Let the games begin! After a one-year delay amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Tokyo Olympics have finally arrived. After the Parade of Nations and Opening Ceremony took place in July 2021, the athletes have begun competing in all sorts of new and existing sporting events — and racking up medals.
Just like Us, many celebrities have been getting into the patriotic spirit as they watch the best-of-the-best athletes compete. In honor of the global Games, Us Weekly has rounded up all of the stars who enjoy watching the Olympics via television or in-person.
Many spectators are in total awe of Simone Biles — known as the GOAT in gymnastics — including one of her own Team USA athletes. Brooke Raboutou is making her Olympic debut on the American climbing team as the sport makes its first Games appearance, and she looks up to many of her fellow Olympians, including Biles.
“I’ve always been very inspired by her,” Raboutou exclusively told Us. “Her mix of gracefulness and being powerful and so strong. And I just love watching her compete and teaching us.”
While spectators couldn’t attend the events in person, they turned on their TVs to watch. In an Instagram post during the Opening Ceremony, Priyanka Chopra Jonas wrote, “I’m sitting in front of my TV watching the opening of the Olympic Games happening right now in Tokyo and the mood is somber, yet the moment feels nostalgic. We all know the games are unlike anything we’ve experienced before, with the best of the best athletes in the world competing for the pride of their countries. The arenas may be without an audience, but our cheers won’t stop, no matter where we are.”
The Quantico alum continued in her post, “Good luck to everyone participating. Know that you are giving an embattled world something to collectively cheer for.”
The summer Olympics were originally scheduled to take place in Tokyo in July 2020, however, organizers were forced to postpone the events as the COVID-19 pandemic spread worldwide.
“Together with its Japanese partners and friends, the IOC is fully concentrated on and committed to the successful delivery of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 this year,” the International Olympic Committee (IOC) previously wrote in a statement in January 2021. In the message, the IOC acknowledged that “all possible countermeasures against COVID-19” would be taken into account to keep athletes safe when the Games kicked off.
After the Games kicked off on Friday, July 23, 2021, the athletes have been hungry and excited to get back to what they do best: Compete for the gold.
“This means so much to me. I’ve worked so hard for the past couple of years,” Sunisa “Suni” Lee previously told NBC after she made the women’s gymnastics team. “To just go on the floor and do everything I was supposed to do feels amazing. Thinking about this moment right here, making the Olympic team at the Olympic trials [powered me through].”
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Scroll below to see which celebrities love watching the Olympics:
