| ABC Olympic broadcasts | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Olympics telecasts |
| Opening theme | "Bugler's Dream" 1968 |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 10 |
| Production | |
| Production locations | Various Olympic venues(event telecasts and studio segments) |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | Varies |
| Production company | ABC Sports |
| Original release | |
| Network | ABC |
| Release | January 29, 1964 (1964-1-29) – February 28, 1988 (1988-2-28) |
| Related | |
TheOlympic Games aired in theUnited States on thebroadcast networkABC during the 1960s to the 1980s. ABC first televised the Winter Olympic Games in1964,[1] and the Summer Olympic Games in1968.[2] ABC last televised the Summer Olympics in1984 and Winter Olympics in1988.
WhileCBS aired both the1960 Winter andSummer Games (marking the first time that the Olympics were broadcast on American television), by 1964, a different network showed theWinter Games:ABC.Roone Arledge won broadcast rights for his network and began a relationship with the "five rings" that would last over two decades. The program used many of the same production staff fromABC's Wide World of Sports, as well as the same host,Jim McKay, who moved to ABC from CBS in 1961. In 1968, ABC showed both theWinter Games and theSummer Games.
The1964 Winter Games were inInnsbruck, Austria, and coverage was taped and flown by plane back to the United States. All of it was in black-and-white, but with most Winter Olympic events in the morning (local time), most TV coverage aired the day the events were held. A portion of the Closing Ceremony was televised live via satellite (Telstar, which had to be tracked and allowed about a 15-minute window between the U.S. and Europe when it was zooming over the Atlantic). Everything else was videotaped and flown to the U.S. via a Munich-London-New York route. There was little margin for error. If a flight was canceled, ABC had a tape of a U.S.-Romaniahockey game, played the day before the Opening Ceremony and shipped over, ready to play. All went well and it never made the air.
ABC aired 16.5 hours of coverage of the Innsbruck Games, the majority of the coverage occurring outside of primetime.[3]
By 1968, ABC was broadcasting the Olympics in full color, and satellites made possible live coverage of several events at the Winter Games inGrenoble, France. In reality, only the Opening Ceremony and theladies figure skating final were televised live via satellite; most other coverage was sent via satellite to ABC and run off tape from New York. The 1968 Winter Olympics were the first to be televised in color (except for a couple of events French television fed in black-and-white).
Highlighting the 1968 Winter Games was a dramatic sweep in men's alpine skiing by FrenchmanJean-Claude Killy, while the major highlight of the Summer Games was a world-record long jump byBob Beamon of the United States, which happened to air live in the US.
Nearly all of ABC's coverage of theSummer Games inMexico City was broadcast live due to the time difference and how close America and Mexico are in travel.
In 1972, NBC showed theWinter Games fromSapporo, Japan, then ABC returned to carry theSummer Games inMunich, Germany. It was during the Summer Games thatPalestinian terrorists attacked the Olympic Village and killed 11 Israeli athletes. AlthoughChris Schenkel was the actual host of the Games that year, Arledge assigned the story to McKay largely because he was a localnews anchor inBaltimore, Maryland prior to joining CBS in 1950 and later ABC in 1961. McKay was joined on set by ABC news correspondent (and former and futureevening 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:[4][5]
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, 1972
McKay later won an Emmy Award for his coverage.[6] He stated in a 2003HBO documentary about his life and career that he was most proud of a telegram he received fromWalter Cronkite the day after the massacre praising his work.
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.[7] In all, he covered a total of 10Summer andWinter Olympic Games.[8] Jackson coveredswimming at the 1972 Summer Olympics andtrack and field at the1976 Summer Games. He coveredspeed-skating during the1980 Winter Olympics featuringEric Heiden. He was offered the position of play-by-play forhockey, but turned it down (the position ultimately went toAl Michaels). Jackson called speed skating and ski jumping at the1984 Winter Olympics. He coveredbasketball in1984. He was the weekend afternoon host for ABC's final Olympics in1988 fromCalgary.[9]
By the time the1976 edition came around, McKay was now installed at the host, a role he would play throughout the 1970s and '80s. ABC also aired the1980 Winter Olympics.
