Former Olympian from Newport Beach attends Olympics, meets Snoop Dogg

An Olympic gold medalist from Newport Beach is watching the Summer games in Paris as a fan.

Melanie Thomas won a gold medal in Atlanta in 1996 for the U.S. in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay. She and her family watched beach volleyball in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.

Thomas, who is regularly checking in with KNX News about her time at the Olympics, said she watched the U.S. women’s team’s match against France.

“A shout-out to Sarah Hughes and Callie Chang from L.A., Fullerton, and Huntington Beach, and they won. So that was fantastic,” Thomas said.

While watching beach volleyball, she spotted a familiar face. It was none other than Snoop Dogg, who has become a fixture of the Paris Olympics.

“I just thought, ‘You know what? I'm gonna grab a couple of pins from ‘96 that I have in my pocket. I'm gonna try to make my way up and maybe trade pins with Snoop.’ And believe it or not, I had no problem,” Thomas said.

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She explained how she had to pass about three security checkpoints, but she made it to Snoop Dogg and introduced herself. She said he was very friendly and nice, but he didn’t have any Olympic pins to trade.

Next, Thomas said she’s going to watch swimming on Thursday.

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