Are the Tokyo Olympics ready for Gen Z?

The summer games are about to get very, very online

Olympians.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Getty Images, iStock)

NBC's producers are going to want to keep their fingers on the "mute" button at the Olympic Games in Tokyo this summer.

"...D--n, it was f--king sick!" the 22-year-old skateboarding champion, future Olympian, and Team USA Ralph Lauren uniform model Heimana Reynolds raved of the opportunity to skate in an empty water park for a photo feature for the magazine Confusion this spring, leaving to the imagination how he might sum up the "larger-than-standard" course in Tokyo after competing for gold. The 21-year-old sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson screamed "I'm a f---king Olympian!" at the NBC TV cameras after making the cut for the team at the U.S. Track and Field trials in Eugene, Oregon, this past weekend.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.