PARIS (AP) — When Snoop Dogg agreed to turn out to be an Olympic torch bearer, the hip-hop star recalled an emotional, iconic second watching Muhammad Ali mild the cauldron on the 1996 Atlanta Video games.
Now, Snoop Dogg hopes to recreate a few of that magic for a worldwide viewers watching the Paris Olympics. He’ll be one of many last torch bearers of the Olympic flame forward of the Video games’ opening ceremony on Friday.
It’s a chance he by no means imagined.
“It was emotional for all of us to see the champ holding that torch and strolling up there,” Snoop Dogg mentioned Wednesday of the late Ali, who shocked the group when he lit the cauldron as a result of he had Parkinson’s illness.
Snoop Dogg will carry the torch within the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis, in accordance with the city’s mayor, Mathieu Hanotin.
“That is my very own model of it,” Snoop Dogg mentioned. “I don’t need to get too emotional, however I do know that that is particular.”
Snoop Dogg mentioned he’s grateful for being a consultant from the U.S. and France’s help in him collaborating. He spoke throughout a name with sportscaster Mike Tirico and Molly Solomon, government producer and president of NBC Olympics Manufacturing.
“This says lots about America so far as the place we’re at on this world,” he mentioned. “On the identical time, it says lots about France so far as connecting the dots and permitting me to do that. I take a look at this as a prestigious honor and one thing I actually respect. I might have by no means dreamed of nothing like this. I’m going to be on my finest habits. I’m going to be on my finest athleticism. I’ll have the ability to breathe sluggish to stroll quick and maintain the torch with a smile on my face, as a result of I notice how prestigious this occasion is.”
Alongside together with his torch-bearing duties, Snoop Dogg will function a prime-time NBC correspondent in the course of the Video games. He’ll be on the bottom exploring town’s landmarks and attending competitions and occasions.
The ultra-smooth entertainer already has had informal on-video interviews with a number of Olympians about their sports activities, together with ladies’s basketball participant A’ja Wilson, gymnast Sunisa Lee, skateboarder Jagger Eaton and seashore volleyball gamers Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng. Final month, he met with monitor star Noah Lyles and participated in a 200-meter race — clocking in at 34.44 seconds — with NBC analyst Ato Boldon and former nationwide champion Wallace Spearmon.
Snoop Dogg arrived in Paris about 10 days earlier than the opening ceremony, assembly with athletes and their relations together with studying their again tales. He has gone to the observe amenities to go to varied groups akin to judo, weightlifting, 3×3 basketball and fencing.
“I’m going to point out you why they made me the person to do it,” he mentioned. “I’m going to place all of my assets and vitality round it with peace, love and concord. That’s what the Olympics is all about. I really feel like that’s why they selected me. That’s what I signify.”
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AP Summer time Olympics:
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