NBC announced a somewhat significant change to their Olympics broadcaster lineup. On Wednesday, the network announced that Leigh Diffey would take over as the play by play broadcaster for track and field events in Tokyo. Diffey replaces Tom Hammond, who called track events for NBC since the 1992 Olympics.
The good news is that Diffey is no stranger to track, the Olympics, or NBC. He’s been with the network since 2013, and has called events at the Olympics in 2014, 2016, and 2018 (bobsled, skeleton, and luge in the Winter Games, rowing in the Summer). Additionally, Diffey is NBC’s lead broadcaster for INDYCAR events, and also has called a variety of track events for NBC over the years.
We’ll miss Hammond on the call, but Diffey is a strong replacement. Here’s a video of Hammond calling Usain Bolt’s gold medal races at the last three Summer Olympics.
Ato Boldon, the analyst working alongside Hammond in the above video, will return for his sixth Olympics (fourth summer). He’ll be a track analyst working with Diffey, while Lewis Johnson returns for his 11th Olympics with NBC, working as a track reporter. Paul Swangard will also work as the play by play broadcaster for various field events, while Kara Goucher, Trey Hardee, and Sanya Richards-Ross also return as analysts for the Tokyo Games.
