My Favorite Part Of The Winter Olympics

Hello! I'm not a winter sports enthusiast, but I did enjoy watching the Winter Olympics these past two weeks. 

There were highs and lows, thrills and spills, along with the usual dramas such as "will the host site be ready in time?" and "were figure skating scoring results fixed?" 

I watched in awe at the acrobatics of the X-game-style events and enjoyed the elegance of Davis and White as they ice-danced to a gold medal. Snowboarding and ice-dancing: two very different forms of athleticism, which goes to show you that there's something for everyone at the Winter Olympics.

However, my favorite part of these Winter games ended up being the various Nordic skiing events, a category in which the US doesn't even historically do well. But my husband tuned into the Olympics randomly the first weekend, where we heard an announcer screaming with excitement during one of the Nordic ski races. It was then that I remembered having heard the same guy screaming during a biathlon race at the last Olympics. 

Still didn't know the announcer's name, but then it was mentioned in an AP wire story the next day that summed up the previous day's Olympics results. Thus, I learned that it's Chad Salmela who's been providing the breathlessly excited commentary during Nordic events. 

I wasn't the only one to notice Salmela's announcing style, of course. One website called him the "breakout star" of the games and provided a link to one of the races he called. You can check it out HERE. 

The link to the video is in the article. Listen for "they're all running on FUUUMES!" lol 

NBC must like Salmela's style too, as they compiled a video of his "most emphatic cross country calls". See it HERE.

Love the way he says "it's a two-person race" with fierce glee at the 14 second mark!

The Olympic games are now over (except for the tape-delayed events being shown later on today and tonight.) I won't forget the excitement Chad Salmela brought to the Nordic events though!