# Olympics on ABC commentators

The following is a list of commentators that were featured in the American Broadcasting Company's (ABC) television coverage of the Olympic Games from its first Olympic Games, the 1964 Winter Olympics through the 1988 Winter Olympics, its final Olympic telecast to date.

## Hosts
### Winter Olympic Games

| Year | Prime-Time Host | Daytime Host(s) | Late-Night Host(s) |
| 1964 | Jim McKay | | |
| 1968 | Chris Schenkel Jim McKay | | |
| 1976 | Jim McKay | | |
| 1980 | Jim McKay | | |
| 1984 | Jim McKay | Jim Lampley Kathleen Sullivan | Donna de Varona |
| 1988 | Jim McKay Keith Jackson | Keith Jackson | Frank Gifford Kathie Lee Gifford |

### Summer Olympic Games

| Year | Prime-Time Host | Daytime Host(s) | Late-Night Host(s) |
| 1968 | Chris Schenkel | | |
| 1972 | Chris Schenkel | | |
| 1976 | Jim McKay | | |
| 1984 | Jim McKay | Frank Gifford Kathleen Sullivan | Jim Lampley Donna de Varona |

## By event
### Winter Olympics
#### 1964

| Event | Play-by-play | Color commentator(s) |
| Skiing | Jim McKay | Andrea Mead Lawrence Willy Schaeffler |
| Figure Skating | Dick Button | Carol Heiss |
| Bobsled | | Stan Benham |
| Ice hockey | Curt Gowdy |
| Speed skating | Curt Gowdy |
Jim McKay, Curt Gowdy, and Jim Simpson were the only play-by-play announcers that were utilized by ABC throughout the 1964 Winter Olympics.
Beginning in 1962, Dick Button worked as a figure skating analyst for ABC Sports, which had acquired the rights to the United States Figure Skating Championships as well as the 1962 World Figure Skating Championships. During ABC's coverage of figure skating events in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, Button became the sport's best-known analyst, well known for his frank and often caustic appraisal of skaters' performances. He won an Emmy Award in 1981 for Outstanding Sports Personality – Analyst. Although other U.S. television networks aired the Winter Olympics from the 1990s onward, Button still appeared on ABC's broadcasts of the U.S. and World Figure Skating Championships until ABC removed them from its broadcast schedule in 2008.
According to writer and figure skating historian Ellyn Kestnbaum, Button "in effect educated [an] entire generation in how to watch skating", viewers who had never viewed the sport as live spectators before seeing it on television.

#### 1968

| Event | Play-by-play | Color commentator(s) |
| Skiing | Jim McKay |
| Figure Skating | Chris Schenkel | Dick Button |
| Hockey | Curt Gowdy |
| Ski Jumping | | Art Devlin |

#### 1976

| Event | Play-by-play | Color commentators |
| Skiing | Frank Gifford | Bob Beattie Karl Schranz |
| Figure Skating | Chris Schenkel | Dick Button |
| Hockey | Curt Gowdy | Brian Conacher |
| Bobsled | Curt Gowdy | Paul Lamey |
| Luge | Jackie Stewart | Paul Lamey |
| Ski Jumping | Art Devlin |
| Speed Skating | Warner Wolf | Anne Henning |
| Features | Jim Lampley Pierre Salinger |
ABC Sports hired Bob Beattie as a ski-racing commentator, where he was frequently paired with Frank Gifford, a former NFL running back. Beattie's television work included alpine commentary during ABC's coverage of four Winter Olympics in 1976, 1980, 1984, and 1988, and also covered volleyball at the 1984 Summer Olympics. He later worked as ABC's winter sports correspondent, which also involved non-alpine sports, and occasionally worked as an announcer for non-winter sports on ABC's Wide World of Sports program.

