry with their Australian counterparts is a constant motivator.

“We like each other, but we want to kill each other when we’re in the pool,” breaststroke swimmer Lily King told NBC last month.

A river runs through it

No man-eating sharks are waiting to threaten swimmers in the River Seine, despite the depiction in the recent horror film “Under Paris,” but the historic and filthy river has conjured an array of logistical and safety-related nightmares.

The Seine is slated to host two Olympic events, the marathon swim and the aquatic section of the triathlon, but its water is notoriously hazardous. Sewage regularly floods the waters after heavy rainfall, and Parisian officials outlawed swimming in the river in 1923.

Olympic organizers have spent more than $1 billion over the past nine years to make the river suitable for competition. Quality tests in June still showed an unhealthy amount of E. coli in the water, but that didn’t stop Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo from dipping into the river last week.

“The Seine is exquisite,” she said. “The water is very, very good. A little cool, but not so bad.”

After a recent dry spell, the water has passed its daily quality tests. Still, organizers have said the triathlon swim could be canceled and the marathon swim could be moved to an alternate location if the water quality declines.

The Seine, secured by more than 50,000 police and military personnel, will also host the opening ceremony Friday as athletes from 206 nations sail down the river for the celebratory Olympic kickoff.

“It’s complex because we’re in an environment — the Parisian environment, the Seine — which is an urban environment … with obvious vulnerabilities,” Lt. Col. Olivier, an operations chief, told reporters. “The Seine is an area where there are a lot of activities.”

Breaking: A one-hit wonder

The 2024 Olympics will be introducing only one new sport: breaking. More commonly known in the U.S. as breakdancing, 32 breakers will face off in Paris for a shot at gold.

The format includes two brackets, one for “b-boy” and one for “b-girls.” The dancers will go toe-to-toe in a series of “throw-downs.”

Judges will score the b-boys and b-girls on categories such as personality, creativity, technique and musicality. These one-on-one showdowns continue in a single-elimination tournament until only one breakdancer remains.

Breaking’s path to the Olympics was long, and its tenure will be short. The provisional sport will not be at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Despite the brief spotlight, passionate breakdancers expressed optimism.

“From us being in the Olympics, it’s going to grow,” U.S. breaker Victor Montalvo said. “There’s going to be a new generation of kids that are going to want to do it. … You just need a dance floor and your body and self-expression.”

Sweet 16

At 16, Quincy Wilson is the youngest male track athlete ever named to the U.S. Olympic team. The Maryland native will be part of the 4x400 meter relay pool in Paris after posting the sixth-best time at Olympic trials last month.

Wilson isn’t a lock to compete in the Olympics, but even traveling to Paris is a remarkable accomplishment for a teenager.

“Man, he’s truly a rock star,” Noah Lyles, the Northern Virginia native who is expected to win gold in the men’s 100 meters, said of his fellow Olympian.

“People see him like they see me. He’s getting swarmed at track meets. They’re calling him ‘The Assassin’ and all this other stuff, ‘King Quincy.’ Like, wow, it’s so crazy to see. … It’s really cool to see.”

Wilson hasn’t slowed down since the Olympic qualifiers. On July 19, he set an under-18 world record by running 400 meters in 44.2 seconds at a meet in Gainesville, Florida. That time, a personal best, would have landed him a second-place finish at the Olympic trials.

“When I went to trials and I got sixth place, I knew I had some stuff left in me,” Wilson said on the meet’s internet broadcast. “I told them I was going to go out here and give everything that I had because I want to make sure that I have a great opportunity to be able to get on the USA team on the relay.”

Purple reigns

Olympic organizers say track records will be broken at Paris’ Stade de France. Scientists from the production company Mondo cited their unique new track, which features a more elastic top layer that could minimize energy loss and propel athletes to new heights.

“The athletes will find this track to be more reactive and better suited for their competition,” said Maurizio Stroppiana, vice president of Mondo’s sports division.

Lyles said he would wait to see whether the reengineered air cells within the track affect his time.

“They say that every year, every world championship, every Olympics. It’s like, ‘This is our newest formula, it’s going to be better than our last one,’” Lyles said. “There aren’t too many more advancements we can make in the way we build tracks, to be honest. Unless they start having a way for you to get a perfect 2.0 wind every time.”

Though the athletes might not feel a difference in the track’s speeds, viewers will note its color. The Paris organizers selected a violet hue for the track that “recalls the landscape of France,” Mr. Stroppiana said.

“I mean, purple is my favorite color, so I’m very excited about that,” Lyles said.

Punching his ticket to Paris

Jahmal Harvey has never shied away from a fight. After a childhood of scraps in Southeast Washington and Prince George’s County, the 21-year-old boxer will take on all challengers at the Paris Olympics.

“I would say I was picked on a little bit, or people would try to test me just because I was smaller,” Harvey, who boxes in the 127-pound weight class, told WTOP. “And I always wanted to stick up for my family, so if you messed with my cousins, my brothers, sisters, I was the one that was going to step up for them — fight.”

Thousands of miles away from his hometown, Harvey keeps fighting. The Oxon Hill native secured a trip to the Paris Olympics after earning gold in the fall’s Pan American Games in Chile.

Even as he prepares for the biggest fights of his career, Harvey says the process doesn’t change. He’s still going to swing hard when he steps into the ring.

“I’m just keeping the same regimen that’s been working,” Harvey said. “Just working hard, just going 100% in all my workouts, making sure, most importantly, that my conditioning is there. That’s the most important thing: being able to outwork all my opponents.”

Star power

NBC is sending dozens of celebrities to Paris in the hope of boosting TV ratings. The COVID-delayed Tokyo Games set a record low for the network, with an average of 15.6 million viewers.

This year, household names such as Peyton Manning, Snoop Dogg, Kelly Clarkson and Kevin Hart are headed to Paris to help NBC avoid another ratings-related disappointment.

“This kind of celebrity wouldn’t have been part of NBC Olympics coverage of the past. Now it’s one of the foundational elements,” Rick Cordella, president of NBC Sports, told Variety. “We’ve got to be innovating, trying things differently, trying to match where the media world is in 2024.”