DIVING RIGHT IN
Time for athletes to grab spotlight from Rio’s problems — or not
NBC is hoping you’ve heard the last about polluted water, doping, the Zika virus or any other of the Olympic storylines that have dominated the months leading into the Rio Games.
Bob Costas hosted a one-hour special on those calamities on Thursday night, but it won’t be the last of NBC’s coverage of them if problems persist.
“Hopefully these other issues will not rear their head. If they do, we’ll be there to cover them,” Mark Lazarus, the chairman of NBC Sports, said last month.
Dan Patrick, who will be hosting NBC’s daytime coverage and ar- rived in Brazil on Monday, has been through this drill before. He was there in London in 2012 and Sochi in 2014 when the world was ready to pounce on any five-ring disasters. But any incidents during those games were minor blips that did not overshadow the events.
“Leading up to it there’s no games to talk about, there’s no performances to talk about,” Patrick said. “Once it happens, when Katie Ledecky is on the verge of six medals or Michael Phelps is winning another gold or Simone Biles is entertaining a nation, that’s when everyone gets caught up with it.
“Let’s see how it plays out. I may be naïve, but I’ve just experienced it too many times before where it’s gloom and doom and it turns out occasionally there’s a rainbow.”
And there will be plenty of opportunities to admire those rainbows. The NBC family of networks will produce a staggering 6,755 hours of programming throughout the 16 days of events. That will kick off with the opening ceremony Friday at 7:30 p.m.
As opposed to past Games, and with only a one-hour difference between Rio and the East Coast, NBC will not take a beating for tape delaying the most-hyped sports such as swimming, gymnastics and track and field.
“You are an air traffic controller and you are landing a lot of planes,” said Patrick, whose role at NBC will expand to include host of “Sports Jeopardy” later this month.
“And that could be fun. Instead of tape delay, it’s happening in real time. There’s no consumer fraud. This is where it is if you want to go watch it and then come back here if you want.”
Patrick recalled fondly interviewing swimming sensation Missy Franklin and her parents in London four years ago when the then 17-year-old won four gold medals. Now it is Ledecky, 19, who could become America’s temporary sweetheart both challenging Franklin and teaming up with her.
“Seeing Franklin in a different role and watching Katie Ledecky, who is now the new Missy Franklin, just that transition period of how quickly it can pass you by,” Patrick said. “Gabby Douglas was the darling in 2012 in gymnastics, now it’s Simone Biles. But they are right there together, they are on the same team. Those kind of dynamics are really interesting.”