Richard Deitsch's weekly SI.com media column usually breaks news and this week's is no exception. He reported that NBC/NBCSN English Premier League host Rebecca Lowe will join NBCUniversal's Olympic coverage in Sochi. NBC says Lowe will host NBCSN's live weekday and weekend coverage. 

This will mark Lowe's first Olympic assignment not only in the United States, but also in the UK. During her time working for the BBC, Setanta Sports and ESPN UK, Lowe has primarly covered soccer and has not branched to cover other sports.

She told Deitsch "I wasn't expecting it. It is very easy to pigeonhole people and I think being a female back in the UK, I was pigeonholed as one of the females who does football (soccer) only. It's very difficult to show people that you can actually do other things and why wouldn't you be able to do so? I'd like the opportunity to say maybe I'm not just all about soccer, even as much as love the sport. Fingers crossed, I'm hoping I can show that."

And while she hasn't had opportunities to cover winter sports in the past, it's not that Lowe will come in cold into the Olympics as she told Deitsch: "I'm not going to say that I come in with a ton of Winter Olympics knowledge, but I come in with an open brain and an appetite to learn. My head will be in the books and I am not somebody who does something in life not fully prepared."

Lowe has shown she can adeptly handle the EPL studio for NBC and expect her to do nothing less in Sochi come February. She's been one of the leading lights in NBC's excellent Premier League coverage thus far.

NBC has also announced that Football Night in America host Dan Patrick will be back for his third Olympic assignment. He'll host weekdays and weekends on NBCSN in rotation with Lowe. Patrick was a daytime host for NBC in London and was part of the Vancouver Olympics first weekend before leaving and heading back to his mancave to host his national radio show.

Dateline NBC anchor Lester Holt will be back on the Olympics as a daytime host on the NBC mothership. He's been an anchor on the Olympics dating back to 2004 in Athens.

With these announcements, it appears that Michelle Beadle who was an NBCSN daytime host in London is on the outside looking in. Back in September, she told the Sports Media Weekly podcast that she was going to be a part of the NBCUniversal Olympics team, but that was also during the same podcast in which she expressed disappointment about the lack of promotion for the now-canceled "The Crossover." NBC Sports PR has been non-committal as to whether she'll be a part of the coverage.

NBC will make further on-air Olympics talent lineup announcements later this month and in January.

[Sports Illustrated/NBC Sports]

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.

He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.

Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.

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