How Mondo Duplantis Electrified the Paris Olympics
Mondo! Clap. Clap. Clap. Mondo! Clap. Clap. Clap. Not since Usain Bolt was leaving sprinting foes in the dust had an Olympic track-and-field stadium been so enraptured by a single mononymous athlete. Bolt.
Now, Mondo.
Now, Mondo.
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00:00Hi, I'm Sean Gregory from Time reporting at the Stade de France, where tonight was a remarkable
00:07performance by Armand Mondo de Plantis, the pole vaulter from Sweden, who broke his own world
00:14record on his final attempt of the night, clearing the bar at 6.25 meters. De Plantis is the reigning
00:22Olympic champion and world record holder. In fact, he's now broken the world record nine times,
00:28each time he raises the bar by a centimeter, because every time he breaks the record,
00:34he gets a cash bonus of around $30,000 to $100,000. Not a bad deal. The amazing thing
00:41about tonight was the races were all over by the time de Plantis was going for his record,
00:48and the whole stadium, 70,000 plus, were all chanting Mondo, Mondo, Mondo. Huge anticipation.
00:56He missed his first two attempts. It's really kind of remarkable at a track and field event
01:01to have everybody focused on one person, often focused on one race, rarely on one person.
01:08That's what happened tonight. Third attempt, Mondo cleared it, and Sweden's own Mondo de
01:14Plantis wins gold and breaks the world record. De Plantis was born in the United States,
01:21and his father is American. His mother is Swedish and decided to compete for Sweden. One reason is
01:27because he'd have to do Olympic trials. Easier to make the team, less pressure, and that decision
01:33has clearly paid off on the pole vault mat and off. Mondo de Plantis owned the night,
01:42gave the Olympics perhaps its most exciting, dramatic, maybe defining athletic moment.
01:49I'm Sean Gregory reporting for Time.