The Olympic Games are beamed to billions of people around the world, giving viewers a real-time, close-up look at every pole vault, layup, breaststroke and backflip.

But there is a crucial part of the Olympic experience that remains largely unknown to spectators, sealed off from the camera crews and off-limits to cheering fans — the Olympic Village.

In recent weeks, NBC News spoke with decorated Olympians about life inside the sprawling residential complexes where thousands of athletes sleep, eat, train and socialize. They likened the villages to summer camps, college dorms, crowded hotels and — in the words of gold medalist swimmer Mark Spitz — a “gigantic cruise ship.”

Read the full story here.

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. That’s the slogan that drives Team USA’s Olympic alternates.

A slew of season-ending injuries rocked the nation’s best gymnasts at the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials, highlighting the importance of understudies on the sport’s biggest stage.

“If anything happens, I’ll be ready,” Olympic alternate Joscelyn Roberson said.

The Texarkana-native and training mate of Simone Biles was just one spot away from making the five-person U.S. women’s gymnastics team, but she can still call herself an Olympian.

Read the full story here.

Stream every moment and every medal of the 2024 Paris Olympics on Peacock.