TELEVISION NBC will have 99 on-air announcers at Olympics

NEW YORK (AP) -- Champion triathlete Siri Lindley was being interviewed by NBC Olympics honcho David Neal for an announcing job recently when she casually mentioned coaching field hockey at Princeton a decade ago.
Neal's eyes widened.
Her cell phone rang before she even reached her hotel after the interview. Lindley didn't have just one new job. She had two -- NBC's Olympics commentator for the triathlon and field hockey.
NBC's staggering plan to broadcast 1,210 hours of the Olympics over six networks this summer left its executives with a real problem.
Finding knowledgeable people
Just where do you find somebody who can talk skillfully and colorfully about badminton? Or handball? Or taekwondo?
The answers came from some unlikely people.
Like Pat Croce. The former president of the Philadelphia 76ers, and basketball studio analyst for NBC, is a black belt in taekwondo and regrets the sport was added to the Olympics after he was too old to try out. Neal remembered his interest and sought him out.
Or Bill Clement. One of the best-known hockey announcers told Neal that he had been a badminton champion growing up in Canada. Another problem solved.
Trace Worthington, a former champion freestyle skier, has a side business performing aerial stunts on a trampoline. He'll be Al Trautwig's partner in telecasting the Olympic trampoline competition.
99 on-air announcers
NBC will have 99 on-air announcers at the Athens Games, compared to 67 in Sydney in 2000. Many are familiar -- Rowdy Gaines for swimming, Dwight Stones for track and field, Doug Collins for basketball.
But 51 of them will be working at the Summer Olympics for the first time. And with NBC on the air so much -- more hours telecast than the last five Summer Games combined -- they'll have plenty of on-the-job training.