#### 1980

| Event | Play-by-play | Color commentators |
| Opening Ceremony | Jim McKay |
| Figure Skating | Jim McKay | Dick Button |
| Speed Skating | Keith Jackson | Sheila Young Ochowitz |
| Hockey | Al Michaels | Ken Dryden |
| Skiing | Frank Gifford | Bob Beattie Susie Patterson |
| Bobsled | Curt Gowdy Jackie Stewart | Paul Lamey |
| Cross Country | Bill Flemming | Peter Graves |
| Ski Jumping | Chris Schenkel | Art Devlin |
| Luge | Curt Gowdy | Bill Caterino |
| Closing Ceremony | Jim McKay |
| Features | Jim Lampley Don Meredith |
One of Al Michaels's more famous broadcasts were of the 1980 Winter Olympics ice hockey medal round match between the United States and the Soviet Union, and the attempted third game of the 1989 World Series.
In 1980, an unheralded group of college ice hockey players from the United States won the gold medal at the Olympic Winter Games. The medal round match on February 22—which, contrary to popular belief, did not yet assure the team of the gold medal—was of particular interest, as it was played against a heavily favored professional squad from the Soviet Union, and was in front of an incredibly excited pro-American crowd in Lake Placid, New York. Michaels's memorable broadcast of this game, including his interjection—"Do you believe in miracles? YES!"—as time expired on the 4–3 U.S. victory, earned the game the media nickname of The Miracle on Ice.
Most assume that the game was broadcast live (indeed, CTV, which held Canadian rights to the game, aired it live); but in reality, the game started at 5:05 p.m. Eastern Standard Time and ABC decided against pre-empting local and network news (on the East Coast) to carry the game live. Instead, most of it—including the entire third period—was broadcast within the regularly scheduled, prime-time telecast from 8:30 to 11 p.m. Eastern time (and on a six-and-a-half-hour delay on the West Coast from 8:30 to 11 p.m. Pacific Standard Time). Despite being on tape, the game was one of the highest-rated programs of the 1979–80 television season and remains the most-watched ice hockey game in the history of American television.
Michaels, along with broadcasting partner Ken Dryden, recreated their Olympic commentary in the 2004 movie Miracle. Although Michaels and Dryden recreated the bulk of their commentary for the film, the closing seconds of the game against the Soviet Union used the original ABC Sports commentary from 1980. Gavin O'Connor, the director of Miracle, decided to use the last 10 seconds of Michaels's original "Do you believe in miracles? YES!" call in the film because he felt he couldn't ask him to recreate the emotion he experienced at that moment. Thus they cleaned up the recording to make the transition to the authentic call as seamless as possible.
Immediately before Mike Eruzione's game-winning goal for the US, Dryden expressed his concern that the team was "depending a little bit too much" on goaltender Jim Craig after Craig had just made "too many good saves."
Michaels later recalled, "When I look back, obviously Lake Placid would be the highlight of my career. I can't think of anything that would ever top it. I can't dream up a scenario."
Michaels was only on this particular assignment because he had done one hockey game, eight years prior. The game in question was the gold medal game (the Soviet Union vs. Czechoslovakia) of the 1972 Winter Olympics (on NBC) in Sapporo, Japan. Other announcers on the ABC Sports roster such as Keith Jackson, Frank Gifford, and Howard Cosell had never done a hockey game before. Michaels recalled this during a Real Sports interview in January 2009. Michaels also apparently beat out WABC-AM and New York Islanders commentator George Michael for the assignment.
Two days later, Michaels would broadcast the gold medal game, in which the U.S. defeated Finland, closing the game out by declaring "This impossible dream comes true!"
Al Michaels continued serving as ABC's lead play-by-play announcer for their ice hockey coverage for their next two Winter Olympics, both with Dryden, the lead color commentator. In 1984 from Sarajevo, Mike Eruzione, who was the captain of the gold medal-winning United States ice hockey team from 1980, primarily worked with Don Chevrier. For ABC's final Winter Olympics four years later, Eruzione was this time, paired with Jiggs McDonald.

#### 1984

| Event | Play-by-play | Color commentators | Reporters |
| Bobsled | Tim Brant | John Morgan |
| Ski Jumping | Keith Jackson | Jay Rand |
| Cross Country | Jack Whitaker | Jack Turner | Diana Nyad |
| Alpine Skiing | Frank Gifford Jim Lampley (women's downhill) | Bob Beattie Cindy Nelson (women's downhill) |
| Luge | Sam Posey | Jeff Tucker |
| Figure Skating | Al Michaels Jim Lampley | Peggy Fleming and Dick Button |
| Ice Hockey | Al Michaels Don Chevrier | Ken Dryden Mike Eruzione |
| Speed Skating | Keith Jackson Don Chevrier (men's 5000) | Eric Heiden |
| Features | Hughes Rudd Ray Gandolf Jim Lampley Dick Schaap Anne Simon Terre Blair Barbara Kolonay |

