above: NBC Sportscaster Dan Hicks. – Photograph: Kyle Norton
NBC Sportscaster Dan Hicks is familiar to legions of golf and football fans for his coverage of major tournaments and college gridiron rivalries. Every four years, beginning with the 1996 Atlanta Games, he gets a poolside seat to cover Olympic swimming events. We checked in with the Greenwich resident for his insights on what to expect at this summer’s games.
Racing into the 2024 Olympics in Paris
Stamford Magazine: How did you become linked with swimming?
Dan Hicks: After handling studio work for the Barcelona Games in 1992, I got a call from Dick Ebersol, the then chairman of NBC Olympics. He thought I’d be a good fit for swimming. I was incredibly excited because it was Atlanta in 1996. The anticipation is always big, but when it’s in the U.S., it’s even more amped up.
I started working with Rowdy Gaines and got in his ear and asked him everything I could. The best way to immerse yourself is to ask the best that did it, like Rowdy, but he was also a seasoned broadcaster by then having done Barcelona. I leaned on him, and he carried me through ’96, and we hit it off as a team. We’re doing our eighth Olympics together. I’m lucky to work with someone who I think is the best Olympic analyst in broadcast history. I know those are heady words, but I will argue with anyone that he’s the best to have ever done it. He knows his x’s and o’s and the sport inside and out, but it’s the passion that sets Rowdy apart. One of my best pals in life.
STM: There are races where the win comes down to the murky (at least to us) touch of a pool wall. How do you get it right?
DH: The number one rule— and it goes with any sport, especially in swimming— you can’t guess. We’ve got the best seat in the house. I can see all eight lanes and all swimmers coming to the wall. I can usually tell who’s going to win, but if you’re not sure—and we’ve had races end with a margin of one one-hundredth of a second and I can’t tell who’s going to win, like many of Michael Phelps races—you must wait until you see the electronic result and the timer. You have to be careful; you have to be right, and you cannot guess.
STM: Is there an athlete or event you’re particularly excited about covering this year?
DH: Both men’s 200m and 400m individual medleys will likely showcase Leon Marchand, the French swimmer who trains in the U.S. He has an excellent chance to pick up four individual medals, but he can be challenged. It will be exciting. On the women’s side, a 200 IM final will likely have stars throughout featuring the U.S. and Australian swimmers. The U.S.-Aussie rivalry is slated to be bigger than it’s been because the Australian women will be very good. It will likely include the Aussies, the U.S. and a teenage swimmer named Summer McIntosh from Canada. Of course, all eyes will be on Katie Ledecky, but she’ll have competition this time around.
STM: Do you get time to enjoy Paris?
DH: The routine of the Olympics is ‘pool, hotel, rinse, repeat.’ The Games are a lot of fun, but they’re a lot of work and you’ve got to get dialed in. I don’t have a lot of time to enjoy the sights, but I think everyone is more excited about these Games just because it’s in Paris— a city that has an aura to it. I look forward to feeding off that.
Editor’s note: Edited for length and clarity.