‘It don’t stop till the casket drop’: How Snoop Dogg became the unlikely face of the Olympics

One, two, three and to the fo’ Snoop Doggy Dogg is the, er, face of the Olympics in Paris.

It’s probably best to leave the rhymes to the famous Long Beach rapper, but it’s true: Snoop Dogg has become a ubiquitous presence at these Games, and the world is better for it.

Everywhere you look, there’s Snoop.

Snoop crip-walking while carrying the Olympic torch. Snoop at the tennis watching Rafael Nadal. Snoop at the gymnastics watching Simone Biles. Snoop on the train to Lille to watch LeBron James and his teammates in the basketball. Snoop chatting to Billie Jean King. Snoop taking swimming lessons from Michael Phelps.

Snoop at the fencing, the judo, the skate park, the beach volleyball. Snoop calling the badminton for US host broadcaster NBC.

“It don’t stop till the casket drop,” he informed viewers earlier this week.

Snoop Dogg attends the women’s artistic gymnastics at the Paris Olympics.Credit: Getty Images

Whoever envisaged a day when the world’s most famous weed enthusiast would be front and centre of an Olympics has better foresight than most. Certainly better than me.

Could they have ever imagined, though, one of the most sought-after items in Paris not being a gold medal but a pin depicting the legendary rapper blowing Olympic-style smoke rings?

“This is the best pin that I’ve ever gotten!” US tennis player Coco Gauff said after receiving one. Only a handful have been made, and the public cannot buy them.

The cultural amalgam between the beloved music icon and the Olympic movement is unexpected but no coincidence.

After playing a smaller role for NBC during the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo alongside comedian Kevin Hart, he is a “special correspondent” in Paris. In other words, he can do whatever he wants.

“What stood out to me was Snoop’s passion for the Olympics, and also in his own unique way his reverence for the athletes and their stories,” Molly Solomon, executive producer and president of NBC Olympics production, told me.

“Over the last year and a half, we got together with Snoop and really brainstormed what this role could be, and yesterday I called him an ‘ambassador of happiness’. If you watch his content, everybody wants to meet Snoop, take a selfie with Snoop and just be around Snoop.

“We’ve been pleasantly surprised by his popularity, but you never ever underestimate Snoop Dogg. He’s this wonderful mix of swagger and positivity. His charisma and vibes are so positive. And he’s got this curiosity about the Olympics that is undeniable.”

Snoop Dogg with the Olympic torch.Credit: Getty Images

A “Snoop SWAT team” of two vans carrying 12 people that include Snoop’s camera and social-media operators, as well as NBC staffers, has been whisking the rapper all over Paris.

He has different robes and tracksuits for each sport he attends, shooting content with “Snoopians” – his name for his favourite athletes, such as Biles.

“Yesterday, he was at four different venues,” Solomon said. “And we weren’t even filming. He has a list of athletes that he met before the Olympics that he wanted to keep track of. You can’t keep the man down. I talked to him a little bit this morning. I was a little worried about his energy because he’s doing so much. You can’t stop Snoop.”

NBC has used many of the celebrities on its books to promote its Olympics coverage, including singer Kelly Clarkson, retired quarterback Peyton Manning and country singer Keith Urban, who appears on The Voice.

It did so after ratings for the Tokyo Games tanked and, so far, the decision to integrate its talent into the coverage has worked: an average of 34 million viewers tuned in for the first five days of competition, up 79 per cent on Tokyo.

Snoop might be everywhere in Paris but he’s impossible to pin down. He’s been swamped with interview requests. His management politely declined our inquiry but added, “Snoop appreciates your interest”.

Fair enough. The “Doggfather” is a busy man. But, as he said in an interview with the New York Times in June, the best part is he’s allowed to be whoever he wants.

“They’re invested in me being me, and that’s what I love about them because they don’t want me to water down anything or to be something I’m not,” he said. “They want Snoop Dogg.”

Return of the Mac

One of the most haunting scenes I’ve seen at an Olympics was the minutes after the men’s 100m freestyle in Rio in 2016.

Cameron McEvoy was the smoking hot favourite heading into the race, and had been so for two years.

On the morning of the race, I was tipped by a source inside the athletes’ village that McEvoy had come down with an illness and was going to struggle.

When he finished third behind winner and teammate Kyle Chalmers, McEvoy did everything he could to hide his disappointment. This was Chalmers’ moment.

But the pain was there if you looked close enough. He was the last out of the pool, staring at the enormous electronic scoreboard at the end of the stadium.

A mathematical genius, who was studying physics at the time, he was trying to solve the problem of what had just happened.

“It is baffling to me, particularly with my analytical mind,” McEvoy said afterwards.

He refused to acknowledge he was unwell, although it was subsequently confirmed by AOC officials.

Cam McEvoy with his gold medal in Paris.Credit: Eddie Jim

After failing to win gold in Tokyo, and essentially walking away from the sport just two years ago citing “burnout”, Olympic gold seemed a fantasy.

On Friday night, at the Paris La Defense Arena, McEvoy won the 50m freestyle.

Ariarne’s au revoir

The mother of Australian swimming great Ariarne Titmus says her daughter will want to finish her Paris campaign with victory in the 800m freestyle against the legendary Katie Ledecky.

“I think Ariarne will want to end the Olympics by putting together and executing a really good 800 race,” Robyn Titmus told me at the Speedo Cafe, which has been set up in the fashionable Marais district in the 4th arrondissement.

“She’s struggled to put a great one together … She’ll be thinking about how she wants to race it, and still having the legs to come home.”

Standing in Titmus’ way is Ledecky, who Titmus crushed in the 400m on the first night of the meet. Ledecky has won gold in the 800m for the past three Olympic Games.

“We only know what Ariarne has told us, but she says Katie’s a very respectful, beautiful human being,” Robyn said. “They respect one another in the marshalling room, they’ll chat – not all do, but they do.”

Ariarne’s father Steve added: “If she managed to pull off the 800, that would be quite something. For as long as we’ve been involved with this sport at the highest level, Katie Ledecky has been the only name.”

Despite their intense rivalry, Ariarne Titmus and Katie Ledecky are on friendly terms out of the pool.Credit: Getty Images

THE QUOTE

“For me, it’s like being in a church. My worship might not be my singing, it’s in my feet jumping over the bar.” – Australian high jumper Nicola Olyslagers after qualifying for Monday’s final.

THUMBS UP

Kaylee McKeown would make a great assassin. After winning gold in the 200m backstroke, she calmly removed her cap and goggles, looked at the scoreboard and grinned. She’d just become the first Australian to do the back-to-back backstroke double, having won the 100m and 200m in Tokyo and now Paris. She’s also the first Australian to win four individual gold medals at an Olympics – and she has the 200m individual medley on Sunday morning (AEST).

THUMBS DOWN

Australian surfing judge Ben Lowe was sent home from the Paris Games in disgrace after he posed in an Instagram photo with fellow Aussies Ethan Ewing and Bede Durbidge, who are competing in the events he’s officiating. Death-by-Insta strikes again.

It’s a big day in Paris for … Imane Khelif, the Algerian boxer who has become the biggest story at these Games. She should not be allowed to fight, but some of the rhetoric flying around about her is gross. She fights Hungarian Anna Luca Hamori on Saturday.

It’s an even bigger day in Paris for … the women in the 100m sprint at Stade de France. American star Sha’Carri Richardson and her impossibly long nails breezed into the semi-finals where she will meet Australian Bree Masters, who is the first from our country to reach this stage since the 2000 Olympics.

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