Background[]
- Journalist, broadcaster for NBC Sports who has covered seven Olympics.
- wikipedia:Bob Costas
Insights[]
- NBC to get Costas out of studio in Beijing - 07/16/08 - NEW YORK (AP) -- Bob Costas will be back in Beijing for his seventh Olympics as prime-time host of NBC Sports' coverage, but this time he'll be getting out a little more.
Details[]
Olympic Coverage[]
Bob Costas has frontlined many Olympics broadcasts for NBC Sports. They include the Olympics in Barcelona in 1992, Atlanta in 1996, Sydney in 2000, Salt Lake City in 2002, Athens in 2004, and Turin in 2006. A personal influence on Costas has been legendary ABC Sports broadcaster Jim McKay, who hosted many Olympics for ABC from the 1960s to the 1980s.
During the 1992 Barcelona and 1996 Atlanta Opening Ceremonies, Costas' remarks on the China (also known as CHN) Team's possible drug use caused an uproar among the American Chinese and International communities.
Thousands of dollars were raised to purchase ads in the Washington Post and Sunday New York Times, featuring an image of the head of a statue of Apollo and read: "Costas Poisoned Olympic Spirit, Public Protests NBC". His lack of an apology, plus similar tones of commentaries during the 2000 Sydney Games Opening, 1 year before Beijing was awarded the 2008 Olympics, further cements him as a China basher in the minds of the Chinese community.