Everyone from Tom Cruise to Anna Wintour showed up to cheer for Simone Biles.
Move over, Formula 1, the year’s hottest sporting event is the Olympics. Perhaps it’s the Paris locale or the return of Simone Biles, but it seems like there are more celebrities than usual attending the games — and that’s not even including people like Zendaya, Jeremy Allen White, and Charlize Theron, who all attended a pre-Olympics fête thrown by Louis Vuitton. Here are all the famous people on the ground cheering for good ol’ Team USA (and occasionally the U.K. and Australia).
First up, the folks who are attending non-gymnastics events.
Céline Dion
The queen made her triumphant return to performing at the Opening Ceremony, performing Édith Piaf’s “Hymne à l’amour” in front of the Eiffel Tower. Did you shed a tear or are you lying?
Christopher Meloni
The Law & Order: SVU star/perennial internet zaddy can’t wait to watch some table tennis! Do you think he paid his own way to get to the Games, or does he have enough clout at NBC to just make a few calls and find himself in Paris?
Flavor Flav
At first, this makes no sense. Then you find out that Flavor Flav recently signed a five-year sponsorship deal to be the official hype man for the USA Water Polo Team (women’s and men’s), which actually makes things even more confusing. Then you learn that the rapper is paying for the women’s team to attend the Olympics after learning that most of them take on second and third jobs in order to compete. If you really get deep into this, you’ll also learn that he got tickets for the women’s team to attend the Eras Tour in Paris. Suddenly, his presence at the Olympics makes perfect sense, and you are now a Flavor Flav stan.
Princess Anne
This diva is over her concussion and ready to stunt. Look at those sunglasses!
Pharrell Williams
There was a section of the Opening Ceremony dedicated entirely to Louis Vuitton, so of course the brand’s megafamous creative director was going to carry the Olympic torch.
Kelly Clarkson
Clarkson hosted the Opening Ceremony alongside Peyton Manning, the two most obvious choices to comment on international sports.
Serena Williams
Williams brought her husband, Alexis Ohanian, and their daughter Olympia to watch some swimming. You have to imagine that they’ll be taking in some tennis later on.
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban
Look at these two doing the wave at the women’s skateboarding final. Perfect couple, no notes!
Spike Lee
You’d be forgiven for thinking that this photo was taken at Madison Square Garden. Lee just loves basketball (and the Knicks) that much.
Mitt Romney
What the hell? Of all the people in this roundup, Senator Romney is actually random. It’s not like there are more Utahns on Team USA than any other state. There are eight!
Jill Biden
Now this is tracking for me, as this is not really the time to send President Biden to the Olympics, but you definitely send Dr. Jill. The First Lady took in a women’s water-polo match alongside Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass, whose city will be hosting the Games in 2028.
Queen Latifah
Suddenly, I’m patriotic.
Mick Jagger
The Rolling Stones front man did not look too pleased with whatever was going on in the fencing match he was watching.
Which celebrities were there to watch Simone Biles?
The people who came out to watch Simone Biles and the rest of the women’s gymnastics team need their own section. On Sunday, the Paris Arena was filled with Oscar nominees (and winners), a Tony winner, Grammy winners, an Olympian, and Anna Wintour. The talent in the room was massive, and yet it could be argued that none of them are as good at their things as Simone Biles is on the floor.
Tom Cruise and Greta Gerwig
Imagine being in the VIP tent at the Eras Tour and saying, “Are you going to the Olympics in August? We should totally link up!” That’s what I imagine the exchange was between Gerwig and Cruise last month in London, and look at that, they followed through.
Shaun White and Nina Dobrev
If you are an Olympian at Shaun White’s level, can you just go to the Olympics whenever you want? I would love for a famous person to explain how much they’re paying out of pocket to attend.
Emma Chamberlain
If you’re looking to connect with the zoomers in your life, you can talk to them about how Chamberlain is debuting her new (rumored) boyfriend, Peter McPoland, at the Olympics.
Lady Gaga
After delivering a fabulous performance at the Opening Ceremony, Gaga has been all over the Games with fiancé Michael Polansky. Here they are looking really serious about gymnastics.
Nick Jonas
Why does he look like one of those dads who gets way too into his kid’s soccer game?
John Legend and Chrissy Teigen
With all due respect, these two would go to the opening of an envelope. Mark my words that they’ll also be at the DNC in a of couple weeks.
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo (and Lena Waithe)
If you were wondering why there’s been so much Wicked promo at the Olympics, you need to put on your Jack Donaghy cap and start thinking about synergy. Wicked is a Universal production, the Olympics are broadcast on NBCUniversal channels, and everyone is hoping to make some money. Hence, Grande and Erivo (and Erivo’s partner, Lena Waithe) have been a presence throughout the games so far.
Anna Wintour
You can sort of tell in this photo that Wintour is sitting right by the Wicked crew. The Vogue editor has been seen all over the Olympics, often arm in arm with …
Baz Luhrmann
Okay, so in this section you have Anna Wintour, Baz Luhrmann, Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, and Jessica Chastain. Apologies to Nick Jonas and the Teigen-Legend family, but this is obviously where all the fun was being had. Get Lady Gaga down there, stat!
Jessica Chastain
First of all, cute sweater. Second of all, Chastain is so private that you might be wondering, “Who are those children?” They’re hers! She’s married to Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo, an Italian count and executive at Moncler.
Snoop Dogg
I wonder what he was looking at here. Maybe he was reacting to Biles’s beam dismount.
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