Well Saturday was my first broadcast, no sign of the jetlag yet but I suppose there is still time! Today I have the men’s 5,000m speed skating and the Pairs short program, its going to be a long day!

Up early and before breakfast I took a walk out to the shops to by some clothes, I am definitely starting pong a bit! Jennifer Chivers has been my savior here, she gave me a AA freshen up pack (I don’t know what you call them) which I had in my hand luggage, I will never travel again without one, the last few days would have been hell without it – Thanks Jennifer!

Back for a good breakfast in the village and a freshen up with my new acquisitions.

The bus ride from the media village to the Broadcasting centre is about half an hour (without traffic). As you can imagine the traffic in Turin can be pretty bad……. If you have seen the original version of the Italian Job you will know what I mean!

I spent the afternoon preparing for both programs and then made my way to the Palavela for the pairs short program. What a fantastic competition, I hope you got the chance to see it. I don’t think I have ever seen a pairs event where there were so few mistakes, even with the new system which pushes the skaters to try technical elements that they may find demanding, all the skaters were able to raise their game. The highlight was without doubt the flawless performance of Tomianina and Marinin. Tatiana and Max skated the short program of their life and have a comfortable margin going into the free.

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Oh by the way this is my view of the ice surface from the commentary position:

We are situated a little off centre and not too high (nothing like the Europeans where I felt like I was sat on the ice!). You can just see the judges positions down in front of us, this complete side of the rink is set aside for the media, it really is a media circus!

 

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Back now to the IBC to do the speed skating, it is a mad dash for me because as soon as the figure skating finished I had an hour to get back sort myself out and do a 45 minute highlights program on the speed skating. We don’t have a commentary position in the speed arean so I have to commentate of tube in the Eurosport office at the IBC. It’s a shame because you don’t get the same atmosphere but never mind. This is a shot of the outside of the IBC:

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It is a massive communication centre where all of the TV and media coverage of the games is coordinated.

The speed skating was fantastic, it was a massive first gold medal for Chad Hedrick of the USA, I really enjoyed commentating on the race as this guy is a real character. Eric Hiden (1980 5 time gold medalist) thinks that this guy has a real chance of achieving his 26 year old record (my goodness – is it that long since I competed at Olympics! Guess it must be!)

Well back home to bed, half hour bus ride, nine flights of stairs (the lift doesn’t work!) then bed at 2:00am, I ma shattered!..........

 

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