londonolympics

NBC has released the full list of on-air personalities for the London Olympics, now less than one month away.  We have announcers for everything from stalwarts like track & field, basketball, and swimming to race walking, rhythmic gymnastics, and table tennis.  The entire lists contains many familiar names to committed fans of the Olympic Games, but also a few absences from past Olympics and pleasant surprises as well.

Before we get to the announcers for each sport let’s reset the studio hosts for each network, much of which were previously announced by the network, but we’ve finally learned who’ll bring the record amount of cable coverage on NBC Sports Network.  The NBCSN crew is led by star new signing Michelle Beadle while Bob Costas leads primetime coverage, as he seemingly will for all eternity.

NBC

Primetime: Bob Costas
Daytime: Dan Patrick, Al Michaels
Late night: Mary Carillo 
Correspondents: John McEnroe, Ryan Seacrest, Bela Karolyi, Jimmy Roberts 

NBCSN: Michelle Beadle, Liam McHugh, Willie Geist

MSNBC: Kelly Tilghman, Rob Simmelkjaer

Bravo: Pat O’Brien (tennis)

CNBC: Fred Roggin (boxing)

All right, time to strap yourselves in and get ready to go through the list of announcers sport by sport with just a few notes after the jump as well…

SPORT-BY-SPORT RUNDOWN:

GYMNASTICS/TRAMPOLINE:

Al Trautwig, Play-by-play

Elfi Schlegel, Analyst

Tim Daggett, Analyst

Andrea Joyce, Reporter

RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS:

Andrea Joyce, Play-by-play

Elfi Schlegel, Analyst

TRACK & FIELD:

Tom Hammond, Play-by-play

Ato Boldon, Analyst

Dwight Stones, Analyst

Craig Masback, Analyst

Tim Hutchings, Analyst

Lewis Johnson, Reporter

RACE WALKING:

Randy Moss, Play-by-play

Chris Maddocks, Analyst

SWIMMING:

Dan Hicks, Play-by-play

Rowdy Gaines, Analyst

Andera Kremer, Reporter

OPEN WATER SWIMMING:

Steve Schlanger, Play-by-play

Rowdy Gaines, Analyst

DIVING:

Ted Robinson, Play-by-play

Cynthia Potter, Analyst

Alex Flanagan, Reporter

BEACH VOLLEYBALL:

Chris Marlowe, Play-by-play

Kevin Wong, Analyst

Heather Cox, Reporter

INDOOR VOLLEYBALL:

Paul Sunderland, Play-by-play

Kevin Barnett, Analyst

CYCLING (Road):

Steve Schlanger, Play-by-play

Paul Sherwen, Analyst

Todd Harris, Reporter

CYCLING (Track)

Todd Harris, Play-by-play

Paul Sherwen, Analyst

CYCLING (BMX/Mountain Bike)

Todd Harris, Play-by-play

Jamie Bestwick, Analyst

TRIATHLON:

Steve Schlanger, Play-by-play

Julie Swail, Analyst

BASKETBALL:

Bob Fitzgerald, Play-by-play (London)

Chris Carrino, Play-by-play

Dave Strader, Play-by-play

Doug Collins, Analyst (London)

Ann Meyers, Analyst (London)

Tim Capstraw, Analyst

Donny Marshall, Analyst

Lisa Leslie, Analyst

Carolyn Peck, Analyst

Craig Sager, Reporter (London)

Doc Rivers, Studio Analyst (London)

ROWING:

Terry Gannon, Play-by-play

Yaz Farooq, Analyst

CANOEING (Flat Water):

Terry Gannon, Play-by-play

Eric Giddens, Analyst

CANOEING (White Water):

Randy Moss, Play-by-play

Eric Giddens, Analyst

SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING:

Randy Moss, Play-by-play

Heather Olson, Analyst

WRESTLING:

Jason Knapp, Play-by-play

Rulon Gardner, Analyst

WATER POLO:

Mike Emrick, Play-by-play

Wolf Wigo, Analyst

Julie Swail, Analyst

BOXING:

