Elliotte Friedman doing play-by-play of unfamiliar Olympic sport
It appears that NHL insider Elliotte Friedman will be switching sports this summer as he prepares to do some work for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.
Friedman, who has built up a reputation as being one of the NHL’s most connected insiders, is temporarily hanging up the skates and will instead get a chance to flex his play-by-play chops for multiple Olympic sports over the next few weeks.
In an interview on the Halford and Brough morning show earlier today, Friedman confirmed that he will be doing play-by-play for the Paris 2024 Olympic rowing, kayaking, and canoeing events as part of the CBC team.
It’s a stark change from what he usually covers, but he assured everyone that he will be prepared when paddles hit the water.
“I’ve been doing a lot of work,” Friedman admitted. “I’m going through the rules, learning the key Canadians. I’m going through it right now.”
This is not the first time that Friedman has stepped outside the arena of hockey broadcasting to cover another sport. Fans might remember the 53-year-old broadcaster being one of the commentators for the swimming events at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games.
During those games, he made a very public error and announced the wrong gold medal winner for the Men’s 200-meter individual medley event. American legend Michael Phelps won the gold, but Friedman initially announced it was Ryan Lochte after getting the lanes mixed up.
In the aftermath, Friedman took to social media to apologize for the mistake.
“I’m sorry everyone. I blew it. No excuses,” Friedman tweeted at the time.
Friedman acknowledged that moment in the interview this morning, saying it was something that prepared him for this type of challenge.
“Everyone remembers the big mistake I made back in Rio,” Friedman said. “I had gotten off to a great start, and I kinda got a little bit of a big head, and I think that really affected me there.”
Friedman also mentioned that he had failed to double-check a computer that gave him up-to-date results about who was in the lead and the order of how they finished. It was something that he always did, except for the one time he made the mistake.
Getting into a new sport that he doesn’t know a ton about and putting himself in such a public position is risky, especially after that mistake, but it’s a challenge Friedman is hungry for.
“After Rio, I called the World Swimming Championships the next year, and then things started developing between COVID and other responsibilities that I just couldn’t,” Friedman said. “This year, I said [to the CBC], ‘I understand if the answer is no, but if you need anyone, I’d love to do something.'”
Friedman said he was initially considered to be the sideline reporter for the Olympic basketball event, a sport that he was experienced covering in the early years of his career, but that they eventually landed on the rowing gig.
“They must have been stuck or something because they came to me during the [NHL] playoffs, and they said, ‘Look, we need somebody to do rowing,’ and initially I wasn’t so sure,” Friedman laughed. “I mentioned it to my wife and she said ‘Why wouldn’t you do it, you know you like the challenge of it’ … who knows how many of these opportunities are left.”
While many fans of Friedman’s may be looking forward to the veteran broadcaster galivanting around France, he did mention that he won’t be making the overseas trip and will be fulfilling the duties from Toronto.
You’ll be able to hear Friedman’s familiar voice starting on Saturday with CBC’s coverage of the rowing competition.
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