Mission for Graves is to deliver skiing commentary
JEONGSEON, South Korea — At every event in the 2018 Winter Olympics, introductions, commentary on the action, and other information is conveyed to spectators in two languages — Korean and English.
The man handling the English public address duties at Jeongseon Alpine Center, where the ski racing speed events are taking place, and Yongpyong Resort, where the technical events are being held, is Peter Graves, a native son of Vermont’s Green Mountains who has been called one of the most prominent voices in ski racing. He grew up in Bennington, Vt., and now lives in East Thetford, Vt., when he’s not traipsing the globe, or at least the far corners of New England, to call Alpine, Nordic, ski jumping, and biathlon events.
Graves has worked multiple Olympics — including three Summer Games games as a cycling announcer — in addition to World Cup races of all types of skiing disciplines. He delivers insight and analysis and energizes crowds, and sometimes even urges on the racers in their native tongue.
He has a vast knowledge of ski racing history, and would not be surprised if a certain aspect of that history repeats at these Games.
“Americans have had the uncanny ability, if you look back at Olympic results, to ski up on a given day. I’m not sure what it is, but they, historically, you look at Debbie Armstrong, you look at Andrew Weibrecht, you look at Tommy Moe, Diann Roffe-Steinrotter, they had solid results before [having Olympic success], but we ski up and meet the occasion in a way that is pretty impressive,’’ Graves said Sunday after the men’s downhill was postponed because of high winds.
He’s also optimistic because the American starters in the downhill have been fast in the training sessions here. Bryce Bennett was in the top 10 on each of the three days of training, and Jared Goldberg, Wiley Maple, and Thomas Biesemeyer have also posted fast times.
“I think we could look for a couple inspired performances from them,’’ Graves said.
Graves has been to Jeongseon once before, for the Olympics test event in 2017, and knows what racers will face in the Olympic downhill and super-G events.
“The speed courses here are a bit unique. It’s pretty technical, and you hear people talk about this course in terms of tactics, of being really smart tactically, because there’s quite a bit of terrain elements here, some blind jumps, some really wide turns that it’s super important to carry your speed through,’’ Graves said.
The Jeongseon course, built on a slope of Gariwang Mountain in one of Korea’s most remote mountain regions, was designed by famous course designer Bernhard Russi.
“It lacks some of the hugely steep terrain of a lot of the classic European courses, so if you make a mistake here, it gets compounded in that there’s little chance to regain speed somewhere,’’ Graves said.
Graves got his start in announcing with ABC in 1980, doing cross-country coverage during the Lake Placid Olympics. He did freelance work in the early days of ESPN, doing voiceovers as the network got its start by filling the airwaves with anything and everything, including ski racing. He also spent time as a cross-country coach at Harvard.
But after so many years in the business, it hasn’t gotten old for Graves. His enthusiasm for these Games was evident as he chatted about them near the finish line Sunday.
“I love the Olympic movement. For me coming out of a small town in New England, this has been a dream come true that I never, ever expected,’’ Graves said.
