Ithaca integral part of NBC’S Winter Olympics Coverage

ITHACA, NY — For the third straight Olympics, students from Ithaca College will be assisting behind the scenes as NBC televises the world’s biggest sporting event. NBC Sports has selected 31 interns from the college’s Roy H. Park School of Communications to support its coverage of the XXI Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, British Columbia.“This is a unique opportunity for our students to work side-by-side with professionals from media outlets around the globe in the high-pressure and high-profile world of live sports,” said Diane Gayeski, interim dean of the Park School. “Among their jobs will be coordinating on-the-spot interviews with athletes, logging videotape of events, setting up equipment for remote broadcasts and assisting producers. They will be working at the International Broadcast Center as well as at competition venues.”While the Olympics themselves last 17 days — opening ceremonies are slated for Friday, Feb. 12 — the intern assignments are for six to eight weeks. The Ithaca College contingent makes up nearly half of the interns recruited by NBC.“The intern selection process was very competitive,” said Vanessa Mogil, human resources coordinator for NBC Universal-Sports & Olympics. “Students were selected based on a variety of factors, including enthusiasm and work and academic experience. These interns provide critical support to NBC’s overall production.”Ithaca College students have previously interned at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, and 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.For more information on Ithaca at the Olympics, visit www.ithaca.edu/olympics2010.