#### 1988

| Event | Play-by-play | Color commentators | Reporters |
| Opening Ceremony | Jim McKay | Peter Jennings |
| Skiing | Al Trautwig | Bob Beattie | Jack Edwards |
| Biathlon | Mike Adamle | Keri Swenson |
| Bobsled | Lynn Swann | John Morgan |
| Cross Country | Mike Adamle | Bill Koch |
| Figure Skating | Jim McKay | Dick Button and Peggy Fleming | David Santee and Jack Whitaker |
| Freestyle | Tim McCarver | Jeff Chumas |
| Ice Hockey | Al Michaels Jiggs McDonald | Ken Dryden Mike Eruzione |
| Luge | Sam Posey | Jeff Tucker |
| Nordic Combined | Chris Schenkel | Greg Windsperger |
| Nordic Skiing | Mike Adamle | Bill Koch |
| Rodeo | Curt Gowdy | Larry Mahan |
| Short Track | Keith Jackson | Lydia Stephans |
| Ski Jumping | Chris Schenkel | Jeff Hastings |
| Speedskating | Gary Bender | Eric Heiden |
| Closing Ceremony | Jim McKay | Peter Jennings |
| Features | Donna de Varona Becky Dixon Jim Hill Tim McCarver Jack Whitaker (essayist) Dan Dierdorf Cheryl Miller |

### Summer Olympics
#### 1968

| Event | Play-by-play | Color commentators |
| Opening Ceremony | Jim McKay | Peter Jennings |
| Track & Field | Jim McKay | Hayes Jones Parry O'Brien Jim Beatty |
| Swimming | Bill Flemming | Murray Rose (men) Donna de Varona (women) |
| Diving | | Ken Sitzberger |
| Basketball | Bill Flemming | Jack Twyman |
| Gymnastics | Jim McKay | Tom Maloney |
| Boxing | Howard Cosell |
| Rowing | Bud Palmer | Bill Stowe |
| Closing Ceremony | Jim McKay | Peter Jennings |

#### 1972

| Event | Play-by-play | Color commentators |
| Opening Ceremony | Jim McKay | |
| Track & Field | Jim McKay | Bill Toomey (400m races) Marty Liquori (150m and 800m races) Erich Segal (marathon) |
| Swimming | Keith Jackson | Murray Rose (men) Donna de Varona (women) |
| Diving | Keith Jackson | Ken Sitzberger (men) Ken Sitzberger (women) |
| Basketball | Frank Gifford Bill Flemming (filled in for Gifford while he did wrestling) | Bill Russell |
| Gymnastics | Jim McKay | Gordon Maddux |
| Boxing | Howard Cosell |
| Wrestling | Frank Gifford |
| Rowing | | Bill Stowe |
In 1972, NBC showed the Winter Games from Sapporo, Japan, then ABC returned to carry the Summer Games in Munich, Germany. It was during the Summer Games that Palestinian terrorists attacked the Olympic Village and killed 11 Israeli athletes. Although Chris Schenkel was the actual host of the Games that year, Arledge assigned the story to McKay largely because he was a local news anchor in Baltimore, Maryland prior to joining CBS in 1950 and later ABC in 1961. McKay was joined on set by ABC news correspondent (and former and future evening news anchor) Peter Jennings, and coverage continued for many hours, until the outcome was known. Howard Cosell went with the film crew to get interviews in the village.
After an unsuccessful rescue attempt of the athletes held hostage, at 3:24 AM German Time, McKay came on the air with this statement:
   When I was a kid my father used to say "Our greatest hopes and our worst fears are seldom realized." Our worst fears have been realized tonight. They have now said there were 11 hostages; two were killed in their rooms this morn-- yesterday morning, nine were killed at the airport tonight. They're all gone.
McKay later won an Emmy Award for his coverage. He stated in a 2003 HBO documentary about his life and career that he was most proud of a telegram he received from Walter Cronkite the day after the massacre praising his work.
Howard Cosell also played a key role on ABC's coverage of the Palestinian terror group Black September's mass murder of Israeli athletes in Munich at the 1972 Summer Olympics; providing reports directly from the Olympic Village (his image can be seen and voice heard in Steven Spielberg's film about the terror attack).
In the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal, and the 1984 games in Los Angeles, Cosell was the main voice for boxing. Sugar Ray Leonard won the gold medal in his light welterweight class at Montreal, beginning his meteoric rise to a world professional title three years later. Cosell became close to Leonard, during this period, announcing many of his fights.
Keith Jackson was also involved in ABC's coverage of the 1972 Summer Olympics and continued to contribute even when the attack by Palestinian terrorists transformed the coverage from that of a typical sporting event to a greater international and historical news event. In all, he covered a total of 10 Summer and Winter Olympic Games. Jackson covered swimming at the 1972 Summer Olympics and track and field at the 1976 Summer Games. He covered speed-skating during the 1980 Winter Olympics featuring Eric Heiden. He was offered the position of play-by-play for hockey, but turned it down (the position ultimately went to Al Michaels). Jackson called speed skating and ski jumping at the 1984 Winter Olympics. He covered basketball in 1984. He was the weekend afternoon host for ABC's final Olympics in 1988 from Calgary.
Erich Segal was a color commentator for Olympic marathons during telecasts of both the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics. His most notable broadcast was in 1972, when he and Jim McKay called Frank Shorter's gold-medal-winning performance. After an impostor, West German student Norbert Sudhaus, ran into Olympic Stadium ahead of Shorter, an emotionally upset Segal yelled, "That is an impostor! Get him off the track! This happens in bush league marathons! This doesn't happen in an Olympic marathon! Throw the bum out! Get rid of that guy!" When Shorter appeared to be confused by the events, Segal yelled, "come on, Frank, you won it!" and "Frank, it's a fake, Frank!"
Mark Spitz was originally reluctant to swim the 100-meter freestyle, fearing that he would not win the gold medal. Minutes before the race, he confessed on the pool deck to ABC's Donna de Varona, "I know I say I don't want to swim before every event, but this time I'm serious. If I swim six and win six, I'll be a hero. If I swim seven and win six, I'll be a failure." Spitz won by half a stroke in a world-record time of 51.22 seconds.

