![]() ![]() What he neglected to say was this: Sanders shares the swimming assignment with three men, Lewis joins four men on track and field, and Miller will share basketball duties with four men, including Magic Johnson. " Cheryl Miller on men's and women's basketball, Carol Lewis on men's and women's track and field, Beth Ruyak and Elfi Schlegel on gymnastics, Mary Carillo on men's and women's tennis, Summer Sanders on swimming. Markey put up a spirited defense of the network, pointing out that many of the 11 women in the reporting and commentating corps had drawn plum assignments. If it pulls in Tesh, why not some more women?Ī six-day effort to reach an NBC executive for comment produced no results. The network has to cast a wide net for this talent. NBC can and does hire on-air talent specifically for the Games. Because the Games are unique, the usual rules of the industry shouldn't apply. The number of prominent female athletes is very limited, and so, by extension, is the pool of women with the potential to become full-time retirees-turned-broadcasters.īut the Olympics are a different breed of TV sports, catering to a different audience (51 percent female in 1992), presented more like a blockbuster miniseries rather than a season-long show. They were hired for their playing success, then cultivated as broadcasters. They didn't end up in front of the camera, wearing silly blazers, because they were the best broadcasters available. These ex-athletes are all under contract to cover the staples of sports television - the NFL and NBA. NBC's crew in Atlanta will include Phil Simms on weightlifting, Bill Walton on volleyball and Cris Collinsworth in track and field. ![]() Part of the problem is the industry of sportscasting. The network has not gambled quite so boldly with women broadcasters. But back in '92, NBC decided to take a chance on him, to create an opportunity. If the network set its standards that high and still picked Tesh, someone in personnel needs a lesson in hustle.Īt this point, because of his work in Barcelona, Tesh has better credentials than a lot of other candidates. "We want the best broadcasters available," NBC spokesman Ed Markey said. It's hard to imagine NBC begging anyone to take that microphone. If anything, Tesh seemed like a desperate choice.īut gymnastics is the most heavily viewed sport in the Games. It's not as if Demi Moore or Sharon Stone were about to turn up on the balance beam. He wasn't bad, but he hardly seemed like an obvious choice for the job. Tesh's credentials include a decade-long run at the anchor desk of "Entertainment Tonight," a long-ago spell as a cycling reporter for CBS Sports and occasional work with NBC Sports, including the 1992 Games. The champ in that category would have to be John Tesh, who is supplementing his singing career with gymnastics coverage. If the 40 men were all exceptionally qualified, the statistics might not be such a disappointment.
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