Olympics: Bob Costas discusses Mitcham controversy

(Photo: NBC Sports)
James Hillis for AfterElton.com recently talked to Bob Costas, NBC's Primetime Host for the Beijing Olympics and all-around sports commentator, at length about the controversy surrounding gold medalist Matthew Mitcham and NBC's omission of his openly gay status (the only openly gay athlete at the Games) or his personal coming out story during their broadcast.

(Getty Images)

Hillis asked Costas whether he was aware of Mitcham was openly gay and he responded saying,

I guess I did, in looking over the profiles of many Olympic athletes in the high-profile sports. But it just wasn’t something that I was focusing on while hosting. Because a lot of times what the host does is he’ll comment on the last thing seen before it comes back to the studio. Kind of capture the whole overview. The case is that more often than not, you’re not commenting on every specific individual athlete or medal winner. That’s more done at the venue than by the host. So it just wasn’t something that was in the front of my mind.

Had it been and had the circumstance arisen so it would have played in a way that made sense, and it wouldn’t have been going around six corners to get to it – I would have done it.

Was Costas concerned about the audience reaction to Mitcham's story?

No. My concern would be the privacy and the personal prerogatives of the person involved. But if the person is already out, and actually thinks that it’s an issue and worth talking about – like John Amaechi, the NBA player, or Billy Bean the baseball player – why not?

In fact I had Billy Bean on the radio show about a year ago after Tim Hardaway made his comments and they banned him from the All-Star Game.

But does Costas believe it was a story worth covering?

Yes, I do. I was not focused on it. It wasn’t like I was sitting there thinking, “Gee, I have a chance to get this in.” It was just something that wasn’t on my radar screen to be perfectly honest. But had it been, I would have thought it was a worthwhile thing to mention.

Click here to read the full text of the interview.

Source: AfterElton.com

Rich Rodriguez blogs about tennis at Down the Line!