Former Olympians turn to the ‘dark side’
Athletes trade competition for broadcast booth
Clara Hughes is known for her incredible pain tolerance and ability to gut out the toughest of races — on her skates and on her road bike.
Today, the six-time Olympic medallist stands at the start line of a gruelling marathon of a different kind, covering the victories and defeats for Canadian athletes over 17 days at the Rio Games with CBC.
“This is my third broadcasting Olympics and one thing I’ve learned is that broadcasters count how many Games they’ve been to as well,” Hughes, 43, said in a rare quiet moment at Canada House before the opening ceremony. “I love being on the other side — the dark side. I love telling the stories of these athletes.”
The task is daunting with CBC offering more than 900 hours on its English-language channels and 4,000-plus hours of live streaming on the network’s website and app (TSN and Sportsnet are also partners). To do so, the public broadcaster relies heavily on a cast of Olympians-turned-journalists to provide expertise and analysis.
Another, Kyle Shewfelt, is bouncing in his seat on the bus with sheer excitement through the Rio Olympic Park. The nerves are there for Shewfelt, but he’s positively chilled compared to the way he felt in the lead-up to his gold-medal performance in the floor exercise at the 2004 Athens Games.
“The pressure, it’s a lot different,” he said. “As an athlete, I would lie in bed in the days leading up to the competition and I would feel that adrenalin rush. I would feel that sickness — the feeling that ‘Oh my gosh, it’s here.’ You’ve worked for 16 years of your life for that one competition.
“As a broadcaster and journalist, you can always do more to prepare. But at a certain point, you have to trust you know what you need to know in terms of the rules and the technicalities.”
Upon retiring from competition, hurdler Perdita Felicien went back to school to study broadcast journalism and worked as a video journalist for CHCH in Hamilton, Ont.
These days, she is the one asking the questions in Rio and she says life on the other side is different.
“You’re not as popular when you’re no longer an athlete,” Felicien said with a laugh. “You don’t get the same love. But seriously, I still get stressed when I’m covering an event.”