with beds that had to be separate. you couldn't say the word pregnant. >> i've had a lot of sex outside of marriage. >> fast forward to now when we celebrate it, love it and we'll give you an award for it. hvl and welcome to our viewers. appreciate your company. i'm mississippi valley holmes. the u.s. moving in the wrong direction in the fight against coronavirus. how the nation is again fighting to balance the pandemic with the hope of returning to normal. plus, the taliban's brutal advance in afghanistan. are the afghan people being bludgeoned into accepting their rule? i'll discuss with my guest.

we're live outside athens, greece, where flames are swallowing forests and villages whole and many are forced to flee for their lives . a disturbing milestone in america's war with the coronavirus shows that the delta variant is winning the race right now. the u.s. averaging more than a hundred thousand cases each day for the first time since back in february before vaccines were widely available. the worst of it is in florida where hospitalization records are being shattered both in adults and children. florida also seeing its highest number of weekly covid cases ever. still is state's republican governor ron desanta is

rejecting mask mandates for schools. >> i have young kids. my wife and i are not going to do the mask with the kids. we never have. i want to see my kids smiling. i want them having fun. >> and in what might be the ultimate example of the glass being half full or half empty, the nation's covid vaccination rate now stands at just over 50%, far short of the level experts say is needed for herd immunity. the u.s. again fighting to balance the dangers of the pandemic with the hopes of returning to normal, despite the delta variant causing a massive surge nationwide, hundreds of thousands of bikers gathering in sturgis, south dakota, for an annual motorcycle rally. thep's reporter is there where many are throwing caution to the wind. >> reporter: on monday south dakota's governor kristi noem will hop on a bike and participate in a charity ride. she's among an estimated 700,000

people who will show up to the world's largest motorcycle rally here in sturgis. long-time business owners tell me thanks to the governor's support, events like this can still go on during the pandemic. >> honestly, more than a dozen of people actually put their heads together like they're birds, and oh, god, thank you so much for giving us a place to go and be halfway normal and get away from the hell hole our city game. we like your governor. >> do you think this event will be a super spreader? >> it's highly likely. you can see in the instances in other states where there have been large gatherings. mostly the milwaukee bucks where they had a significant spread. 700,000 people. i wouldn't be surprised if we have a super spreader event there. >> you're worried about covid or the delta varntd? >> i got both my shots. i guess i'm ok. hope. >> what about you? are you worried about covid at

all? >> covid? i got my shots. not at all. nope. >> had it, not concerned at all. >> you wouldn't be here. >> one rider says he keeps a mask in his pak. he said he didn't show up last year and he's still a little worried this year. the big concern among health officials is when participants step inside, for example, crowded bars or tattoo parlors. cnn, sturgis, south dakota. >> let's bring in dr. scott miss koesk, a national consultant for covid testing and doing it from tucson, arizona. good to see you. the good news in the u.s. is nearly 60% of the eligible population, 12 and older, are vaccinated. but is it enough given the veer lens of the delta arm and with

the seven-day average topping 7,000 again. >> that's exactly correct, michael. everybody has heard the concept of herd immunity. we were saying early on, 60, 65%. we have to understand, we have a variant that is so contagious and that is spreading at the rate of chicken pox. it's spreading almost double the rate of what the smallpox has spread, which was obviously we serious, that most of us believe that we're going to need to hit 85% before we can start getting into that next big place of remember, it's suppression, elimination, and eradication. right now we're not even close to any of those. so we need to think 85%. why is that a problem? well, know know probably 12 to 15% of the country won't even dream of getting a vaccine. so anybody eligible needs to get vaccinated. >> that's rather depressing, to

be honest, but yeah, accurate. there's a huge annual motorcycle gathering we mentioned earlier in sturgis, south dakota. up to 700,000 people likely to attend. last year it turned into a super spreader event. what do you think when you see a gathering like this at a time like this? >> you know, my mind, it just looks at that and it just makes me realize i start to count and think do these people realize how many of them are truly just going to die because of that? i mean, that's the case. there will be people that will succumb to covid because they went to that event. which is seeing a mortality rate of 1.8 and it's closing in on 2%. so the super spreader events, i looked at the one in france, you know when they're walking through with a green grass protest, not a mask anymore. and in sturgis, we're not going

see any masks on those individuals. hundreds will die. >> it's a good point. you've mentioned france, in europe we are seeing several countries moving toward green passes, proof you've been vaccinated before you can get into a variety of places but we see the pushback by many people. it's interesting that given we have drivers license and the law says you have to wear a seat belt and we do, why do you think such passes are being so fiercely opposed? they seem to make sense, don't they? >> it makes so much sense, because you know, we have seen that the danger is indoors. indoor environments right now with delta, you know, what we're telling our patients and we're telling groups, if you're unvaccinated and you go into an indoor environment and people have covid, you're going to get it. and i have come up with the fact that i believe cdc and the world health needs to change their guidance to say that it only takes two minutes and six feet.

