Basketball and synchronized diving were the most entertaining Olympic sports for Berkeley High School senior Sachi Reading. Reading noted, “Basketball was fun because it was all the best NBA players on one team.” Reading enjoys watching the Olympics for the intense games between the “best competitors from around the world.” Reading also enjoyed watching synchronized diving and was impressed by the tricks the athletes were able to pull off in the air before splashing into the water.
As a water polo player and swimmer herself, BHS junior Margaux Rocha found herself captivated when watching water polo and swimming. “It was just a whole different game in the Olympics. There was just a lot of movement and I just enjoyed the energy of it,” Rocha said. Rocha was not only entertained, but also felt a sense of inspiration from some of the Olympians, saying, “It’s insane just to see people going that fast who are literally like, 20, and that’s really not far from my age.”
While watching a little bit of each Olympic sport, junior Pheona Bun found herself appreciating gymnastics the most. She specifically named Simone Biles as someone inspiring and said, “I feel very empowered seeing women like me because I noticed that she’s really short, but she’s really talented.” With the 2024 Olympics being Bun’s first time having an interest in watching, she shared that she got into it because “it kept popping up in my feed” and felt that “maybe it’s worth watching.”
BHS sophomore Thelonious Holmes was most drawn into watching swimming and shooting during the Olympics because of the excitement during these sports. “There’s a lot of medals and different races in swimming versus, like basketball, there’s only two. And I think it’s more entertaining.” As for shooting, Holmes “saw a buzz around it” and the intrigue around the Turkish shooter caught his attention.
BHS junior Giovanei Gaspar’s favorite sport to watch during the Olympics was one of the four new sports: break dancing. Gaspar said, “It’s pretty new and I loved seeing all the moves that the Olympic dudes did. It was really interesting.” Gaspar stumbled upon break dancing while watching a different sport, saying, “I was watching the wrestling Olympics … and I just saw the break dancing, and I was like, sure, it looks cool.”
Jack Reber, a BHS sophomore, watched wrestling the most during the 2024 Olympics. He enjoyed this particular sport the most because of the “fierce competitors and just a pure determination to win.” Reber is a wrestler at BHS and values what he can learn from U.S. Olympian, Spencer Lee. Reber said he respects “his whole mentality when it comes to sports and in general. He says, “‘Excuses are for wussies.’”