Greetings. It's Friday, July the 26th, 2024. Welcome to the Daily Article podcast. Today's article

is written by Dr. Ryan Dennison and narrated by Chris Elkins of the Denison Forum.

The 2024 Summer Olympics officially begin today and will continue until the closing ceremonies on August

the 11th. That said, the first round of the games actually started on Wednesday with preliminary

rounds in archery, soccer, handball, and rugby. If that news comes as a surprise, find a link to the full

schedule in today's episode notes to ensure you don't miss your

favorite event going forward. As is often the case with the Olympics, though, the spectacle

that surrounds the games is often as big of a story as the events themselves. Canada's

women's soccer team won gold in the 2020 Olympics, but enters this year as the number eight team in the world.

Perhaps that pressure to repeat could explain at least in part why one of their staff felt the

need to use a drone to spy on 28th ranked New Zealand and upcoming opponent.

After getting caught, Canada's coach chose to sit out the game,

while team officials sent an assistant coach and the drone operator home. Canada went on to win the

match two to one. Outside of the competitions, one of the most interesting parts of the build-up to the

games is often seeing who gets the honor of carrying the Olympic torch.

While that privilege often goes to former athletes and prominent figures from the host country,

American rapper Snoop Dog will be among those carrying the flame on its final stretch

before entering the stadium this year. He will also contribute to NBC's coverage of the games

and his commentary at previous

events has many, myself among them, genuinely excited to see what he adds to the experience.

While the world will be focused on France for the next few weeks, the IOC, the International

Olympic Committee, announced this week that Salt Lake City will host the Winter Olympics in 2034.

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