not 15 minutes. we need to start pushing that so that people understand how easy it is to get the new delta variant. and i -- it's just unfathomable as we watch the hospitals overrun and everyone now is one degree of separation knowing someone with covid. >> the global situation, and in particularly, the low vaccination rates in so many countries, which cannot even get vaccine doses. and the thing that is is mind boggling is meanwhile in the u.s., thousands, thousands of doses are being thrown out because they're out of date and nobody's coming to use them. >> yeah. fortunately i'm in tucson with my group. we have a creative program going on with the mexican government and we are taking the vaccines that are close to expiration and

having the administration time down at the border for high risk and up think it's a great pilot that needs to be expanded, but let's face it, michael, the world needs to be vaccinated before we have this covid moving into the elimination and eradication. we have to find a world -- wait for the world toe come together and the united states and the european union have to take a bigger leadership. yes, we're focussing on our population, but until we start turning to places like africa or some of the other third world countries, we're going to be living with this through 2024 or 2025. >> yeah. it's so clear. variants thrive where there is ram pant spread, so we're going to get another variant as everybody's been saying that could beat these vaccines. we've got to leave it there. thank you so much. >> thank you, michael.

and we are down to the final competitions of the 2020 summer olympics. only a few hours remain before the closing ceremony brings the games to an end. andy shoals is here in atlanta with the very latest. good to see you, andy. the u.s. women's basketball team wins gold yet again. i mean, this is quite a dynasty. >> it certainly is, michael. this is the second straight gold medal for the women's usa basketball team which ties the longest gold medal streak in any sport. brittney griner scoring 30 points to lead the team. basketball legends sue bird and diana taurasi playing their final game together. they go out winning their fifth gold medal, the most by anybody,

man or woman. the u.s. hasn't lost a game in the olympics since 1992. they've won 55 in a row. half of the team, michael, wasn't even born the last time they lost a game. an incredible, incredible run, and they are certainly a dynasty of one of the best of all time in the olympics. >> that puts it in perspective. speaking of athletes in their golden years, the kenyan marathon runner, and the american sprinter, allison fl felix, both impressive. >> the men's marathon he won on the last day of competition by more than 80 seconds. it is the largest margin the event has seen since 1982. at 36 years old, he's the oldest to win the men's marathon since 1984. he owns four olympic medals. he won silver in 2008 and bronze

in 2004. he's the world record holder for a marathon. he became the first man to run a marathon in under two hours. it wasn't done in race conditions. today it was 81% humidity there in tokyo. in case you were won dering, that's 4:54 per mile on average. just incredible. allyson felix with a total of 11 medals making her the most decorated track and field athlete ever passing the great carl lewis. felix and the team winning the 4 by 400 relay by four seconds. an awesome way for felix to spend her career that spanned five olympic games. she first won in the 2004 athen games at the age of 18. she's won medals in the next four olympics.

michael phelps and jenny johnson, the only others to accomplish that feat. felix now, a mother but still on top at 35. to make it back to this olympics was incredible. back in 2008, very kmejing childbirth. her daughter had to spend first few weeks in the nicu. she wanted to come back and be an inspiration to her daughter and really kids everywhere and she's been just that. the current medal table, the u.s. has pulled out in front on the final day. the women's valuable team capturing gold just moments ago. first time ever the u.s. women have won gold in valuable. they have 39 golds, one ahead of china. they have by far the medals in the game. so if things hold, which they should, only a few more events to be completed, looks like the u.s. is going to be the winner of these olympic games. >> great wrapup.

i can't get over, five olympics in track. i mean, that's just -- >> one of the best athletes of our time. >> absolutely right. andy shoals, appreciate it. and closing ceremony for the summer olympics, less than five hours from now, ahead this hour we'll take you live to tokyo for a preview with our blake esseg. later tom daley, diver of great britain shares his way to stay calm. coming back, another provincial capitalists coming under attack. i'll speak to a book author about life under the taliban and ask her what can be done to not return to pre 9/11. >> we're seeing truly flightening fire behavior. i don't know how to overstate that. we have a lot of veteran firefighters who have served for

