Dawn Staley finally attended the Olympics as a fan — and she lived her ‘best life’ in Paris
The North Philly native chronicled her journey on social media as she met celebrities and partied with the athletes.
Everyone had fun at the Paris Olympics, including Snoop Dogg, Flavor Flav, and of course, the athletes. Team USA took home 126 medals, the most since 1984, and ended the Games with a bang, winning gold medals in men’s and women’s basketball and women’s soccer.
One woman who was there for the whole ride? Philadelphia’s own Dawn Staley, who met everyone and saw everything during her two weeks at the Olympics, starting with the Opening Ceremony, which she took in with First Lady Jill Biden.
Staley is a three-time Olympian, winning three gold medals as a player with the women’s basketball team, and was flag bearer for Team USA at the 2004 Olympics. She also coached Team USA to a gold medal in 2021, but this time around, she got to soak it in as a spectator.
“I’m living my best life,” Staley told the Associated Press. “This is lovely.”
It was also lovely to watch Staley take in the Olympics through the eyes of a fan. Sure, she lost a bit of Philly cred for fan-girling over Tom Brady …
… and Alex Rodriguez.
But they were just some of the many people Staley hung out with. Others included Guy Fieri, Serena Williams, Carl Lewis, Wanda Sykes, Sha’Carri Richardson, and countless other athletes, including the U.S. women’s water polo team (and hype man Flavor Flav), and of course her former South Carolina star A’ja Wilson.
Staley also shared what she was eating, whether it was French cuisine or a lunch date with Ronald McDonald.
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In addition to appearing on the NBC broadcast, Staley also took in as many events as she could — even when she wasn’t able to be there in person — including gymnastics, swimming, and even fencing. Staley was especially having a blast after the U.S. women’s soccer team took home the gold medal, its first since 2012, dancing with Lisa Leslie at the postgame celebration.
She met up with Sue Bird, Megan Rapinoe, and a number of members of the gold-medal squad.
Shortly after, Staley headed over to watch LeBron James, Joel Embiid, and the rest of the U.S. men’s basketball team win a gold medal of their own.
The next day, the U.S. women’s basketball team pulled out a nail-biter against France to win its eighth consecutive gold medal, and of course Staley was there for that, too.
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She linked up with fellow Philly native Kahleah Copper, the fourth-quarter hero for Team USA, and the rest of the gold-medal squad, before taking in the closing ceremony of the Paris Games.
Staley really was everywhere all at once.