Beijing Olympics: 2/9/2022 Highlights

NBC Olympics continued its primetime coverage of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, China, tonight on NBC and Peacock. Mike Tirico – after travelling back from Beijing – returned as NBC Olympics primetime host and opened coverage from NBC Sports’ International Broadcast Center in Stamford, Conn.

Highlights of upcoming coverage include:

• • Three-time Olympic gold medalist Shaun White, who is competing in his fifth Olympic Games, seeks gold once again in the men’s snowboarding halfpipe final tomorrow live in primetime on NBC and Peacock;
  • The U.S. men’s ice hockey team plays its first game of the preliminary round against host nation China tomorrow live at 8:10 a.m. ET on USA Network and Peacock;
  • The 2018 Olympic gold medal-winning U.S. women’s ice hockey team continues its gold medal defense when they play Czech Republic in the quarterfinals tomorrow live at 11:10 p.m. ET on USA Network and Peacock. NBC will also air portions of the matchup;
  • The U.S. men’s curling team, skipped by 2018 Olympic gold medalist John Shuster, plays Great Britain in pool play tomorrow live at 8 p.m. ET on CNBC and Peacock.

 

Following are highlights from tonight’s primetime coverage of the Winter Olympics on the platforms of NBCUniversal:

FIGURE SKATING – NBC & PEACOCK

Terry Gannon on Nathan Chen’s gold medal-winning performance: “The best skater in the world just brought it on the biggest stage in the world!”

Tara Lipinski on Chen: “He’s been the heir apparent and it’s finally time for the Quad King’s coronation. Give him his crown! … The lyrics at the end of his program said, ‘the greatest of all-time,’ and he proved it…He’s been waiting for this moment for four years.”

Johnny Weir on Chen: “That is what he has prepared for. He’s done this before and this performance was the absolute best of what Nathan Chen does…rarely does a skater come around that is this consistent…this gold medal will be so deserving…not only did he win the Olympic gold medal, he crushed his own high score.”

Gannon on Chen: “The 22-year-old from Salt Lake City. You think about where that journey started on a practice rink built for the Salt Lake City Games, and now it ends with a gold medal in Beijing.”

Lipinski on Chen: “He worked so hard for this moment. He has made the impossible look so easy for so many years, but this Olympic gold did not come easy for Nathan Chen. He had to work for it.”

Lipinski on Jason Brown: “He rides the edge of disaster to hit these positions and transitions and it’s because art comes first for him. Every artist has a canvas – Michelangelo used a ceiling in a chapel, Shakespeare a page, Jason Brown uses the ice. He will be one of figure skating’s greatest artists.”

Weir on Brown: “He is a stunning, stunning skater. It’s not about the medals for a skater like Jason Brown. It’s about the performance. It’s about the serenity. It’s about the beauty of skating. He’s one of the few modern skaters who can make it work without doing all of the other technical stuff.”

Weir on Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama: “Yuma Kagiyama is a tremendous skater. I knew he was going to have a great Olympics here, but I’m so looking forward to the next four-year cycle — watching him grow, watching him develop. But skating is more about the way you do things than what exactly you’re doing, and he does things so well.”

Lipinski on Kagiyama: “I feel like he skates with a trail of sparkles behind him. He’s just such a rare talent.”

Tirico on the delay of the team event medal ceremony: “The IOC said it was due to a ‘legal issue.’ We can now tell you that the reason behind the delay involves the Russian Kamila Valiyeva testing positive for a banned substance prior to the Olympics. The drug – trimetazidine – helps the heart muscle function more normally when it is getting lower oxygen delivered to it. For sports, it potentially means the athlete could continue to perform at a higher heart rate for a longer period of time. She was part of the Russian Olympic Committee team that won that event, the 15-year-old Valiyeva proving pivotal to the team’s success. The U.S. took silver in that event. There has been no official adjudication at this point, so it’s still not known if or how this will affect the results of the team event, or Valiyeva’s eligibility to compete in the individual competition. That begins Tuesday and she is the heavy favorite to win gold.”

***

SNOWBOARDING – NBC & PEACOCK

Todd Harris on Chloe Kim’s first run of 94.00, which won gold: “Chloe Kim with the gold medal flex…In 2018 we welcomed her to the show, in 2022, Chloe Kim, you are the show.”

Todd Richards on Kim’s first run: “That’s it ladies and gentlemen, that run right there – that is guaranteed gold… I talked to the U.S. team halfpipe coach JJ Thomas and I said, ‘How’s Chloe feeling?’ He said, ‘Man, she’s kind of rattled right now.’ … She said she had a really bad practice, but Chloe came out and threw down.”

Richards on Kim attempting to land the first-ever 1260 on her third and final run: “Oftentimes progression is much more important than accolades in the sport of snowboarding. It’s always been that way and it always will be. The accolades come with progression, if you choose that path…She could have came down and road down the middle of the halfpipe, but no. She chose progression, and that’s what we want to see. She’s been pushing the envelope for years. Congratulations to Chloe Kim.”

Kim to Randy Moss on her first run: “I’m not going to lie, I had probably one of the worst practices I have ever had which does not put you in a good place mentally, especially out here. So I was dealing with all sorts of emotion, self-doubt, but when I was getting ready to drop in to my first run, I just reminded myself that it’s a brand new run…and I was so happy I was able to do that.”

Kim on attempting the 1260: “I only did it once out here during one of the practice days, so I’m honestly super proud of myself for just going out there and even trying to do it. It’s a very new trick, so I’m really looking forward to being able to land it — maybe at the next one.”

Trace Worthington on Lindsey Jacobellis’ gold medal in women’s snowboard cross: “It’s time to move on and finally put an end to talking about the 2006 Lindsey Jacobellis and begin talking about Beijing Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Jacobellis! Her costly error in 2006, which became the identity for Lindsey Jacobellis for 16 years, has finally been put to rest. A new memory will take its place, and it’s a golden memory.”

***

ALPINE SKIING – NBC & PEACOCK

Ted Ligety on Mikaela Shiffrin potentially racing in tomorrow’s Super-G: “We don’t have word if she’s going to race, but she is going out there to train Super-G this afternoon, and assuming that she does race, she’s still the favorite in the combined and has a real chance in the Super-G because the Super-G suits her skills so well.”

Porino: “Your heart just breaks for her, and I think the reason that she has not committed to this yet is because there is a safety component to Super-G and if she doesn’t feel like she is of the mind to be competing, Super-G can be dangerous.”