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welcome back. a worst case scenario looks to be playing out in afghanistan at the moment as the taliban take advantage of the u.s. military exit. now, the u.s. and the uk are already advising their citizens to leave as the taliban pushes on a multi-front offensive on government forces. now, one of the latest points -- flash points is the city of kanduz. it's an important city in the local scene. there has been heavy fighting in the area, casualties on both sides. for months the taliban have been advancing across afghanistan and they're pressing their assault into the major population centers. if kundus falls it would be the third provincial capital. it has been nearly 20 years

since the u.s.-led invasion against afghanistan, there's a risk the country could return to what it was, a haven for jihadists under total taliban rule. >> reporter: the situation in afghanistan is rapidly unraveling, which is why you saw the u.s. embassy come out and urge all americans to leave the country. this comes on the heels of the taliban taking control of two provincial capitals. this is a big deal. they're the first but by no means unfortunately probably the last. three cities are under imminent city. they said in the first six months of this year alone they saw more than 2300 weapon wounded patients. that's more than double the amount they saw in the first six months of last year. we've also heard from the new

u.n. enjoy to afghanistan, she warned that if the international community does not act soon, afghanistan could be a potential catastrophe with few, if any, parallels this century. >> now, for some analysis on afghanistan, i'm joined by ashley jackson. she's co-director at the center for the study of armed groups at the overseas development institute. she's also the author of a forthcoming book about life under the taliban, negotiating sur vooim, civilian slf insurgent relations in afghanistan. it's great to have you with us, doctor. the taliban are a movement committed to force dominating by force of arms. how do you see the next few months or weeks playing out? >> i think that's hard to predict. no one knew when the u.s. forces started to leave initially knew

how fast the taliban would advance. now we can expect them press on. how quickly is anyone's guess. >> there have been words and more words at the u.n., in doha, calling on the taliban to stop fighting and killing. the taliban agreeing to things they never carried outs. the battlefield would suggest the taliban isn't interested in words. it seems clear they never planned to share power or hold back militarily. what is the answer to stop this onward march and what could be a pre 9/11 country again. >> never committed to stopping the war against the afghan government. it was a truce between the u.s. and the taliban for the u.s. to withdraw and get out of the country. this is pretty predictable, honestly. i think the failure of the interafghan negotiations, if

talks between the afghan government and the taliban, they kind of linger on but doesn't really have any significant pressure. you're very right that there are a lot of words, but the international community could be doing far more and we just don't see that happening. >> they say they will not work with al qaeda and things like that and they're shoulder to shoulder in some areas. the thing that is tragedy, and i've been there a couple of times myself, the afghan people, they're always in the middle, exhausted, terrified, trying to survive, civil war, soviet invasion, corrupt central government, warlords and so on. do people support the taliban or are they being bludgeoned into accepting taliban rule or die? >> in talking to people over the years, they're exhausted. as you say, after four decades of conflict, they haven't been

given a choice. they think you have any war, the two afghanistan. people who predominantly in the city who benefitted in the international intervention and jobs and school and all the international aid that reached them. we have a lot of people in the countryside who are the warlords empowered after 9/11 went after them. they gave the taliban an excuse to come back, and it's those people in the rural areas that the taliban now controls who really, i think, have born the brunt of the kwliktd, not only taliban violence but u.s.-led night strikes, air raids, and they are exhausted. they don't support anyone. they just want a break. they just want appeals. >> they're getting beaten up by both sides and for decades, really. for the summertime, it was after 20 years, it was pretty much in the end to a run to the exit and turn off the lights. what are the failures of the

west could things have been different? >> this is the heartbreaking part. it could have been so different. the international intervention was very flawed many many ways but the big flaw is we didn't negotiate with the taliban. in 2001 they wanted to surrender. donald rumsfeld said no. they could have joined the karzai government. in 2011 you see peace negotiations starting or talks about talks starting under obama. the u.s. isn't ready to negotiate. at that appointment, the taliban is making pretty modest demands, and talks fall apart. they're trying to get out and talk, again, because the u.s. isn't ready don't really hatch. now what we've seen with this particularly grammy, as you said, it's really figure leaf to withdraw. you have to get out.

