LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 12, 2010) – As the fans fill the stands, the athletes warm up, and the television crews countdown to go live, the pressure mounts as the most widely watched event of all the Olympic Sports, including summer and winter, is about to begin.
It's not downhill skiing. Or speed skating. Or snowboarding.
The most widely watched Olympic sport is actually figure skating and the person who will help bring the action into millions of living rooms across the country for NBC Sports during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics is University of Kentucky alum Tom Hammond.
"When I was first assigned to figure skating I have to admit I had no knowledge and little interest in the sport, but I have come to appreciate the athletic skills needed and the intense pressure under which the skaters operate," Hammond said. "I tell my skeptical male friends that I think Olympic figure skating, where skaters are on the ice by themselves for four minutes at a time, is the most pressure-packed event in the world of sports."
And he should know. Hammond, who graduated from UK in 1967 with a bachelor's degree in animal science, is a multi-sport television commentator. He has broadcast everything from football and basketball games to track and field to horse racing.
"I often feel like a juggler with several different balls in the air at one time," Hammond said. "Just last month, I broadcast the Jets vs. Bengals NFL Playoff game, and then less than a week later I was in Spokane, Washington for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Can you imagine two completely different sports?"
The Vancouver games will be the ninth Olympics Hammond has covered. He started out broadcasting men's and women's basketball during the Seoul Olympics in 1988. Since that time, he has also broadcast gymnastics, diving, and track and field.
Because figure skating encompasses so many different categories, Hammond spends all of his time focusing on this one sport during the Winter Games. So what is a typical day of Olympics coverage like for the UK grad?
"In Vancouver, which will be a 'live' Olympics, a typical day will start about 9 a.m. with a visit to the skaters' morning practice sessions," Hammond said. "We'll probably have a break from about noon to 3 p.m. when we will have a production meeting to go over the coverage for the evening. After that, we'll go to wardrobe and makeup before finally starting live event coverage until about 10 p.m."
It's a long day, but Hammond says it is important to him to stay fresh so that he can give the television audience what it wants to hear.
My approach to calling skating is to think about what a viewer would want to know," Hammond said. "I impart information about the skaters to give viewers a reason to care about whether they do well."
Hammond says he focuses more on the "stories" in his role behind the microphone.
"Though I have learned a bit about the technical aspects of the sport, I have two experts with me, Sandra Bezic and Scott Hamilton, so I generally leave the analysis to them," he said. "All in all, I’m honored to be selected to broadcast figure skating."
But it's not just the event that Hammond enjoys. He says the fact that he is able to be a part of something on such a large scale is truly special.
"What makes the Olympics so special is the scope of the Games because it is one of the few things in which the whole world has an interest in, it serves as a uniting force," Hammond said.
He owes the opportunity to be a part of such monumental moments in history in part to his education at the University of Kentucky.
"At UK, I learned to express myself with both the written and spoken word. I learned 'how to learn' so that when I'm presented with a new and foreign task, I know how to become competent, and finally I learned the ability to recognize my strengths and to identify opportunities that inevitably will present themselves and then to take advantage of them," Hammond said.
So while Hammond travels the country and world to bring sporting events into people's homes, the one place that means most to him is the Bluegrass.
"One of the best parts of my job is when people from UK or just citizens of Kentucky who are total strangers stop and tell me they are proud of me," said Hammond. "Those moments make all the long hours and all the preparation worth it."
One of the most special moments for this Kentuckian took place during last year's men's basketball season.
"I guess I am UK and Kentucky through and through," said Hammond. "Dr. Todd took me to center court during the UK-Florida game and as I was introduced, there was a prolonged, and to me, thunderous, standing ovation. The extent of it took me completely by surprise. It was one of the most gratifying moments of my life."
It is a moment that will continue to drive Hammond even during the longest days of the upcoming Olympics. That's because he knows that he's not just broadcasting figure skating, but he's actually capturing moments in our world's history for millions to witness.
Click here for the complete figure skating schedule for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
Watch why Hammond thinks figure skating is one of the toughest sporting events around in the video below.
