Al Trautwig
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Alan Trautwig
Biography
Early life
Trautwig was a stick boy for the
Broadcasting career
In the 1980s, Trautwig hosted
Trautwig was one of the original hosts for Classic Sports Network when it was founded in 1996.
The 2000 New York Sportscaster of the Year, Trautwig has covered the last eight
At the beginning of the
He also hosted NBC's coverage of the
Auto racing, cycling and tennis commentary
He was a television pit reporter alongside Jim McKay for ABC Sports' coverage of the 1986-1987 Indianapolis 500.
He has co-anchored coverage of the
From 2005 to 2008, he also co-anchored USA Network's coverage of the US Open tennis tournament. Trautwig also had a cameo in the movie Cool Runnings as an announcer for the bobsled competition. He now co-anchors the US Open's live feed during the tournament.
Gymnastics commentary
In 2000, Trautwig replaced John Tesh as host of U.S. national and international gymnastics competitions for NBC, including the 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016 Olympic games. Trautwig's co-hosts included former Olympic gold medalist Tim Daggett, former Canadian champion gymnast Elfi Schlegel, three-time Olympian John Roethlisberger and 2008 Olympic champion Nastia Liukin.
Trautwig has stated that, at the urging of NBC producers, his gymnastics commentary focused on the personal stories of the gymnasts.[5][6] During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, he described a gymnast's pre-Olympics injury as "like having a tear in your wedding dress right before you walk down the aisle."[7]
His most notable controversy involved repeatedly referring to the fact that Simone Biles's adoptive parents are her biological grandparents during the 2016 Rio Olympics, refusing to refer to them as her parents. He publicly doubled down on these sentiments on Twitter despite widespread backlash, tweeting, "they may be mom and dad, but they are not her parents." His commentary has resulted in some in the gymnastics community criticizing Trautwig long before the Biles controversy at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Shortly after the conclusion of the 2016 Rio Olympics, Trautwig was permanently removed from gymnastics commentary duty.[8][9][10]
References
- ^ 1973–1979 New York Apollo
- ^ Chad, Norman (September 2, 1987). "Cosell gets back in the picture". Washington Post. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
- ^ Best, Neil (March 15, 2021). "Al Trautwig's contract not renewed by MSG Network". Newsday. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
- ^ "Versus Cycling Commentary, Part Two". Team Two Wheel. 2009-04-09. Retrieved 2016-08-13.
- ^ Wiedeman, Reeves (2016-08-09). "Women's Gymnastics Deserves Better TV Coverage". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2016-08-12.
- ^ VanDerWerff, Emily (2016-08-12). "NBC's coverage of the Olympics is atrocious. There's a simple reason why". Vox. Retrieved 2016-08-13.
- ^ Reeve, Elspeth (2016-06-29). "Welcome to the Gymternet". New Republic. Retrieved 2016-08-13.
- ^ Brady, Erik; Axon, Rachel (2016-08-08). "NBC's Al Trautwig apologizes for comments on Simone Biles' parents". USA Today. Retrieved 2016-08-13.
- ^ Reeve, Elspeth (2016-06-29). "Welcome to the Gymternet". New Republic. Retrieved 2016-08-13.
- ^ Kamiya, Gary (20 August 2008). "Memo to NBC gymnastics commentators: Shut up!". Salon. Retrieved 2016-08-13.