Blues coach Byron MacDonald likes to talk. And he’s never more in his element than when he can do his talking poolside – advising and motivating his swimmers, consulting with colleagues, or forecasting the performances at the team’s next big meet. That love of swimming, and talking about swimming, translated into a second career of sorts – as a swimming commentator for CBC, which recently garnered MacDonald a Gemini Award for best sports analyst.
This second win for MacDonald (he captured his first Gemini in 2005) is based on his analysis of the swimming events at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. He attributes part of his win to the fact that swimming competition aired during prime time, when the world could watch Michael Phelps set the record for most gold medals won at the Olympics. “We had one of the greatest stories in the history of the Olympics, and we were able to tell it on prime time.”
Play-by-play partner Steve Armitage, who has teamed up with MacDonald for almost 20 years and through four Olympic Games, also took a Gemini for best sports play-by-play announcer. “Steve and I do really good research, to humanize the athletes for viewers and really tell a story.”
Despite the forces in his favour, MacDonald admits to a measure of shock that swimming coverage took the prize over the more popular TV sports. He beat out Glen Suitor for the TSN coverage of the 2008 Grey Cup, and Mike Milbury of Hockey Night in Canada fame.