Last week, we told you about the unfortunate news that Craig Sager won’t be going to Brazil for the Olympics due to needing a bone marrow transplant. Sager had been looking forward to working the sidelines for Team USA men’s basketball games. Well, NBC didn’t have to go far to find a replacement. It has announced that it will slide Ros Gold-Onwude from the women’s sidelines to the men’s games.
Gold-Onwude certainly knows the players being a sideline reporter for the Golden State Warriors on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area for two seasons. Her national profile is rising as she worked the NCAA Tournament for CBS/Turner and now has this high-profile assignment at the Olympics. During the Warriors offseason, Gold-Onwude has been the analyst for New York Liberty games on MSG Network.
So with Gold-Onwude working the men’s sidelines, NBC needed a replacement to work the Team USA women’s basketball games and the Peacock chose to tap Kerith Burke who has been working as an anchor/reporter for New York’s SNY regional sports network. Burke has worked the sidelines for the University of Connecticut women’s games which air on SNY so she’ll be coming into the Olympics knowing some of Team USA’s roster.
And NBC has also announced that Angela Hucles will be an analyst on Olympic soccer games. This will be her second consecutive Olympics working for NBC having been an analyst for the 2012 London Games. Prior to that, Hucles was on the 2004 and 2008 gold medal-winning US Women’s National Team.
So with these additions, NBC should have its entire announcing team set for the Rio Olympics.