NBC announcer Leigh Diffey has been the talk of the 2024 Paris Olympics in recent days for all of the wrong reasons, botching the call on the finish of the Men’s 100-meter Final. But on Tuesday, Diffey redeemed himself in the eyes of many viewers, delivering a correct and energetic call on the intense finish in the Men’s 1500-meter Final.
Diffey’s infamous mistake came when he incorrectly said that Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson had won the Men’s 100-meter over Team USA’s Noah Lyles. When in reality, it was Lyles who had finished just ahead of Thompson by leaning his torso over the line in a true photo finish.
It’s easy to blame Diffey for the call. But as you can see, the finish really was as close as it gets, with Lyles finishing just five-thousandths of a second ahead of Thompson.
Every broadcaster will tell you that mistakes happen all the time on air. But how you bounce back from said mistakes says a lot about any on-air personality.
Diffey delivered a much different call on Tuesday near the end of the Men’s 1500-meter, excitedly calling Team USA’s Cole Hocker’s come-from-behind victory to secure his first-ever gold medal.
“Hobbs Kessler wants in on the conversation! (Jakob) Ingebrigtsen, Cole Hocker on the inside. He gives him a little shove and (Josh) Kerr goes by. Here comes Josh Kerr on the outside. All the talking is over! The world champion is in front. But Cole Hooker is not done with (him) yet. Cole Hooker wins gold! He upsets the favorites! It’s gold for the USA!”
COLE HOCKER WITH THE UPSET TO TAKE THE GOLD IN AN UNBELIEVABLE FINISH! 🇺🇸🥇🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥pic.twitter.com/P4p0eYDv8j
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) August 6, 2024
Viewers who also saw Diffey’s mistake on Sunday took to social media to offer their appreciation of this great call of the upset from Hocker.
Naptown has entered the chat.
Cole Hocker! 🇺🇸
And the 100 wasn’t Leigh Diffey’s best moment on the call but he delivers in so many moments and did so on the call here. pic.twitter.com/a6YENCcq62
— Wes Reynolds (@WesReynolds1) August 6, 2024
Great to see Leigh Diffey get a big moment to rebound from his call of the 100 to produce an incredible call of Cole Hocker’s stunning win in the 1500.
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) August 6, 2024
Credit to @leighdiffey for redeeming himself with an incredible call in the 1500m. https://t.co/2ekmHJByE7
— Phillip Bupp (@phillipbupp) August 6, 2024
Diffey has called the Olympics six times in his career. So the one incorrect call was never going to truly define his skills as a broadcaster. But with that being said, it was cool to see him deliver a much better call on Tuesday to enhance what was truly a special moment for Cole Hocker.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.