Tuesday, February 12, 2002

Remote Control

By ROB BRODIE -- Ottawa Sun
 Hard to say who was more shocked about the startling fall of Canadian speed skater Jeremy Wotherspoon yesterday.

 CBC commentators Steve Armitage and Neal Marshall, or Wotherspoon himself.

 Seeing as Wotherspoon, a gold-medal favourite, declined to speak to the media, we had to rely on CBC's duo and the video to tell the story.

 Fortunately, the combination painted the right picture of the stunning goings-on at the Utah Olympic Oval.

 We saw an obviously distraught Wotherspoon kicking a lane marker in disgust. Replays showed how his left skate got caught in the ice, causing the spill. Both commentators' initial reaction -- they screamed "Oh, no" almost in unison -- was followed by a brief post-race exchange that said the rest.

 "Man, if I could get inside of his head right now, it would be unbelievable," exclaimed Armitage.

 Replied Marshall, a former teammate of Wotherspoon's: "I don't know if I want to be in his head. I can't believe my eyes."

 In an interview later with CBC prime-time host Brian Williams, Marshall supplied a solid competitor's viewpoint of what he called "just a mistake."

 HIGHS: For a pair of skiing commentators, Scott Oake and Kerrin-Lee Gartner make good weather reporters. The inevitable postponement of a skiing event yesterday (the women's downhill) had CBC's crew, including reporter Vic Rauter, doing the fill, fill tap dance. But best of all, they kept viewers right up to date on the status of the race ... Nice report by Sportsnet's Craig McEwen last night on the mother and grandmother of pairs skater Jamie Sale, who are staying at the home of one of the men who manufactured the Salt Lake Olympic medals ... Underrated talent: CBC's Mark Lee, an Ottawa native who's handling play-by-play capably on women's hockey.

 LOWS: Whoever came up with the design for the curling scoreboards obviously didn't have television in mind. The top line, especially, is barely visible to viewers. Dark numbers on a white background has worked for years. Why change now? ... Maybe it was just me, but didn't CBC snowboarding commentator Rob Stevens sound a little toned down yesterday? Bummer ... It's the Olympics. Gotta learn how to count up, rather than down, on the time clocks again.

 QUOTABLE: "This has shocked all of his fellow skaters and his Canadian teammates." -- Armitage, on the reaction to Wotherspoon's slip.

 TODAY'S BEST BET: Figure skating, men's short program. Part One of Elvis Stojko's farewell to Olympic skating.

2002 Games News Coverage