Did NBC ever interview Arakawa after her win?

[R.D.]

And if Katy Taylor wins Olympic gold in four years and her voice hasn't dropped and she hasn't calmed down, I'm watching all coverage with the mute button on. I'll make up my own music.

[Ogre Mage]

Shizuka has indeed been swamped by the media since she captured the Crown Jewel:

"I now have a hectic schedule after winning the gold medal," the 24-year-old said meekly, wearing her gleaming prize around her neck.

"I've been very busy. In the last 36 hours, I've only slept for six hours in total."

Arakawa is a skater the USFSA would have loved to be able to claim as one of their own. If she had been born here, they could have touted her as the next Kwan or Yamaguchi.

Right now I don't like Taylor's skating, but maybe she will grow on me. I have to keep reminding myself she is not a certain other skater from Sugarland, Texas who I could not stand. Her glass-breaking shrieks in Nagano permanently damaged my eardrum.

I just find it odd that America's #1 Olympic network was unable to obtain five minutes of Shizuka's time for a few words.

NBC's coverage sucked $*** in general. I tried watching it and got so frustrated I switched to the Canadian station instead.

[Vash01]

I remember, didn't ESPN interview Mao Asada through a translator? So Shiz could definitely have been interviewed, even if it was for a short while.

NBC is not ESPN- that's the main difference. NBC seems to be very focused on promoting US skaters, regardless of the color of the medal. I don't see that happening in other sports though; this seems to happen only in FS. In speed skating, skiiing, etc. they had nice stories about athletes from other countries. NBC did not bother to interview any of the FS gold medal winners, right after the competition. Who did they interview? Belbin & Agosto, Inoue-Baldwin, Sasha, Evan. Either NBC assumes that American audiences are only interested in US skaters or they want to influence them in a certain way (by witholding info about skaters from other countries).

They did interview T&M and Irina on the Today show (I did not see Plushenko and N&K but I could have missed it), but that is day after the competition, when most people in the US are at work.

In 1994 CBS interviewed Oksana Baiul after her win, through an interpreter (Petrenko). There is no excuse for NBC to not interview Shizuka if language was a barrier.

Vash

[ladysarahchatto]

Poor thing; that explains a lot. Thanks for enlightening us! I just couldn't imagine that NBC wouldn't somehow TRY to interview Shizuka. They probably did try, many times over, without success.

That does explain alot. And I can remember many interviews with Midori Ito in her prime. Shiz probably just was not available.

[Mathman]

And the Wheaties box goes to...Joey Cheeks and Apolo Ohno.

[gkelly]

If a translator was a problem, they could have asked Fumie to translate. She was speaking good english to the camera after her skate.

Well, after perhaps being disappointed with her own results, I don't know that Fumie would have been keen to serve as a translator for her triumphant countrywoman.

Would Sasha Cohen have been a good choice to translate (into Russian, say, if she had already learned enough at that point?) for Sarah Hughes four years ago?

If the lack of a professional Japanese-English translator was the only obstacle, probably someone like Rena Inoue would have been a better choice.