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NBC cuts away too quickly from super-G

The Associated Press

Athletic miracles do happen, and the one performed by little-known Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic on Saturday caught NBC flat-footed.

Toward the end of the women’s super-G competition, NBC’s Dan Hicks declared Austria’s Cornelia Huetter as the only skier with “any real chance” of beating teammate Anna Veith. When Huetter fell short, Hicks said that “it’s Anna Veith of Austria who repeats as Olympic super-G champion.” That made it four straight Olympic gold medals in that discipline for Austria, he said.

As the pictures showed an emotional Veith, Hicks said she “just about can’t believe it.” After a commercial, NBC switched to figure skating, leaving viewers with the impression that the race was over. It wasn’t. NBC had to break in later with the news that Ledecka had beaten Veith, and showed her winning run. There’s no shame in thinking Veith was the probable winner and the broadcast moving on; even Ledecka was stunned by her win. After Huetter’s run, The Associated Press wrote that Veith was “on the brink” of defending her gold medal. But probable isn’t the same thing as certain, and Hicks was burned.

Still watching

The 19.2 million people who watched the Olympics on NBC, NBCSN or on streaming services Friday was identical to the 19.2 million NBC viewers for the corresponding night in Sochi in 2014. In today’s television world, that’s a victory. The Nielsen company said 16.6 million people watched NBC alone on Friday. NBC notes that the dominance of Olympic coverage over other things on TV is unmatched; on Friday, competitors ABC, CBS and Fox combined reached just 8.1 million viewers.

Thanks mom

Susan Hubbell once found a piece of lace from the 1920s, probably the last such piece in existence, and paid hundreds of dollars so she could cut it up for a figure skating costume.

Her daughter, American ice dancer Madison Hubbell, never wore it in competition.

She once spent more than $1,000 on rhinestones for a glittery jewel of a costume, one that sparkled like a million diamonds, and her daughter wore it once before packing it away.

“It was incredible. The thing was solid, tiny little rhinestones,” Susan Hubbell recalled with a chuckle. “But it happens all the time, I’ll make a costume and they’ll change their mind, or they want to go with a different feel, and all it does is hangs in the closet. Nobody ever sees it again.”

Well, millions of people will see some of her handiwork this week.

Madison Hubbell and her partner, Zachary Donohue, are among three American ice dance teams with a shot at the Olympic podium when competition begins Monday with the short program. And while they are unlikely to challenge the favorites, Canadian superstars Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and French rivals Gabriella Papdakis and Guillaume Cizeron, Hubbell and Donohue still have plenty of confidence.

That’s because they’re fresh off an upset win at nationals, when they beat teammates Maia and Alex Shibutani and Madison Chock and Evan Bates, and still believe their best is yet to come.

Perhaps part of the reason is the confidence they have in their costumes.

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