#### 1976

| Event | Play-by-play | Color commentators |
| Track & Field | Keith Jackson | O. J. Simpson Bob Seagren Brian Oldfield Marty Liquori (men) Wyomia Tyus (women) |
| Swimming | Keith Jackson | Mark Spitz (men) Donna de Varona (women) |
| Diving | Bill Flemming | Ken Sitzberger (men) Micki King (women) |
| Basketball | Frank Gifford Curt Gowdy | Bill Russell |
| Gymnastics | Chris Schenkel | Gordon Maddux (men) Cathy Rigby (women) |
| Boxing | Howard Cosell | |
| Wrestling | Frank Gifford | Ken Kraft |
| Equestrian | Chris Schenkel Jackie Stewart (Filled in for Schenkel when he covered Gymnastics.) | Bill Steinkraus |
| Rowing | Frank Gifford | Fritz Hobbs |
In the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal, and the 1984 games in Los Angeles, Howard Cosell was the main voice for boxing. Sugar Ray Leonard won the gold medal in his light welterweight class at Montreal, beginning his meteoric rise to a world professional title three years later. Cosell became close to Leonard, during this period, announcing many of his fights.
| Features | Pierre Salinger Jim Lampley Dave Diles |
In 1976, ABC Sports employed Pierre Salinger as a features commentator for the network's coverage of the Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria, and the Summer Games in Montreal, Quebec.

#### 1984

| Event | Play-by-play | Color commentators | Reporters |
| Opening Ceremony | Jim McKay | Peter Jennings | Donna de Varona |
| Track & Field | Al Michaels | O. J. Simpson (men's sprints & relays) Wilma Rudolph (women's sprints) Renaldo Nehemiah (hurdles) Marty Liquori (distance) Dwight Stones (field events) Jane Frederick (filled in for Stones while he competed in the high jump) | Donna de Varona |
| Swimming | Jim Lampley | Mark Spitz (men) Donna de Varona (women) | Diana Nyad |
| Synchronized Swimming | Donna de Varona | Esther Williams |
| Diving | Jack Whitaker Bill Flemming (filled in for Whitaker while he did gymnastics) | Cynthia Potter |
| Basketball | Keith Jackson | Digger Phelps (men) Ann Meyers (women) |
| Volleyball | Bob Beattie | Kurt Kilgore |
| Gymnastics | Jack Whitaker | Gordon Maddux Cathy Rigby-McCoy (women) Kurt Thomas (men) | Anne Simon |
| Rhythmic Gymnastics | Al Trautwig | Gordon Maddux Cathy Rigby-McCoy |
| Boxing | Howard Cosell |
| Water Polo | Tim Brant | Jim Kruse |
| Rowing | Curt Gowdy | Steve Gladstone |
| Canoeing | Diana Nyad | Jay T. Kearney |
| Wrestling | Curt Gowdy | Russ Hellickson |
| Cycling (Road) | Al Michaels | Greg LeMond Eric Heiden |
| Cycling (Track) | Bill Flemming | Eric Heiden |
| Baseball (demonstration sport) | Don Chevrier | Jim Palmer |
| Tennis (demonstration sport) | Arthur Ashe |
| Equestrian | Chris Schenkel | Bill Steinkraus Tad Coffin |
| Fencing | Arthur Ashe Al Trautwig |
| Soccer | Mario Machado |
| Weightlifting | Lynn Swann | Bruce Wilhelm |
| Handball | Al Trautwig |
| Field Hockey | Al Trautwig | Mike Eruzione |
| Judo | Al Trautwig Mike Eruzione |
| Shooting | Al Trautwig |
| Closing Ceremony | Jim McKay | Peter Jennings | Donna de Varona |
In 1984, Dwight Stones became the first athlete to both compete and serve as an announcer at the same Olympics.