A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
An editor has nominated this article for deletion. You are welcome to participate in the deletion discussion, which will decide whether or not to retain it. |
The following is a list of commentators[1] to be featured in CBC Television's Olympic Games coverage.
Hosts
Ted Reynolds joined the CBC in 1956 and covered numerous sports and events, notably the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, Pan American Games and Grey Cup. He provided commentary for 23 sports and 10 Olympiads.
CBC's 1968 Summer Olympic host Lloyd Robertson was praised by The Globe and Mail writer Leslie Millin for his cool demeanour in the face of many technical glitches including "strange breaks, noises, lapses and unscheduled fade-outs." Millin applauded Robertson, normally a newscaster, for "working with the grace and agility of a man hired to stamp grapes in a Sicilian winery."[10]
Brian Williams[11] was the principal studio anchor for CBC's Olympic Games coverage for the 1984 Winter, 1984 Summer, 1988 Winter, 1988 Summer, 1992 Winter, 1996 Summer, 1998 Winter, 2000 Summer, 2002 Winter, 2004 Summer and 2006 Winter Olympics.
Terry Leibel became the first woman to co-host CBC Sports Olympic coverage during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia. She also covered the 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympic Games and the 2004 Summer Olympic Games. She earned Gemini Award nominations for her work in the Atlanta and Sydney Olympics and won a 2003 Gemini Award becoming the first female sports broadcaster to do so.[12] She was also the first woman to do play-by-play for the Olympics, handling cycling, equestrian and white-water events for NBC Sports during the Summer Games in Barcelona in 1992.
Scott Russell was the network's top broadcaster for gymnastics and has covered them at the Olympic Games of 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008*, 2012, 2016, and 2020 (delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic until 2021), the 1994 Commonwealth Games and the 1999 Pan American Games. (* - He was the host for the second half of the 2008 Summer Olympics, since the previous host, Ron MacLean's.[13] mother died).
Dave Randorf hosted TSN's coverage of the 2000 Summer Olympics, 2002 Winter Olympics, 2004 Summer Olympics, and 2010 Winter Olympics. Working for Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium, Randorf co-hosted the CTV Olympic Morning block during the 2012 Summer Olympics.[14]
Alexandre Despatie joined the broadcast team for Canada's French-language television coverage of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver during a brief break from training for the 2012 Games. He co-anchored the coverage of the opening and closing ceremonies alongside legendary Quebec hockey commentators Richard Garneau and Pierre Houde, narrated numerous athlete profiles, and took viewers on a tour of Granville Island, where many francophone musicians performed during the Olympics.
Kelly VanderBeek worked as an analyst/host during the Vancouver Olympics and London Olympics for CTV, continuing with the Sochi Olympics with CBC. She hosted the Raising an Olympian features and was a part of the PrimeTime Panel discussing hot topics from the day in sport. She has also worked as a guest host for Sportsnet, CBC, and Sportscene. In 2018, Vanderbeek provided daily CBC Olympic Overnight Show co-host duties, alongside Craig McMorris at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.[15]
Craig McMorris has worked as an analyst for the CBC since 2014, providing snowboarding commentary at the 2014 Winter Olympics, 2018 Winter Olympics, and the 2022 Winter Olympics. He served as cultural content for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, and he also worked as a commentator for the CBC at the 2020 Summer Olympics, covering skateboarding in its Olympic debut.[16]
Andi Petrillo anchored CBC's coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi Russia. On October 24, 2015, CBC Sports launched a new show, Road to the Olympic Games, which Petrillo co-hosted with veteran sportscaster Scott Russell. CBC owns the Olympic rights in Canada until the 2032 Games, and the show features elite high-performance athletes. Andrew Chang was also a part of CBC's broadcast team for the 2014 Winter Olympics.[17][18]
In 2018, Perdita Felicien joined the CBC TV network broadcasting the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in South Korea and later the Tokyo Olympics (2021).
