In Praise of PJ Kwong's Commentary, whom I discovered while watching Winter Universiade on Eurosport Player, who did an absolutely fantastic job. Hope we can hear more of her commentary in Europe in the future. I've heard/read her blog/podcast in past seasons, but this was my first time hearing her Commentary, and I was hugely impressed. (I speak as someone who often finds FS Comms deeply irritating and usually prefer no commentary).
She did the entire games alone, and never ran out of interesting things to say. She was informative and technically enlightening on both Figure and Dance (I appreciate she was a Coach) and was respectful to all skaters, like Ted Barton, finding something positive to say, but also pointed out technical mistakes. Ofcourse, as a linguist, her pronunciations of names was wonderful - though she did say "You-ler" instead of "Oil-er" as Ted does for Euler.
PJ gave full introductions of each competitor, naming coaches, choreographers, before allowing the viewer to hear the music and enjoy the performance without talking all over it. She also has a pleasant sounding voice, which helps a lot, and isn't grating.
Most of all she was completely au fait with all the technical requirements and able to explain clearly what they are and recognize every movement and element. Something, I'm afraid, most of Eurosport's other English language commentators are increasingly unable to do, as they are often out of touch with current skating.
Respect PJ!
She did the entire games alone, and never ran out of interesting things to say. She was informative and technically enlightening on both Figure and Dance (I appreciate she was a Coach) and was respectful to all skaters, like Ted Barton, finding something positive to say, but also pointed out technical mistakes. Ofcourse, as a linguist, her pronunciations of names was wonderful - though she did say "You-ler" instead of "Oil-er" as Ted does for Euler.
PJ gave full introductions of each competitor, naming coaches, choreographers, before allowing the viewer to hear the music and enjoy the performance without talking all over it. She also has a pleasant sounding voice, which helps a lot, and isn't grating.
Most of all she was completely au fait with all the technical requirements and able to explain clearly what they are and recognize every movement and element. Something, I'm afraid, most of Eurosport's other English language commentators are increasingly unable to do, as they are often out of touch with current skating.
Respect PJ!