Continuing what it started in 2012, Fox Sports has sent a heavy contingent to Sochi to cover the 2014 Winter Games.
Anchoring the coverage will be Fox Sports Live’s Jay Onrait and Dan O’Toole. Both have experience as Olympic hosts as Onrait co-hosted CTV’s morning coverage in Vancouver in 2010 and both co-hosted TSN’s SportsCentre’s Olympic shows from London in 2012.
Unlike their work for the Canadian Olympic Broadcasting Consortium, Jay and Dan will be allowed to attend events and report on them later on Fox Sports 1’s Fox Sports Live.
Fox has signed former Olympians to join them as analysts such as Michelle Kwan (figure skating), Picabo Street (alpine skiing) and Chris Chelios (hockey).
Jay and Dan will be seen on Fox Sports Live from Sochi starting Friday, February 7 through Saturday, February 22.
Here’s the Fox release.
FOX SPORTS LIVE’S JAY ONRAIT AND DAN O’TOOLE REPORT NIGHTLY FROM OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES
Dynamic Duo Anchor FOX Sports 1’s Live Coverage from Sochi
LOS ANGELES, CA – What happens when two Canadians cover the Winter Olympics in Russia for Americans on the nation’s newest sports network? It’s hard to predict, but we’ll soon find out when Jay Onrait and Dan O’Toole, the smart and irreverent anchors of FOX SPORTS LIVE, head to Sochi, Russia to cover the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. The duo report live each night for FOX Sports 1’s flagship news, opinion and highlights program from Friday, Feb. 7 through Saturday, Feb. 22 (11:00 PM ET).
Onrait and O’Toole are joined in Sochi by other FOX Sports analysts including Olympic medalist and figure skating icon Michelle Kwan, Olympic gold medalist skier Picabo Street, Hockey Hall of Famer and Olympian Chris Chelios and Olympic snowboarder Andy Finch, who add analysis of events and interviews of the Games biggest stars for FOX SPORTS LIVE.
“We’re thrilled to attend the Olympics,” says O’Toole. “We’ll be doing lots of things that we normally do with our reports, but with a Russian spin.” Due to the 12-hour time zone difference between Sochi and the FOX SPORTS LIVE studio in Los Angeles, their reports come in the mornings in Sochi, allowing them opportunity the rest of the day to attend events, tape segments and interview athletes. The two have been preparing for several months and plan on creative coverage with their own twist.
FOX SPORTS LIVE Executive Producer Michael Hughes is looking forward to having the show’s anchors attend the world’s premier sporting event. “We’re excited to be sending Jay and Dan to cover the Winter Olympics for FOX SPORTS LIVE. We know they’ll provide unique insights of the events and of the Sochi region with their distinctive and fun style, adding context to the stories.”
Onrait and O’Toole have previous experience covering the Olympics. At the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games, Onrait co-hosted CTV’s Olympic Morning presentation, while O’Toole co-hosted coverage from the International Broadcast Centre. At the 2012 Summer Games, the two anchored TSN’s SportsCentre coverage from Trafalgar Square in London.
This time around, they hope to bring their fresh approach to the United States. “This will be a lot of fun,” says O’Toole. “We’ll get to tell new stories from an American perspective.”
They will also have added freedom they didn’t have at previous Games.
“When we went to London, we were hosting the network’s coverage and I didn’t have credentials, so I couldn’t attend any of the events,” explains O’Toole. “This time around I’m excited to have credentials and to see it all in person, especially hockey.”
An avid skier, Onrait is also looking forward to attending many of the skiing and snowboarding competitions. They both agree they’d like to see as many events as they can while they’re there.
We can only hope that we get something similar to this moment in 2010 when Onrait was bewildered over a particular segment on CTV.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2HL0urGz8M&rel=0&w=560&h=315]
I watched that live and was just as bewildered as Jay. More coming later.
