Last night, the Olympics closed on the 2024 TV schedule with a high-octane performance from Tom Cruise, a throwback performance from France’s own indie darlings Phoenix, and sunny performances from Snoop, Dre, Billie Eilish and the Red Hot Chili Peppers on the homefront. Peppered throughout this was commentary from Mike Tirico and Jimmy Fallon, who shared his Top 5 Moments from the 2024 Olympics. Weirdly, only one of them made my own list.
To be clear, there are a lot of moments that happened over the course of the last several weeks that made national news, so I see how it was difficult to kick down to five big moments. But the five Jimmy Fallon – or the NBC writing team – chose are simply baffling to me for the most part.
- Leon Marchand & Katie Ledecky Swimming
- USA Synchronized Swimming Does The Upside Moonwalk To Win Silver Medal
- Steph Curry’s “night night” pose after sinking a 3-pointer in the men’s final against France.
- Hilarious not-so-great presenter drops medal and normal guy where’s wild bikini to retrieve swim cap
- Pommel Horse Stephen Nederoscik’s epic specialist performance for Team USA.
I think pretty much universally Olympics fans in the United States can agree that pommel horse guy and his Clark Kent and Superman glasses on glasses off trick enamored the nation. In fact, even Elmo came out to talk about how he wanted to be “a specialist” after Nederoscik helped Team USA to a bronze medal in the team event and the same in the individual apparatus event. To me, he’s a clear 1 or 2, but definitely should make anyone’s Top 5.
From here, Jimmy Fallon and I diverge quite a bit though. There were so many epic moments that came out of the Olympics, even for comedic value I fail to see how Fallon’s No. 4 slot could go to moments that went viral in a bad way. Hate that. Sure, these moments were funny, but there were some legitimately amazing performances from US men and women that stood out so much more.
If I had a Top 5, here’s how it would go. First of all, I’d pick moments, not themes for some of these and moments for others. For me, while there were some amazing moments from a slew of countries, my Top 5 is filled with US triumph, sorry to Leon Marchand, who was absolutely a beast in the water. (Or to other competitors like Netherland distance runner Sifan Hassan or Brazil’s amazing gold floor routine medalist Rebeca Andrade, who were splendid to watch.)
Finally, I would not waste a top five on any not-so-great moments. That should have been a funny aside, and not the no. 4 slot. I still don’t really get that choice. Though my Top 5, which, again, does include pommel horse guy's big W.
- Bobby Finke swimming to a world record in the 1500m.
- Grant Fisher comes from behind to win a bronze medal in the men’s 5000m, changing the trajectory of American racing forever.
- The ladies 4X400 wins with an insane nearly 4-second lead, crossing the finish line with a new American record.
- Kristen Faulkner comes from behind to win the Women’s Road Race by a whopping 37 seconds
- Pommel Horse guy clinching the bronze for Team USA.
Other standouts definitely included Curry sinking four three-pointers in the last few minutes of the US men’s basketball final to clinch the gold and Ledecky’s impressive distance performances, so it’s not like Fallon’s list was horrifically bad or anything, I just feel like it missed some of the more pivotal moments of the games. And I’m not even getting into the tense US and Brazil Women’s soccer final, Noah Lyles’ surprise 100m win, or Sha’Carri Richardson’s blistering look when Great Britain tried to sneak up in the 4X100 race. All great answers.
Fallon’s closing ceremony performance was not exactly beloved by fans watching the NBC Sports program, so this Top 5 list sort of fits in perfectly with the rest of the narrative. A bunch of tweets pointed this out recently, with fans pointing out some flaws in the closing coverage, namely having Fallon on.
- I swear NBC has spent so much money effort and money trying to convince the world that Jimmy Fallon is funny.
- The Olympics really did unite us. I’ve never seen so many people talk about women’s sports and I’ve never seen so many people talk about how much they dislike Jimmy Fallon.
- When you enjoying #ClosingCeremony and then Jimmy Fallon shows up.
Honestly, I did enjoy a lot of what NBC attempted via Tirico and the regular announcers, as well as some outside-the-box programming from the likes of Kenan Thompson, Kevin Hart and Colin Jost, who eventually was wounded and removed from Tahiti. Fan-favorites Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir made notable closing ceremony appearances, which people liked, and even if Laurie Hernandez wasn’t the most polished or critical announcer this season, I did enjoy her coining “ghost deductions” during gymnastics coverage.
There was a lot to like, and Fallon did inject his particular energy into the games several times in ways that totally made sense for the Olympics. But did I need him sharing a Top 5 on closing night? No, no I did not.
