FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, July 29th, 2021

TOKYO OLYMPICS – JULY 29 PRIMETIME HIGHLIGHTS ON NBC

“Welcome to the most exclusive gymnastics club, Suni. Your life will be changed forever.” – Nastia Liukin on Suni Lee winning gold in women’s all-around gymnastics final

“In her home state of Minnesota, they’ve declared Friday, July 30, Suni Lee Day.” – Mike Tirico

Friday Highlights: U.S. Women’s Soccer Team Faces Netherlands in Quarterfinal Match Tomorrow Morning Live at 7 a.m. ET on NBCSN; Caeleb Dressel (100m Butterfly) & Katie Ledecky (800m Freestyle) Go For Gold Live in Primetime on NBC

STAMFORD, Conn. – July 29, 2021 – NBC Olympics continued its primetime coverage of the Tokyo Olympics tonight on NBC. Mike Tirico serves as NBC Olympics primetime host and opened coverage on NBC.

Highlights of upcoming coverage include:

 

  • In a rematch of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup final (a 2-0 U.S. victory), the U.S. face Netherlands in the Tokyo Olympics women’s soccer quarterfinal live Friday at 7 a.m. ET on NBCSN;

 

  • In primetime on NBC on Friday, Caeleb Dressel is a gold medal favorite in the men’s 100m butterfly and Katie Ledecky faces Ariarne Titmus of Australia for the final time in individual competition in Tokyo in the women’s 800m freestyle;

 

  • Track & field qualifying rounds of the Tokyo Olympics continue live Friday in primetime on USA Network, including Americans Sydney McLaughlin and Dalilah Muhammad in the women’s 400m hurdles, as well as Allyson Felix, who is expected to be part of the U.S. mixed 4x400m relay team. Peacock will also present live coverage of track & field qualifying rounds Friday beginning at 6 a.m. ET.

 

Following are highlights from tonight’s primetime coverage of the Tokyo Olympics on the networks of NBCUniversal:

GYMNASTICS – NBC

Suni Lee on winning the gold medal in the women’s all-around final: “The whole thing has been so surreal. My phone has been blowing up constantly. I think I still haven’t let it sink in yet.”

Lee on how Simone Biles withdrawing from the all-around impacted how she felt going into the event: “(It felt) a lot more nerve-wracking actually, because I feel like people kind of put that pressure on me because I’ve been second to (Simone) the whole season. I feel like people have been expecting me to come out on top, but I tried not to think about it because then that would make me get in my head.”

Lee on the support she receives from her family and community: “It’s incredible. I love my whole family, I love the Hmong community. I wouldn’t be here without them, my coach as well. This medal is dedicated to them because without them, this dream wouldn’t be possible.”

Nastia Liukin on Lee winning gold: “Welcome to the most exclusive gymnastics club, Suni…it is so surreal. She’s not really going to believe it for a few days, a few weeks, a few months. She did what she needed to do. She stepped up to the plate and she had one of the best meets of her entire life. Suni, your life will be changed forever.”

Tim Daggett on Lee: “Every single kid that starts out in the sport of gymnastics dreams about going to the Olympic Games. The pinnacle is always the all-around. Bars is critical for Suni, she can win another gold medal there, but she proved tonight and showed the world that she is an all-around champion.”

Terry Gannon on Lee: “That moment when she realizes she is the Olympic champion. And that every dream she had as a young girl has come true, and all the hard work has paid off…and all the sacrifice that your family went through for you to get here. And they’re going to enjoy it with you, even though they’re thousands of miles away.”

Mike Tirico: “In her home state of Minnesota, they’ve declared Friday, July 30, Suni Lee Day.”

Liukin on Lee on the uneven bars: “What makes her so incredible on this event is that every single skill is connected back to back to back. If you are a little bit off on one skill, it goes into the next…you have to be so technically precise.”

Liukin on Lee’s vault: “That was probably the best vault I have ever seen her do.”

Liukin on Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade following her balance beam score: “I don’t know about these scores, both on the uneven bars and here on the balance beam. Those execution scores in my opinion were just a little too low.”

Liukin following Jade Carey’s fall on balance beam: “It’s not always about the scores, the placements, the medals. It’s about the experiences. And especially being able to experience this with her dad right next to her.”

SWIMMING – NBC

Rowdy Gaines on the women’s 200m breaststroke final, as Lilly King wins silver and Annie Lazor wins bronze: “What a great moment for all three of those women (Tatjana Schoenmaker, Lilly King, Annie Lazor)…what a great moment for Schoenmaker, so close in that 100m, she has been sailing through the prelims and semis…at the halfway point, you just had a feeling that Lilly King was going to do something special.”

Gaines on Ryan Murphy winning silver in men’s 200m backstroke: “He never gave up on this race. He was right there trying to push (Rylov), trying to push him. I think if you give him another 10 meters, he might have caught him.”

Gaines on Caeleb Dressel’s 100m butterfly semifinal swim: “Look at that dolphin kick…Flipper! Flipper’s got nothing on this guy.”

Tirico discussing the men’s 200m IM final with Michael Phelps, defending four-time gold medalist in the event: “He really thinks if he could get in the pool right now…”

Michael Phelps: “Maybe I could make it five-in-a-row…I only shoot for gold.”

Gaines on Michael Andrew, who finished fifth in the men’s 200m IM final: “He’ll find that last 50m, he’s only 22 years old. He will find the last 50m, I promise you. We get to Paris (in 2024) and this is going to be a completely different story.”

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TRACK & FIELD – NBC

Sanya Richards-Ross on Team USA’s Rai Benjamin: “What makes him so special is that he’s world class at 200m and 400m (hurdles). When you have that kind of speed, it really makes you dangerous at this event…he’s just so calm, cool and collected in high-pressure situations.”

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ABOUT NBC OLYMPICS

A division of NBC Sports Group, NBC Olympics is responsible for producing, programming and promoting NBCUniversal’s coverage of the Olympic Games. NBC Olympics is renowned for its unsurpassed Olympic heritage, award-winning production, and ability to aggregate the largest audiences in U.S. television history. NBCUniversal owns the U.S. media rights on all platforms to all Olympic Games through 2032. NBC Olympics also produces thousands of hours of Olympic sports programming throughout the year, which is presented on NBC, NBCSN, Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA, Peacock and NBC Sports digital platforms.

— NBC OLYMPICS —