In the1976 Summer Games in Montreal, and the1984 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.[10]
Chuck Mangione's instrumental song "Give It All You Got" was originally featured as the official theme of the1980 Winter Olympics, held inLake Placid,New York.[11] ABC had used Mangione's recordings four years earlier during their coverage of the1976 Summer Olympics, and then-ABC Sports presidentRoone Arledge asked the musician to create the theme song for the Winter games.[11] Mangione also performed the song live at the Closing Ceremonies on February 24.[12]
The 1980 Winter Olympics was the setting for the "Miracle on Ice", a medal-round men'sice hockey game inLake Placid,New York, on February 22. TheUnited States team, made up ofamateur andcollegiate players and led by coachHerb Brooks, defeated theSoviet team, which consisted of veteran professional players with significant experience in international play. The rest of the United States (except those who watched the game live on Canadian television) had to wait to see the game, as ABC decided to broadcast the late-afternoon game on tape delay in prime time.[13] SportscasterAl Michaels, who was calling the game on ABC along with formerMontreal Canadiens goalieKen Dryden, picked up on the countdown in his broadcast, and delivered his famous call:[14]
Eleven seconds, you've got ten seconds, the countdown going on right now!Morrow, up toSilk. Five seconds left in the game. Do you believe in miracles? YES!
The Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics, and 1988 Winter Olympics were hosted on ABC by Jim McKay and Peter Jennings.[15][16]
ABC Sports also covered the1984 Winter Olympics inSarajevo,Yugoslavia, and the1984 Summer Olympics inLos Angeles, USA. That year,Kathleen Sullivan became the first woman to serve as an in-anchor a telecast of the Olympic Games.
As previously mentioned, the1988 Winter Olympics inCalgary, Alberta,Canada are the most recent Olympics to be covered byABC Sports.
After that, ABC, at the insistence of new ownerCapital Cities Communications[17] (much to the chagrin of Roone Arledge's successor at ABC Sports, Dennis Swanson), opted not to bid for the rights to show any future Games. Subsequently,The Walt Disney Company acquired Capital Cities-ABC in 1995 and began the process of putting more effort into the branding of ABC's sports channelESPN than ofABC Sports itself.
According toAl Michaels,[18] ABC was in the running to purchase the broadcasting rights for the1996 Summer Games fromAtlanta. As a provision in his contract renewal with ABC back in 1992, in the event that ABC were to broadcast the Olympics again, Michaels would get to become the prime time anchor whileJim McKay would instead play an emeritus role. Ultimately though,NBC bought the rights to the Atlanta Games for$456 million, edging out ABC by $6 million.
In August 2008,ESPN, which produces sports broadcasts for ABC (branded asESPN on ABC), stated that they would make a serious bid for the2014 games inSochi, Russia and the2016 games inRio de Janeiro, Brazil. However,NBC won the rights to American television coverage of the Olympics through the 2020 Summer Games.[19]
As of May 7, 2014,NBC now holds control of the Olympic television coverage in the United States through the 2032 Summer Games.
| Year | Host | Hours of Coverage | Rights Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | Innsbruck,Austria | 17.5[20] | $597,000 |
| 1968 | Grenoble,France | 27[20] | $2,500,000 |
| 1976 | Innsbruck,Austria | 43.5 | $10,000,000 |
| 1980 | Lake Placid,United States | 53.25 | $15,500,000 |
| 1984 | Sarajevo,Yugoslavia | 63 | $91,500,000 |
| 1988 | Calgary,Canada | 94.5 | $309,000,000 |
| Year | Host | Hours of Coverage | Rights Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Mexico City,Mexico | 43.75[20] | $4,500,000 |
| 1972 | Munich,West Germany | 62.75[20] | $7,500,000 |
| 1976 | Montreal,Canada | 76.5 | $25,000,000 |
| 1984 | Los Angeles,United States | 180 | $225,000,000 |
| Year | Prime-Time Host | Daytime Host(s) | Late-Night Host(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Chris Schenkel | ||
| 1972 | Chris Schenkel | ||
| 1976 | Jim McKay[21] | ||
| 1984 | Jim McKay | Frank Gifford Kathleen Sullivan | Jim Lampley Donna de Varona |
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)| Preceded by | U.S. Winter Olympics Broadcaster ABC Sports Olympics on ABC (1964–1968) | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | U.S. Winter Olympics Broadcaster ABC Sports Olympics on ABC (1976–1988) | Succeeded by CBS (1992–1998) |
| Preceded by | U.S. Summer Olympics Broadcaster ABC Sports Olympics on ABC (1968–1976) | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | U.S. Summer Olympics Broadcaster ABC Sports Olympics on ABC (1984) | Succeeded by NBC (1988–present) |