Olympics from the radio side of the podium

Today I had to make a phone call to an announcer at the London Olympics. We’re doing an interview with him on our morning show tomorrow, and we wanted to check the phone line today so that everything will run smoothly as we go live.

SIDEBAR: Trying to get Olympians, their families or anyone in an Olympic city is notoriously impossible. There are media, friends and family calling all the time at all hours and while it’s a big deal to us if we score an interview, it’s just another call to them, and I understand that. We were THIS close to having Dylan Armstrong’s mother on the air last week, but kept losing the line. It was incredibly frustrating.

So this fellow with the bassiest voice ever heard picks up the phone and says “just a minute” and I hear “AND THAT ENDS SECOND ROUND JUMPING AT 4 METERS 50, WITH RIFAT ARTIKOV of UZBEKISTAN…”

That’s right, he picked up the phone AS HE WAS ANNOUNCING the pole vault event for the men’s decathlon. During our 5-minute conversation, he had to drop the phone to give a couple more results, and I sat there, a little gaga on the other end of the line.

I think this is my favourite Olympic moment so far … with the exception of any of the men’s rowing events. I do love me a tall man with broad shoulders, after all.

Members of Canada’s men’s rowing eight throw a teammate in Lake Dorney after winning the silver medal in Eton Dorney, near Windsor, England, at the 2012 Summer Olympics. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)