Bob Costas and Al Michaels are back at the Olympics. The famed sports announcers — who starred on NBC’s Olympic television broadcasts for years — made guest appearances Sunday for the network’s coverage of the Paris Games.
Costas and Michaels reminisced on previous Olympic Games hosted by U.S. cities and highlighted past achievements by American athletes, including Carl Lewis, Kerri Strug and the 1980 gold-medal winning men’s hockey team, in advance of the next Summer Olympics heading to Los Angeles in 2028.
The duo was photographed with Snoop Dogg, the rapper who has been highly visible at the 2024 Games as an Olympic torchbearer and NBC commentator, at the beach volleyball venue near the Eiffel Tower on July 31.
Snoop and his two TV dads: Al Michaels and Bob Costas. #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/bCbvDoLtTG
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 31, 2024
Costas covered 12 Olympics for NBC from 1988 to 2016 as a primetime host. Michaels, also known for his NFL and “Sunday Night Football” coverage, shifted from ABC to NBC in 2006, hosting multiple Olympics for the network. He had previously been involved with coverage of the Games, famously exclaiming “Do you believe in miracles?” while calling the U.S. men’s hockey team’s win over the Soviet Union at the Lake Placid Games.
Costas, 72, officially left NBC in 2019. Since 2022, he’s been a play-by-play announcer for “MLB on TBS” broadcasts. He also calls play-by-play for MLB Network and is a contributor for CNN.
“When I signed my last contract with (NBC Sports) in 2012, it was my stipulation that I’d do a couple more Olympics and that 2016 would be my last year of hosting the NFL,” Costas told The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch in 2022. “That was my choice. They asked me in 2015 if I wanted to continue on a yearly basis, or one Olympics at a time beyond 2016, and a yearly basis with the NFL. I said, ‘That’s very nice. Thank you very much. But I’m sticking with the plan.’
“That plan included an emeritus clause, a five-year window and maybe beyond, where as they put it, I would be to sports what Tom Brokaw had been to news.”
Michaels, 79, departed his “Sunday Night Football” role in 2022, though he holds an “emeritus” title with NBC. He became a full-time play-by-play announcer for Amazon Prime’s “Thursday Night Football” broadcasts in 2022. Peacock, NBC’s streaming platform, is using an A.I. technology re-creation of Michaels’ voice as part of its Olympics coverage.
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(Photo: Carl Recine / Getty Images)
