OLYMPICS IN HIGH HEELS: THE COVERAGE CONTINUES
STAMFORD, Conn. – April 12, 2016 – Legendary basketball play-by-play broadcaster Marv Albert returns to the Olympics to call Team USA men’s basketball for the first time since the U.S. men captured gold in Atlanta in 1996. He will be joined by former NBA head coach and 1972 U.S. Olympian Doug Collins, and reporter Craig Sager, working his fifth consecutive Olympics for NBC. NBCUniversal’s coverage of the Games of the XXXI Olympiad begins from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Friday, August 5.
The 2016 Rio Olympics mark Albert’s fifth NBC Olympics assignment and third calling men’s basketball, as he was courtside to chronicle the gold medal-winning U.S. “Dream Team” in Barcelona in 1992. Albert also called Olympic boxing for NBC in 1988, 1996, and 2000. Collins and Sager each take on his fifth consecutive Olympic broadcasting assignment, since the 2000 Sydney Games.
Coverage of Team USA women’s basketball will be handled by CSN-Philadelphia’s Marc Zumoff (play-by-play) and 1976 U.S. Olympian Ann Meyers (analyst). They will be joined by reporter Ros Gold-Onwude, who works Golden State Warriors telecasts for CSN-Bay Area.
Zumoff, the play-by-play voice of the Philadelphia 76ers since 1994, makes his Olympics debut. Meyers, a 1993 inductee into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and a silver medalist as a member of the first-ever U.S. Women’s Olympic Basketball Team (1976), works her fifth consecutive Olympics for NBC (since 2000). Gold-Onwude, who competed in three Final Fours and was 2010 Pac-12 Co-Defensive Player of the Year while playing for Stanford, makes her Olympics debut.
“With star power that is second only to the men and women on the court for Team USA, our broadcast teams have extensive Olympic and basketball expertise – led by Marv Albert, who ranks in the pantheon of all-time, play-by-play voices,” said Jim Bell, Executive Producer, NBC Olympics.
“It’s an honor to be part of NBC’s Olympic basketball coverage,” Albert said. “This U.S. men’s team could be the best we’ve seen since the 1992 Dream Team.”
One of the most prominent play-by-play voices in NBA history, Albert has been the lead NBA announcer for Turner Sportssince 1999. He previously worked at NBC Sports for more than 20 years, serving as the primary play-by-play announcer for the NBA on NBC, and also called the action on properties including the NFL, NHL, MLB, college basketball, boxing, and horse racing.
Currently an NBA studio analyst for ABC and ESPN, Collins was the first overall selection by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1973 NBA Draft, and earned All-Star accolades in four of his eight NBA seasons. In four NBA head coaching stops (Philadelphia, Washington, Detroit, and Chicago), he led his team to the playoffs in seven of 11 seasons. Last month, Collins, who averaged 29.1 points per game at Illinois State, was named to the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.
Colorful in his reporting and choice of attire, Sager has worked on Turner Sports’ NBA telecasts for nearly three decades, and also serves as a sideline reporter for Turner Sports/CBS coverage of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Also at Turner, Sager has served as a reporter for college football, golf and tennis. Previously, he worked on the Goodwill Games, and Pan American Games, and called Nordic skiing and curling for TNT’s coverage of the 1992 Winter Olympics.
THE OLYMPICS BEGIN FRIDAY, AUGUST 5, 2016
About NBC Olympics
A division of NBC Sports Group, NBC Olympics is responsible for producing, programming and promoting NBCUniversal’s Olympic coverage. It is renowned for its unsurpassed Olympic heritage, award-winning production, and ability to aggregate the largest audiences in U.S. television history. The 2012 London Olympics were watched by 217 million Americans across the networks of NBCUniversal, making it the most-watched event in U.S. television history.