>> real quick. we're almost out of time. i'm wondering your thought in a broader look. you know, you got india and pakistan competing for influence. china, iran, russia, they have their own interests. what's the potential for those interests creating more problems outside georgia's borders? >> it could be catastrophic. empires and all these types of cliches but the truth is it's a regional cross roads. india, iran, russia, china, all these countries fighting for influence in afghanistan to sort of leverage against their perceived enemies. you can see them very easily backing verse factions, inflaming an already-bloody civil conflict for their own short-term onives. what you haven't seen in iran or u.s. trying to lead this is a

real effort to make sure everyone is on the same page. no one throws gasoline on the fire, at the very least, and we have a real kind of full frontal effort around these regional countries for peace. that's really the thing, crucial to pursue. >> exactly. as we said earlier, the civilians in the middle, hundreds of thousands, internally displaced or fled the country all together. got to leave it there. appreciate your expertise on this. thank you. >> thank you. >> now meanwhile we've just got news that the taliban have seized kanduz, the city we were talking about earlier. now they control three provincial capitals. initially reported heavy fighting in the city. casualties on both sides. we can't independently confirm this taliban claim but it would appear that kanduz has fallen.

a girl from a nigerian town is free after seven years being captured by boko haram. she turned herself in along with a boko haram fighter she said she had married. she's being reunited with her parents. there was a raid on their school that sparked an international outside cry. about 113 of the girls are believed to be still being held. now, to final olympic events taking place right now as we speak. we'll update you on who's leading the medal cup, what the plans are for the closing ceremony as well. also when we return, wildfires raging so badly in greece, hundreds of people were forced to jump into the sea to escape the flames. that's after the break. and here.

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and welcome back to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. appreciate your company. i'm michael holmes. you're watching "cnn newsroom." lets get you up to date on the medal standings as the tokyo olympics near completion. the u.s. has secured its itself at the top of the list with most golds and most medals overall. host japan had the third highest gold haul of the game.

they had a pretty good run. as competition wraps up tokyo preparing for the closing ceremony. that will be a little over four hours from now, so why don't we pop over to tokyo. blake is standing by there. it's all going to be happening. what might we expect? there wasn't a lot of detail about what was going to happen but there obviously won't be the atmosphere of closing ceremonies of years gone by. >> reporter: you know, michael, for now we really don't know much about the closing ceremony, although standing outside today we've heard relersing going on. lots of commotion. some dramatic music being played action a precursor of what to expect tomorrow. the theme is the world we share. organizers saying the idea being that even if we can't be together we can share the moment and open the door to a brighter future. as we step back and reflect, these olympic games have been

anything but normal. we expected that. here on the ground it's been very much a tale of two cities. on the one hand, the constant protests and constant opposition to these games hasn't lessened but many people have tuned in to watch. right now as i look up and down the street surrounding the national stadium, there are hundreds of people gathering just to take a picture of the stadium. very similar to what we saw on the opening ceremony. but rather than a shift in support for the games as a whole, many people i've spoken with thought the past two weeks say that they specifically tuned in to support the athletes rather than the olympic movement as a whole. even though cases within the olympic bubble have remained relatively low, health and safety remains a serious concern, especially given the surge in cases in tokyo and around the country. despite a state of emergency order put in place, medical

professionals say they're not taking it seriously. that's because of the mixed messages by the government. the prime minister has come out and said that the olympics has not resulted in the increase of covid-19 infections but medical professionals warn as a result of the olympics increasing the flow of people the case counts could triple in the coming weeks. michael. >> all right, blake, thank you. outside the stadium there in tokyo. appreciate it. we'll take a quick break. when we return, heat fueling massive wildfires in europe and north america. we'll hear why it's anything but a normal fire season.

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♪ put a little love in your heart - david ruffin ♪ my bad, my bad... good race! -you too! you were tough out there... thank you, i'm getting you next time though. oh i got you, i got you. hamblin goes down. d'agostino helps hamblin back up. are you okay? -yeah. more than 100 wildfires are currently burning across the u.s., fueled in part by severe droughts in the west. the largest is california's

dixie fire which has scorched nearly 450,000 acres so far. to give you a sense of the scale of that, that's more than twice the size of new york city. right now, the fire is only 21% contained and is still growing. cnn's camilla bernall is in the town of chico. >> reporter: it's dry and it's hot and the fire is spreading so quickly that in many cases it's impossible to stop. firefighters with 20, 30 years of experience say that they've never seen a fire like this one. they describe the dixie fire as having frightening behavior. over the weekend, the task is to find people who are unaccounted for. they've found some but they will continue to search over the next couple of days. firefighters are working around the clock to contain the dixie fire, which has already destroyed about 200 structures. they say that about 14,000

