Matt Vautour: Mass athletes already making this Olympics more fun

The Olympics might not be in Massachusetts, but four days in, Massachusetts is very much in these Olympics.

In an alternate universe, the games of the 33rd Olympiad would be happening right now in Boston. Instead of the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, NBC viewers would be getting night scenery shots of the Olympic rings on the Zakim Bridge and shots of Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack wearing mini medals in Boston Common.

Maybe the amphibious opening ceremony would have traveled down the Charles River like an overcrowded Duck Boat Tour.

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It might have been fun, but probably would have been a mess. Think the Big Dig, but with beach volleyball. Everyone would be complaining about traffic and budget overruns.

So the 2024 Olympics had to settle for Paris and the Left Bank instead of Boston and North End. The world doesn’t even know the cuisine it’s missing out on being stuck in France, where they have to choke down cafe coffee without a Dunkin’ on every block.

But Massachusetts is still impacting the games, especially on Monday.

Bay State athletes have always thrived at Olympus. Nancy Kerrigan, Mike Eruzione, Jim Craig, Ally Raisman, Meghan Duggan and Tim Daggett all grew up not far from Friendlys or Papa Ginos before capturing the hearts of the nation.

There are already some new members of that club with more expected to join.

The goofy, lovable, underdog bronze-medal-winning men’s gymnastics team is especially Bay State-flavored. Frederick Richard has movie-star charisma to go with absurd athletic ability. The Stoughton native has been the face of American men’s gymnastics so far in an Olympics, where his sport has enjoyed a renaissance that’s put them on almost equal footing with the wildly popular women. Frederick, who is just 20, could be one of the biggest stars in Los Angeles in four years for the 2028 Olympics

But the true unexpected darling of men’s gymnastics has been Worcester’s Stephen Nedoroscik. The charmingly nerdy or nerdily charming bespectacled pommel horse specialist delivered a routine that clinched a spot on the podium for Team USA, who carried him off the floor. If the medal had been gold instead of bronze, somebody would already be shopping a script around Hollywood about it.

The duo has helped create buzz around men’s gymnastics that hasn’t existed in this country in years. The stateside TV ratings for the men’s all-around and even the apparatus finals will now likely be much higher than they would have been before the games.

But it’s not just men’s gymnastics. There will be other medals that will eventually be on planes back to Logan Airport. Harvard’s Lauren Scruggs won a silver medal in individual foil. Massachusetts has as many medals as Germany through four full days of action.

Franklin’s Kristi Kirshe helped lead Team USA Rugby to a stunning upset of Great Britain, scoring a big second-half try, to push the Americans into the semifinals for the first time in history. They’re one win away from a medal.

Jayson Tatum hasn’t even taken off his warmups and he’s the talk of Olympic basketball replacing Jaylen Brown, who isn’t even on the team. But Jrue Holiday and Derrick White both saw plenty of minutes as the three Celtics figure to add medals to their championship rings in a summer of hardware. Sam Coffey and the women’s soccer team are certainly medal favorites as well.

And Gabby Thomas hasn’t even competed yet. The magnetic sprinter from Northampton could be America’s favorite during Week 2.

Follow MassLive sports columnist Matt Vautour on Twitter at @MattVautour424.

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