Bob Papa, Play-by-play

Teddy Atlas, Analyst

Russ Thaler, Reporter

MODERN PENTATHLON:

Eli Bremer, Analyst

WEIGHTLIFTING:

Jim Watson, Play-by-play

Shane Hamman, Analyst

EQUESTRIAN:

Tim Ryan, Play-by-play

Melanie Smith-Taylor, Analyst

SOCCER:

Arlo White, Play-by-play (London)

JP Dellacamera, Play-by-play

Glenn Davis, Play-by-play

Steve Cangialosi, Play-by-play

Allen Hopkins, Play-by-play and Analyst

Kyle Martino, Analyst (London)

Marcelo Balboa, Analyst

Shep Messing, Analyst

Cobi Jones, Analyst

Brandi Chastain, Analyst (London)

Kate Markgraf, Analyst

Cat Whitehill, Analyst

Angela Hucles, Analyst

Drea Avent, Reporter (London)

TENNIS:

Brett Haber, Play-by-play

Andrew Catalon, Play-by-play

Ted Robinson, Play-by-play (Men’s Final)

Justin Gimbelstob, Analyst

Rennae Stubbs, Analyst

John McEnroe, Analyst (Men’s Final)

Jon Wertheim, Reporter

HANDBALL:

Mike Gorman, Play-by-play

Dawn Lewis, Analyst

TABLE TENNIS:

Ari Wolfe, Play-by-play

Sean O’Neill, Analyst

BADMINTON:

Jim Kozimor, Play-by-play

Steve Kearney, Analyst

FENCING:

Craig Hummer, Play-by-play

Jeff Bukantz, Analyst 

ARCHERY:

Craig Hummer, Play-by-play

Jason Knapp, Play-by-play

Rick McKinney, Analyst

SHOOTING:

Craig Hummer, Play-by-play

Jason Knapp, Play-by-play

Shari LeGate, Analyst

FIELD HOCKEY:

Mike Corey, Play-by-play

Missy Meharg, Analyst

JUDO:

Craig Hummer, Play-by-play

Leo White, Analyst

SPORTSDESK REPORTERS:

Lester Holt

Michele Tafoya

Tamron Hall

Pierre McGuire

Stephanie Gosk

Carolyn Manno

Marshall Harris

Dr. Nancy Snyderman

Apolo Ohno

Notes:

*I’m willing to bet a fair percentage of you got to the end and let out an audible groan when you saw Pierre McGuire listed.

*Perhaps the biggest name missing is Mike Breen from the basketball coverage.  He and Doug Collins were excellent in 2008.  It looks like Bob Fitzgerald, play by play man for the Golden State Warriors and CSN Bay Area will be the top basketball voice.  Fitzgerald isn’t known to a lot of folks nationwide, but he and Jim Barnett make up one of my favorite local NBA teams.  He could be one of the breakout announcers this year.  Celtics coach Doc Rivers is a coup for NBC to bring in as a studio analyst, making his Olympic debut.

*Volleyball is not going to be the same without Karch Kiraly.

*Many of the marquee sports return the announcers that have been tried and true for multiple Olympics, especially the Big 3 of Gymnastics, Swimming, and Track & Field.  Dan Hicks and Rowdy Gaines were two of the stars in Beijing and with the Phelps-Lochte rivalry sure to be NBC’s #1 lead story for the Games, they should star again.

*Men’s and women’s soccer has the biggest stable of announcers.  Keep an eye on NBCSN lead MLS announcer Arlo White.  The young Englishman is smooth as silk and a cross between Martin Tyler and Ian Darke.  He and Kyle Martino have come together quite well on those MLS telecasts.  

*Randy Moss (not the WR, the horse racing analyst) may win the award for wildest Olympic assignment I’ve ever seen – play by play for Canoeing, Synchronized Swimming, and Race Walking.  God speed, Randy.

*And finally, it’s awesome to see two of our favorites receive assigments.  Celtics announcer Mike Gorman will call the cult favorite of Handball and the voice of hockey, the great Mike Emrick will call Water Polo.  

What sports are you most looking forward to and what do you make of the announcing and hosting assignments?  Let us know in the comments below.

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