THE ZAPPER
John Walters
October 02, 2000
On Friday's Olympic coverage, NBC broadcast priceless shots of Amy Van Dyken of the U.S. shaking her head at Inge de Bruijn's 50-meter freestyle world record in a heat, but commentators Dan Hicks and Rowdy Gaines chose not to mention that Van Dyken's contempt reflected an unsubstantiated belief among many swimmers that de Bruijn's time was drug-aided. On Saturday, not only did Hicks and Gaines address the issue, but after the Dutch swimmer had won gold, poolside reporter Andrea Joyce politely confronted her with the drug rumors. It was a golden turnaround for the broadcast team.
On Friday's Olympic coverage, NBC broadcast priceless shots of Amy Van Dyken of the U.S. shaking her head at Inge de Bruijn's 50-meter freestyle world record in a heat, but commentators Dan Hicks and Rowdy Gaines chose not to mention that Van Dyken's contempt reflected an unsubstantiated belief among many swimmers that de Bruijn's time was drug-aided. On Saturday, not only did Hicks and Gaines address the issue, but after the Dutch swimmer had won gold, poolside reporter Andrea Joyce politely confronted her with the drug rumors. It was a golden turnaround for the broadcast team.