Who does Olys on TV best? ... Color commentator for '72 10K?

[BillVol]

ABC or NBC? I don't believe CBS has ever done them. I have to say I miss the voice of the great Jim McKay, although I think he did some brief pieces for NBC at the last Games. But NBC was great with MSNBC and I believe CNBC. Maybe some other channel, too. I also got the "TripleCast" for Barcelona and it was very good. No commercials.

Speaking of ABC, I have a question. On one of the Pre movies, they had the actual ABC footage of the 1972 10000M. I believe McKay did the announcing. But who was the color commentator? I remember his line from the movie that was something like, "I think Pre will win the 10000 meters at the Olympics...but not at this Olympics." Since seeing that movie, I've wondered who that color commentator was. Thanks for any help.

[Conor Dary]

Re: Who does Olys on TV best? ... Color commentator for '72

That was Erich Segal. Famous jogging author, whose most memorable line was 'they're running between 60 and 70 seconds per lap' while commenting on the 10,000. He also worked the '76 Olympics. Fortunately, the US didn't go in 1980 and so that was the end of Mr. Segal's career.

[marathonman]

Re: Who does Olys on TV best? ... Color commentator for '72

ABC by far. NBC is getting a bit better especially with Frank Shorter commentating on the marathon. But miss ABC being the Olympic network. Believe Bill Rodgers did commentary on the marathon for 1984 LA Games. Think he did pretty good too.

[MJD]

Re: Who does Olys on TV best? ... Color commentator for '72

>That was Erich Segal. Famous jogging author,

He has to take the blame for "Love Story" too. Buddy of Al Gore.

[gh]

Re: Who does Olys on TV best? ... Color commentator for '72

Don't forget he was one of the co-authors of the screenplay for "Yellow Submarine"!!

More than his call on the 10K, I recall his hilarious shrieking when the imposter came into the stadium ahead of Shorter and he was yelling someting like "It's yours Frank!" As I recall, Shorter was in one of his classes at Yale and that's how he got the gig to begin with.

For extra credit, what was the name of the imposter? (I almost got sacked; didn't know that Bert Nelson had decreed that his name not appear in print, so as not to give him any credit for his jape, and just before the issue went to press I--the lowly statistician--saw "the imposter" and changed it to......)

[EPelle]

Re: Who does Olys on TV best? ... Color commentator for '72

Al Michaels would do a fantastic job as an Olympic commentator... fared very well during several Dream Mile live broadcasts from Olso in the 80s.

[Bob Duncan]

Re: Who does Olys on TV best? ... Color commentator for '72

>>That was Erich Segal. Famous jogging author,

He has to take the blame for
>"Love Story" too. Buddy of Al Gore.

Also wrote the screenplay for the horrible Olympics film, "The Games", where Ryan O'Neal was a marathoner. If you ever get a chance to watch this movie...don't!

I guess Segal's claim to fame was he was "hot" around 1972 because of "Love Story" and he had personally run the Boston Marathon.

[fizbin]

Re: Who does Olys on TV best? ... Color commentator for '72

>ABC or NBC?

NBC 1992 Barcelona TripleCast. Best ever, bar none.

[marathonman]

Re: Who does Olys on TV best? ... Color commentator for '72

True it was very good but wasn't it expensive for most folks? Aren't there two other networks providing free Olympic coverage for the Athens Games?

[Conor Dary]

Re: Who does Olys on TV best? ... Color commentator for '72

My other great memory of Segal was the 76 marathon. The numbers the runners wore in the race were very difficult to read so identifying runners by their bibs was not very easy. However, for about half the race Segal and McKay kept wondering where Canada's Jerome Drayton was. This went on and on. Of course, the whole time Drayton was in the lead pack and even occasionally leading. This was obvious to anyone with an interest in distance running since Drayton had been a marathon star for a decade.

Perhaps Segal thought he was still competing as Peter Buniak. (See early trivia question.)

[Dutra]

Re: Who does Olys on TV best? ... Color commentator for '72

More than his call on the 10K, I recall his hilarious
>shrieking when the imposter came into the stadium ahead of Shorter and he was
>yelling someting like "It's yours Frank!" As I recall, Shorter was in one of
>his classes at Yale and that's how he got the gig to begin with.>>

"That's not Frank. That man is an imposter! Get that man off the the track!!".

[Ten Bears]

Re: Who does Olys on TV best? ... Color commentator for '72

The Triple Cast was not very expensive for something bought once every 4 years--except of course if never happened again, because it made too much sense.

[fizbin]

Re: Who does Olys on TV best? ... Color commentator for '72

>True it was very good but wasn't it expensive for most folks? Aren't there two
>other networks providing free Olympic coverage for the Athens Games?

Every single throw, jump, heat, etc., live, commercial-free and with intelligent, non-jingoistic reporting. This was like nothing before or since: a true T&F geek nirvana. Well worth the $150 I handed over. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

[Biz Writer]

Re: Who does Olys on TV best? ... Color commentator for '72

Norbert Südhaus

[Biz Writer]

Re: Who does Olys on TV best? ... Color commentator for '72

Could this be the same Norbert Sudhaus who stole Shorter's glory?

This Norbert Sudhaus would be 48 years old today, about the right age.

http://www.cosworth-technology.co.uk/70 ... ay2001.htm