How Mondo Duplantis Electrified the Paris Olympics

TIME

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.

Transcript

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.

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