others are still at risk. the river fire, which is about a hundred miles from where i am at the moment, also destroying about a hundred structures, so a lot of work still to be done in this area. these two fires are essentially surrounding the town of paradise, which was destroyed in 2008 by the camp fire. we spoke to franci lamb who owned a home in paradise and lost everything she had. she said she understands what people are going through right now who have lost everything. >> i will take them in in a heartbeat. they need a place to shower. they need a place to get some food. they need a place to sleep. and they need to be hugged. they need to be held and told them that it will get better. it will get better. it did get better for us but it took a long time, a long time. >> after the camp fire, she bought an rv full of food and supplies. she's ready to go in case she

has to evacuate one more time. she is dealing with the smoke, as are many other people in this area. some of the counties telling people not to go outside because the air quality is unhealthy. that smoke is affecting not just people in this state but in other states that are nowhere near this fire. chico, california. >> and dozens of wildfires are burning across kbrooes. officials say firefighters are waging a, quote, very big battle, especially with this huge fire on the island of ibia. all the residents there are being evacuated to the coast. the coast guard actually had to rescue about 1400 people on friday who were forced to escape by sea. i'm joined now from a town just outside athens in greece. bring us up to date on what you've been seeing. it looks like devastation behind

you. >> it is complete devastation behind me. we're looking at one of the areas that has suffered immense damages from the big athens fire. luckily, this fire is now under control. there are fears of it rekindling because the temperatures are high and the winds are very strong. we have seen a lot of politician, a lot of firefighters here on alert. as you can see, this beautiful forest has completely burned down. it is an area that the citizens consider as the lungs of athens. so we're looking at immense destruction. we went for walk around this area, talked to some locals. let's take a listen. it was another long night for firefighters in greece. exhausted figures moving like shadows in the darkness, battling a wall of orange flames to try to save the houses in this neighborhood in an athens suburb. lifts the buckets of water at the names but they still burned.

light of day brings little relief. it's easier to see the extent of the damage. the question many people are waking up to, what, if anything, can be sag vajd. local resident shows us what is left of his home. the place his family has lived in for generations now reduced to twisted mettle and shattered bricks. [ speaking foreign language ] >> translator: we are looking at 30 years work. my parents, i got the house from them, 30 years of work here. they have had also taken the house from my grandmother. how will i be able to rebuild what was there? >> his loss shared by thousands in greece. the government says it plans to reimburse people affected by the fires but right now it's just trying to save lives. until a couple of days this was a popular tavern. now it's just one of the a dozen

of buildings burnt. greek authorities are trying to put out the flames but the destruction is immense. local residents have told us at least three quarters of the homes have been destroyed. much of the forest surrounding athens have been destroyed. officials say climate change contributed to the high temperatures and dry companies that turned the areas into tinderboxes. the greek prime minister says the land will be reforested. the charred landscape of this man's beloved city represents an even bigger disaster. [ speaking foreign language ] >> translator: we are talking acts the lungs of athens. this area is a living lung for athens. right now the flames over come them. it doesn't matter where in athens you live. we all take oxygen from here. >> reporter: there are small signs of perseverance. volunteers pick up dogs lost in the fires.

utility crews work to fix damaged powerlines. it's a long way forward before these streets feel like home again. it's going to take a while before many places in greece feel like home again. there's a huge fire raging on the island of evian. villages are still being evacuated. people are being moved to the sea front of the beach so they can be evacuated by boats. other fires here as well. we're looking at another day ahead with difficult conditions in greece, michael. >> dreadful. it really is. thanks for your reporting on this just outside of athens. thank you. our meteorologist is joining us to tell us more about the fires waging in southern europe. what are you seeing? >> yeah. it's just the assault that the firefighters are putting on these blazes right now, it's stunning. literally thousands of people

from volunteers to full-time firefighters on the ground and in the air as well. this is a heavy lift helicopter that actually has the capability of holding 10,000 liters of water or roughly 2600 gallons of water making multiple rounds and multiple trips on the spot fires going on. today, however, summed, august 8th, we have a very high fire risk, of course, that continues with the ongoing drought, lack of rain, the high temperatures, and the winds that continue to fan the flames. that is a level four out of five out of a scale from the greek ministry of civil protection. now, in terms of the past 24 hours, this is astounding, nearly a hundred wildfires have started. there's 55 of them active. as you can imagine, firefighters continue to make some grounds and some improvements on the situation on the ground as the weather permits. so what will the weather hold over the next 36 hours? crucial moments for this region. you can see today, this evening

