“She alone is carrying the pressure of her entire nation on her shoulders.” – NBC’s Sandra Bezic on South Korea’s Kim Yu-Na

DAY 14 DAYTIME HIGHLIGHTS OF NBC WINTER OLYMPICS COVERAGE

“She alone is carrying the pressure of her entire nation on her shoulders.” – NBC’s Sandra Bezic on South Korea’s Kim Yu-Na

“Both of them are going to come out swinging.” – NBC’s Scott Hamilton on USA’s Rachael Flatt & Mirai Nagasu

VANCOUVER – February 25, 2010 – Daytime coverage of the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games continued today on NBC with coverage of the women’s 4x5km relay gold medal final and a figure skating preview of tonight’s ladies’ gold medal final with NBC’s Scott Hamilton, Sandra Bezic and Dick Button.

MSNBC included live coverage of the women’s ice hockey bronze medal game between Finland and Sweden. USA Network featured live coverage of the women’s curling semifinal round between Canada and Switzerland.

NBC

HAMILTON, BEZIC AND BUTTON PREVIEW TONIGHT’S LADIES’ FIGURE SKATING GOLD MEDAL FINAL

DAYTIME HOST AL MICHAELS: “The walking encyclopedia of figure skating, Dick Button.”

BEZIC ON SOUTH KOREA’S KIM YU-NA WINNING GOLD: “She has the lead and if she skates cleanly, it will most likely be hers. For me what is most fascinating is the kind of pressure she’s under, because she alone is carrying the pressure of her entire nation on her shoulders. She lives with that everyday and trains with that everyday. I can’t imagine waking up and being her this morning, knowing what she has to do. Anything less than gold will be a failure.”

BUTTON ON KIM YU-NA: “Most of all is the fact that not only is she wonderfully athletic, but is also elegant and easy to watch. If she skates brilliantly, she’ll have the easiest route to a gold medal.”

HAMILTON ON JAPAN’S MAO ASADA SKATING AFTER KIM YU-NA: “There’s a little pay back here because Kim Yu-Na had to skate after Mao Asada in the short program and Mao just threw it down. Kim gets to put the pressure on her and Mao’s going to have to hit both of her triple axels to have any chance to get enough points to compete with her technically. Artistically is where Kim Yu-Na separates herself from the field. Mao is going to have to be absolutely flawless tonight technically to have any chance to overtake her.”

BUTTON: “Mao Asada is marvelous all-around skater. Her jumps are simply breathtakingly beautiful, but easy. She doesn’t quite have all of the sustaining parts through the rest of the program. Whether she does both triple axels or not is a question. If she does, the point system will be quite generous to her.”

BEZIC ON CANADA’S JOANNIE ROCHETTE AND HER MOTHER’S DEATH A FEW DAYS BEFORE THE SHORT PROGRAM: “It’s so compelling and so heart wrenching, because we all refer it to ourselves in some way and make it personal. We wonder where we would find that kind of strength within ourselves, or whether we even have that. For her to show that to us was an extraordinary gift.”

HAMILTON ON ROCHETTE: “Seeing Joannie and seeing her relationship with her mother and how tight that was. There’s a huge void right there for her and I think she’s filling it with her skating. I was blown away the other night by that short program.”

BEZIC ON USA’S RACHAEL FLATT AND MIRAI NAGASU: “What I love about these two American ladies is that they have simply no doubt. They obviously watched Tara Lipinski and Sara Hughes when they were growing up and they just figure, ‘why not me too?’ Why not be in the final flight and why not be in contention for a medal? That’s how they’ve been skating here and it’s just wonderful.”

HAMILTON ON FLATT AND NAGASU: “They’re so different. Rachael, she’s the rock. She’s so dependable. She punches her time clock every day and she always delivers the performance. With Mirai, you just never know what’s going to come out of her mouth. Just so charming and so endearing and she has her own perspective on everything. Underneath both of them is a fighter. Both of them are going to come out swinging. It’s going to be really fun to watch them skate.”