By event
Winter Olympics
1992
Steve Armitage reported on and hosted Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts for the Vancouver Canucks for nearly 30 years,[19] the Canadian Football League and Grey Cup for 30 years, the Olympics including speed skating, swimming and diving, and the World Cup. Armitage was laid off by the CBC in August 2014 due to cuts to sports programming and the loss of hockey coverage to Rogers Media.[20] He did, however, return to work for CBC at the 2018 and 2022 Olympics to call events such as long track speed skating. Armitage announced his retirement at the conclusion of the 2022 Winter Olympics.[21]
1998
Bob Cole's work during CBC's broadcasts of the Olympic ice hockey have also become memorable among legions of Canadians. His call on the final shot of the shootout in the semi-final game of the 1998 Winter Olympics at Nagano between Canada and the Czech Republic represented Canada's then-ongoing failure at the games and haunted fans for the next four years. With Canada scoreless in the shootout and Brendan Shanahan representing their last chance, Cole said in a panicked voice as Shanahan skated in towards Czech goalie Dominik Hasek, "He's gotta score, that's all!" But Shanahan was stopped by Hasek, prompting Cole to dejectedly say "No, he can't do it."[29]
At the gold medal game of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City between Canada and the United States, Cole's animated call of Joe Sakic's second goal of the game is also one of his more memorable moments. Also, when Jarome Iginla scored Canada's fourth goal of the game, with four minutes remaining in the third period, Cole was so excited when the goal was scored he yelled out "GORE!" (a hybrid of "goal" and "score"), and then proceeded to call out "Goal, Canada! Goal! Wow! A lot of Canadian fans here! The place goes crazy here in Salt Lake City, and I guess coast to coast in Canada, and all around the world!" When Sakic scored Canada's fifth goal with 1:20 remaining, Cole yelled out "Scores! Joe Sakic scores! And that makes it 5–2 Canada! Surely, that's gotta be it!" As the final seconds of the game ticked away, and as the crowd broke out in perfect unison singing "O Canada", Cole said, "Now after 50 years, it's time for Canada to stand up and cheer. Stand up and cheer everybody! The Olympics Salt Lake City, 2002, men's ice hockey, gold medal: Canada!"[30][31]
With an average Canadian audience of 10.6 million viewers, that game was the most-watched CBC Sports program, beating the previous record of 4.957 million viewers for Game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals (the final game of the 1972 Summit Series between an NHL all-star team and the Soviet Union, which had been the most-watched sports program Canadian television history, was simulcast on CBC and CTV while Cole called the game on CBC Radio), in which the New York Rangers won their first Stanley Cup in 54 years, beating the Vancouver Canucks, another moment Cole himself called: "Here comes the faceoff and blare it Manhattan! The New York Rangers have done it here on a hot June night in New York! The Rangers are Stanley Cup Champions!"[32]
Harry Neale began working as a broadcaster full-time in 1986, where he was teamed with play-by-play man Bob Cole on CBC. Together, the pair broadcast 20 Stanley Cup Finals, the 1998, 2002, 2006 Winter Olympics, the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, and 2004 World Cup of Hockey for CBC. At the gold medal game of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City between Canada and the United States, after Joe Sakic scored Canada's fifth goal with 1:20 remaining, he replied to his partner, Bob Cole's call as, "That's more than enough. Take a look at the Canadian bench. If you doubt by what I say, that's more than enough."
Sandra Bezic served as a commentator for NBC during the 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014 Olympic games, the World Figure Skating Championships during the early 1990s, and numerous other skating events broadcast by NBC and CBC over the years.
Don Duguid also provided curling commentary for NBC at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin with Don Chevrier, and with Andrew Catalon and Colleen Jones at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
2002
2006
Since joining CBC Sports, Bruce Rainnie has broadcast four Olympic games (2000, 2002, 2004, & 2006). In 2006, he called the gold medal performance of the Canadian Women's Hockey team. Also in 2006, Rainnie was first on the scene to interview Brad Gushue after his rink won gold in Men's Curling. In 2007, Rainnie replaced the retiring Don Wittman as CBC's lead curling commentator.[43]
A six-time medalist at the Canadian Championships, Brian Stemmle currently works as a television colour commentator for Rogers Sportsnet. He worked for CBC during the Olympics in 2006 and was the lead commentator for Alpine Skiing at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver/Whistler.