The Daft Punk Olympics
Olympic viewership is in the gutter. Here's why we should let everyone's favorite French robots take over.
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Welcome to the Daft Punk Olympics
It’s official: viewership for the Winter Olympics this year reached its lowest point in Olympic history—40% off from 2018. This nadir reflects a larger exodus of viewers from broadcast TV-era mega-events: the Olympics, Emmys, Grammys, Oscars, all of them struggling, and none really feel like they’ve kept pace with the times.
Inspired by this figure skating duo’s Daft Punk routine, I propose a simple, high-concept way to re-invent the Olympics and re-capture its inspiring, spectacular magic: let Daft Punk take over and make it the Daft Punk Winter Olympics 2026.
Why it works: because Daft Punk’s pulsing, grand, futuristic electronic music is the perfect soundtrack to the graceful, powerful movement of bodies in space. If you need any more convincing, here’s another figure skating performance with a Daft Punk twist.
How it works: From opening ceremony to medal time, from the outfits to the colors (of course) the music, we Daft Punk-ify everything about the Winter Olympics.
The Opening Ceremony: We design the kick-off spectacle to echo the famous giant glowing pyramid from Daft Punk’s legendary 2007 concert tour. When the teams from all the different nations take the floor, we blast “Around the World”.
Competitions: We assign each competition its own signature Daft Punk tune—for example, athletes compete in the long jump as Aerodynamic plays over the loudspeaker.
Daft Punk - Aerodynamic
Uniforms: While each country’s individual style will come through in its uniforms, all Olympic uniforms including the helmets will have Daft Punk touches that evoke the duo’s sleek futuristic glamour.
Olympic Song: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (obviously)
I’ll leave you with a full Daft Punk concert from the 2007 tour. Just imagine there’s snow everywhere, and instead of horse tranquilizers, everyone’s hopped on heart medication.