BUTTON ON FLATT AND NAGASU: “They’re wonderful. I really love them both. Rachel Flatt is just as solid as they come in every way. She’s a competitor through and through. It oozes out of her bones the way she can come through under pressure. Mirai Nagasu is just lovely. Mirai Nagasu is certainly someone who will challenge right to the top.”

WOMEN’S CROSS-COUNTRY 4x5KM RELAY GOLD MEDAL FINAL
Al Trautwig (Play-By-Play), Chad Salmela (Analyst)
Gold: Norway
Silver: Germany
Bronze: Finland

TRAUTWIG ON THE EVENT: “It’s a complete test of team depth.”

SALMELA ON THE EVENT: “They have to go from the gun. These athletes are going to charge this course right from the beginning.”

“The athletes are going to try to leave everything they can on the course.”

SALMELA ON NORWAY’S MARIT BJOERGEN ON WINNING ANOTHER GOLD THIS OLYMPICS: “This would put her down in the record books as one of the greatest skiers of all time from Norway.”

“This is becoming the Games of Marit Bjoergen in cross-country skiing.”

MICHAELS ON NORWAY WINNING GOLD: “I’m not sure they can have a ticker-tape parade in Trondheim, Norway this time of year, but I’ll bet you we’re going to find out next week.”

MSNBC

WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY BRONZE MEDAL GAME: SWEDEN VS. FINLAND
Bill Patrick (Host), Cammi Granato (Studio Analyst), Kenny Albert (Play-By-Play), AJ Mleczko (Analyst), Joe Micheletti (Reporter)
Finland: 3 Sweden: 2

GRANATO ON FINLAND WINNING GOLD: “First Olympic medal for Team Finland in 12 years!”

“These two teams are used to playing against each other.  A lot of times it’s been Sweden on top. This time its Finland’s turn.”

GRANATO ON THE GAME: “For those of us that are fans of women’s hockey, this is what we wanted to see.  We wanted to see a hard fought battle.  We wanted to see an emotional battle.  We saw some physical play. That’s what you want, a 3-2 overtime final for an Olympic medal.  That’s amazing hockey.”

ALBERT ON THE GAME: “It’s no surprise that these teams are playing for the bronze.  If you asked any follower of women’s hockey prior to the Olympics, you would have expected U.S. and Canada in the gold medal game, despite the upset by Sweden in 2006, and Sweden and Finland playing for the bronze.”

MLECZKO ON SWEDEN, FINLAND RIVALRY: “People talk about the rivalry between the USA and Canada, but this one is forgotten. Finland and Sweden play each other a lot through the years. With their geography, they are very close to each other. They are often battling for a bronze medal and you can see the physical nature and the intensity.”

GRANATO ON FINLAND’S MICHELLE KARVINEN: “Karvinen is showing why she’s one of the most exciting prospects for Finland these days.  She’s young, she’s 19 years old. But she’s showing tonight why she’s been so good for them.”

USA NETWORK

WOMEN’S CURLING SEMIFINAL: CANADA VS. SWITZERLAND
Fred Roggin (Host), Andrew Catalon (Play-by-Play), Colleen Jones (Analyst), Don
Duguid (Analyst), Elfi Schlegel (Reporter)
Canada: 6 Switzerland: 5

JONES ON CURLING IN CANADA: “In Canada, curling is next to hockey like a religion. Now team Canada will play for the gold on home ice tomorrow.”

ROGGIN ON THE GOLD MEDAL MATCH: “The Canadians will take on defending gold medal champion Anette Norberg and Sweden for the gold medal.”

CATALON ON TEAM CANADA: “Team Canada has embraced the energy in this building.  They have not run from this pressure.”

JONES ON CANADA’S CHERYL BERNARD: “She is a tough cookie.”

DUGUID ON BERNARD: “Give her the last rock and she’s dynamite with the draw.”