around 5:00 p.m. local time we anticipate the winds to gust anywhere from 30 to 40 kilometers per hour. monday, the computer model's not picking up o on the strong winds we experienced last week. nevertheless, you can see the direction of the wind coming out of the north. this is a smoke forecast. some of the ongoing wildfires across southwestern portions of turkey and into the grooek isles just outside athens, starting to see the smoke drift into the mediterranean. wildfires not confined to greece and turkey. italy, you can see some hot fire spots there. no rain in this forecast, unfortunately. we would need some precipitation and the extreme heat is going to continue with daytime highs in athens creeping up into the middle 30s. that's roughly the middle 90s. michael. >> appreciate that, derrick.

derrick van dam. thank you. now, this developing story we've been following this hour. anybody of the provincial council in afghanistan hoping to see an end but most of the capital has fall open the taliban. testimony airport, not yet under taliban control and that's significant. kanduz, the taliban claiming that all parts of the city were tony taken. cnn cannot independently confirm the taliban angle on that. we will take a quick break. when we return, an olympic champion in the pool and a master will rule outside. we'll speak with tom daley about his time at the tokyo olympics. - oh. - what? rain. cancel and stay? done. go with us and get millions of felelixble booking options. expedia. it matters whoho you travel with.

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♪ welcome back. the british diver tom daley is taking home two medals from the tokyo games, a gold and a bronze. but perhaps his most talked about moments have come outside the pool. he was frequently spotted

knitting when not in competition, much to the delight of those who social media. the diver shared his olympic experiences with our will ripley. >> i'm someone that really struggles to sit still. i'm a fidgeter, i'm someone that feels like -- if there's a cupboard or something that needs took sorted through, i have to do that, i can't sit still and do nothing. it was great to sit back, relax, knit, have something to stay calm, focused mindful. i knit, i crochet, i basically do it everywhere. this morning i made a little cosy for my medals to stop them getting scratched. >> are you going to make another thing for that medal? >> i've been asked if i'm going to make another medal pouch, i was thinking a hat or scarf, i don't know, it gets cold in london. >> you talked about mindfulness, you talked about visualizing your dives. that was fascinating because

mental health has been at the forefront of the conversation this olympics. what have you learned from rio that you put into practice that led to winning your gold and bronze? >> in rio i was heartbroken over how the event went. i came away with the bronze medal, then the individual event, completely heartbroken. afterwards my husband said to me, maybe it wasn't to be. the reason i didn't win a gold medal was our future child was meant to see me win an olympic gold. the fact that my son got to watch me win an olympic gold is so special to me. and i cannot wait to be able to tell him more stories as hi gets older. >> what did you think when you saw that video of your husband, and it was your mom, right? that was amazing. >> yeah, i mean, lance was screaming very loud. >> have you ever seen him scream like that before? >> yes, on roller coasters, he screams quite a lot like that. but you know, it's just -- i think, you know, behind these

medals it's not just me. it's my coaches, my support team that are around me. then most importantly, my husband, my mom, who were there, who have loved me and supported me through this whole thing and have allowed me to fly higher than i ever thought i might. i have a lot to thank them for. >> you are now a television personality, gold medalist, husband, and father. >> yes. >> how's that going? >> i mean, being a parent is the best thing in the whole world. and i have loved every second of it. there was a lot of sleepless nights at the beginning. he's just the best. he inspires me every single day. he gets me excited about the world again and what the future might hold. >> you're still so young but you speak with wisdom of somebody who's older. where did that come from? >> i mean, i think i've had to grow up pretty quickly. i was 14 at my first olympic games. i started traveling on my own, like to australia without my parents, when i was 10 years old. so you kind of have to grow up quite quickly. also losing a parent when i was 17 years old. i all of a sudden had to take on

quite a lot of responsibilities. but i don't know, i think i've always kind of been a little bit of an older soul. >> a great interview. our will ripley speaking with tom daley. the closing ceremony now just a few hours away. i'm going to show you live pictures in tokyo as competition winds down. do be sure to stick around with us for the latest on the final olympic action. thanks for spending part of your day with me. i'm michael holmes. you can follow me on twitter and instagram. kim brunhuber has more "cnn news room" in just a moment.

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