FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, February 23rd, 2018
2018 PYEONGCHANG WINTER OLYMPICS – FEB. 23 PRIMETIME HIGHLIGHTS ON NBC AND NBCSN
“This is the biggest night in U.S. curling history. This morning by phone, they got a pep talk from Mr. T. I pity the Swedes.” – Mike Tirico ahead of tonight’s USA-Sweden men’s gold medal game, live on NBCSN at 1 a.m. ET
“He may have been best known for loaning his coat to Red Gerard to go out and win the gold in slopestyle. Loaning that coat proves to be good karma.” – Todd Harris on American snowboarder Kyle Mack winning silver in big air
“Snowboarding is moving forward at such a crazy rate right now. It’s the simple tricks that will keep us grounded.” – Todd Richards
“It was one of the greatest nights of skating that I’ve ever witnessed.” – Scott Hamilton on the ladies’ free skate
Saturday’s Live Primetime Coverage on NBC Features the Figure Skating Gala and Four-Man Bobsled Final Runs
STAMFORD, Conn. – February 23, 2018 – Saturday’s coverage of the XXIII Olympic Winter Games from PyeongChang, South Korea, is highlighted by:
- NBC’s primetime presentation, which begins at 8 p.m. ET live across all time zones, featuring the figure skating gala. The U.S. will be represented by 2018 Olympic ice dance bronze medalists Maia and Alex Shibutani, as well as Madison Hubbell and Zach Donahue. All three ladies’ medalists, Alina Zagitova, Yevgenia Medvedeva, and Kaetlyn Osmond are also expected to perform;
- Live primetime coverage on NBC of the four-man bobsled final runs, featuring 23-year-old Codie Bascue, who has emerged as Team USA’s best four-man pilot;
- Live coverage of the women’s curling gold medal final on NBCSN at 7 p.m. ET, featuring host nation South Korea vs. Sweden, followed by live coverage of the men’s hockey gold medal game, featuring Olympic Athletes from Russia vs. Germany, at 10:30 p.m. ET.
Following are highlights from tonight’s evening and primetime coverage of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics on the networks of NBCUniversal:
SNOWBOARDING – NBC
Play-by-play commentator Todd Harris on Team USA’s Kyle Mack, who won silver: “Prior to this event, he may have been best known for loaning his coat to Red Gerard to go out and win the gold in slopestyle. Loaning that coat proves to be good karma.”
Analyst Todd Richards on American Chris Corning nearly landing a quad 1800: “Watch the amount of whirling. The kid is like a human Cuisinart.”
Richards on overall reception of big air competition in its Olympic debut and state of snowboarding: “What a great showing for big air, both on the women’s side and the men’s side. We’ve seen so much progression. Snowboarding is in such a crazy place right now. It’s moving forward at such a crazy rate right now. It’s the simple tricks that will keep us grounded and keep us enjoying snowboarding for years to come.”
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ALPINE SKIING – NBC
Analyst Bode Miller on debut of the team event featuring head-to-head skiing: “This is a different format. When you are right next to another athlete that you can see and they’re in your field of vision, it gets intimidating when you see them in front of you. You start taking too much risk and it can cost you.”
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SPEED SKATING – NBC
Analyst Joey Cheek on Dutch speed skater Kjeld Nuis’s stretch to the finish line to win gold in the 1000m: “What a battle between two great Olympic champions…it was battle from ‘go.’ It was so close, but he wins it right here – this is the biggest stretch to stop the clock I have ever seen in a 1000m race.”
Cheek on South Korea’s Kim Tae-Yun, who won the bronze medal: “That’s the race of a lifetime. His best finish this year was 10th before coming into this race.”
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BOBSLED – NBC
During primetime coverage of the four-man bobsled, NBC aired a feature on Olympic bobsled gold medalist Steven Holcomb, who passed away last year. Click here to watch NBC Olympics’ feature on Holcomb.
Play-by-play commentator Leigh Diffey on U.S. men’s bobsled pilot Justin Olsen: “If racing here with thoughts of the late Steve Holcomb isn’t difficult enough, when he arrived here in PyeongChang, he was raced to the hospital on February 5th for an emergency appendectomy.”
Analyst John Morgan on the state of U.S. bobsledding: “The U.S. has three great start teams. The U.S. usually only had one great start team. I think it’s the Steve Holcomb legacy and success from 2010 and 2014 that has produced these great athletes coming into the sport.”
Morgan on the sled piloted by Olsen: “There are three military guys in this sled. The only one that’s not is Carlo Valdes, the UCLA track and field athlete. He said they try and recruit him into the military every day.”
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CURLING – NBC
Primetime host Mike Tirico previewed tonight’s gold medal men’s curling game between Team USA and Sweden during NBC’s primetime coverage. NBCSN’s coverage begins tonight at 1 a.m. ET.
Tirico on tonight’s gold medal game: “This is the biggest night in U.S. curling history. People are coming out of the woodwork getting into curling and getting behind this team. This morning by phone, they got a pep talk from Mr. T. I pity the Swedes, who are the opponent in this matchup.”
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MEN’S BIATHLON – NBCSN
Play-by-play commentator Bill Seward on Austrian biathlete Dominik Landertinger: “It’s a humdinger for Landertinger.”
Seward on Swedish biathlete Fredrik Lindstroem as he crosses the finish line to win gold in the men’s 4×7.5km relay: “Got to have a flag. He has got the right suit, on the right day, at the right time, and for Fredrik Lindstroem, how sweet it is.”
Seward on German biathlete Simon Schempp: “With a little less emotion here comes Schempp. Only this time it is for the bronze, and to wrap it up for the relay team.”
Analyst Chad Salmela on Schempp: “Not happy with his performance, clearly. He had a shot of the gold, and knows it. But he is lucky to have a cushion over Austria.”
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OLYMPIC ICE PRESENTED BY TOYOTA – NBCSN
Olympic Ice Presented by Toyota is NBCSN’s live, daily figure skating studio show.
Olympic Ice analyst Scott Hamilton on performance by Yevgenia Medvedeva: “That was probably one of the best long programs I’ve ever seen her skate. Top to bottom, artistically, technically, it was a master class.”
Hamilton on the battle for gold between Medvedeva and Zagitova: “It was one of the greatest nights of skating that I’ve ever witnessed.”
Hamilton on the United States’ performance: “Whatever the expectations were, they just weren’t quite 100 percent as focused and confident as they needed to be in these situations. I think U.S. figure skating is going to take a really long, hard look at just the entire team … It just comes down to what do we need to be doing differently as an association? I think that’s what U.S. figure skating really has to look at in order for our athletes to be chiseled.”
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ABOUT NBC OLYMPICS
A division of NBC Sports Group, NBC Olympics is responsible for producing, programming and promoting NBCUniversal’s Olympic Games coverage. It is renowned for its unsurpassed Olympic heritage, award-winning production, and ability to aggregate the largest audiences in U.S. television history. NBCUniversal owns the U.S. media rights on all platforms to all Olympic Games through 2032.
— PYEONGCHANG 2018 —
