{"id":390,"date":"2026-02-08T12:51:39","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T12:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/2026\/02\/08\/2026-winter-olympics-broadcaster-speaks-out-after-hes-heard-on-hot-mic-calling-snowboarding-final-so-boring\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T12:51:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T12:51:39","slug":"2026-winter-olympics-broadcaster-speaks-out-after-hes-heard-on-hot-mic-calling-snowboarding-final-so-boring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/2026\/02\/08\/2026-winter-olympics-broadcaster-speaks-out-after-hes-heard-on-hot-mic-calling-snowboarding-final-so-boring\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Winter Olympics Broadcaster Speaks Out After He&#8217;s Heard on Hot Mic Calling Snowboarding Final &#8216;So Boring&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Todd Richards apologized to anyone who found his take disrespectful, but said he stood by his assessment<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/RzpsuDZIyVIXGeOrZSEV_PNb7nM=\/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)\/GettyImages-2259859213-ea3c2538408a45dfa52cbf37c85150fa.jpg\" alt=\"Ollie Martin competes at the men's snowboard big air final at the 2026 Winter Olympics on Feb. 7. Ulrik Pedersen\/NurPhoto via Getty\" title=\"Oliver Martin (United States of America) competes during the big air snowboard competition on Day 1 of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Livigno Snow Park on February 7, 2026 in Livigno, Italy. \" \/><figcaption><i>Ollie Martin competes at the men&#8217;s snowboard big air final at the 2026 Winter Olympics on Feb. 7. <\/i>\n<p>Ulrik Pedersen\/NurPhoto via Getty<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>NEED TO KNOW<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Olympics broadcaster Todd Richards was caught on hot mic calling the men&#8217;s snowboarding big air final &#8220;so boring&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>He apologized to anyone who found his take disrespectful, but said he stands by his assessment<\/li>\n<li>Richards said he thought the qualifier &#8220;was way more exciting&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>NBC Sports broadcaster Todd Richards was hoping for a little more razzle dazzle at the <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/olympics-5669938\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\">2026 Winter Olympics<\/a> men\u2019s snowboard big air final \u2014 and accidentally let the whole world know thanks to a hot mic moment.<\/p>\n<p>Richards was on the air for the final on Saturday, Feb. 7, during which Japanese snowboarder Kira Kimura won gold and American Ollie Martin, 17, finished in fourth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was boring. That was so boring,\u201d Richards, who thought he was off the air, was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.threads.com\/@antmanicus\/post\/DUeBERaDxBR?\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow\">heard saying on the broadcast<\/a>. \u201cThe qualifier was way more exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And Richards, an Olympic snowboarder who competed in Nagano in 1998, stood by his assessment in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DUeLZOTAfFU\/\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\">Instagram video<\/a> he posted shortly after. Though the commentator apologized to anyone who found his take disrespectful, Richards explained that it had nothing to do with the athletes themselves.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DUeLZOTAfFU\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\">\n<div> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DUeLZOTAfFU\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" target=\"_blank\"> \n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>View this post on Instagram<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cI feel like I should address an elephant in the room here,\u201d he said. \u201cI did think the qualifiers were more exciting. This had nothing to do with the athletes themselves, it had everything to do with the drama that went down in the qualifiers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Richards, who praised gold medalist Kimura\u2019s performance as \u201cunbelievable,\u201d said that the Feb. 5 qualifiers were simply more exciting, as they included the story of Australian Val Guseli getting called up to the team just hours before the event, and creative tricks like like butters off the lip.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the final, a lot of people fell. And a lot of people truly did the same trick. It was a backside 1980 and a switch backside 1980 the entire time,\u201d he said. \u201cIt had nothing to do with what these athletes do because the riders come out here and they throw down. I have the utmost respect for them\u2026. I thought the qualifier had a lot more excitement. So I apologize if anyone took that as I was calling out any of the riders here, because it truly wasn\u2019t about that. These guys are my heroes. They are my friends. They are my colleagues and they are all rippers.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/JksON5Dk4qYUYy1wR0eJVolwyvM=\/fit-in\/1280x960\/GettyImages-2260444882-1646d7f508094f889dc380ba786321d7.jpg\" alt=\"(L-R) Ryoma Kimata, Kira Kimura and Su Yiming show off their medals after the men's snowboard big air final at the 2026 Winter Olympics on Feb. 7. An Lingjun\/CHINASPORTS\/VCG via Getty\" title=\"Silver medallist Ryoma Kimata of Japan, gold medallist Kira Kimura of Japan and bronze medallist Su Yiming of China celebrate following the Men's Snowboard Big Air Final on day one of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Livigno Snow Park on February 7, 2026 in Livigno, Italy. \" \/><figcaption><i>(L-R) Ryoma Kimata, Kira Kimura and Su Yiming show off their medals after the men&#8217;s snowboard big air final at the 2026 Winter Olympics on Feb. 7. <\/i>\n<p>An Lingjun\/CHINASPORTS\/VCG via Getty<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Richards gave a special shoutout to Martin, saying he \u201ctried so hard\u201d and \u201ccame in clutch,\u201d but was ultimately bumped off the podium by China\u2019s Su Yiming.<\/p>\n<p>In the caption of his post, Richards explained that his \u201cboring\u201d comment was \u201cnothing I wouldn&#8217;t say to a reporter or in public.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was my opinion based on what I saw in the qualifier vs the final medal round,\u201d he wrote. \u201cNot one word I said had anything to do with a rider in this event. I feel like I shouldn\u2019t have to say that, but I am. They all rule.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The women\u2019s snowboard big air qualification run is set for Sunday, Feb. 8 in Livigno.<\/p>\n<p><em>To learn more about all the Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, come to <a href=\"http:\/\/people.com\/\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\">people.com<\/a> to check out ongoing coverage before, during and after the games. Watch the Milan Cortina Olympics and Paralympics, beginning Feb. 6, on NBC and Peacock.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Todd Richards apologized to anyone who found his take disrespectful, but said he stood by his assessment Ollie Martin competes at the men&#8217;s snowboard big air final at the 2026 Winter Olympics on Feb. 7. Ulrik Pedersen\/NurPhoto via Getty NEED TO KNOW Olympics broadcaster Todd Richards was caught on hot mic calling the men&#8217;s snowboarding [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-everything-else"],"wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":"","cvmm-medium":"","cvmm-medium-plus":"","cvmm-portrait":"","cvmm-medium-square":"","cvmm-large":"","cvmm-small":"","full":""},"categories_names":{"1":{"name":"Everything Else","link":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/category\/everything-else\/"}},"tags_names":[],"comments_number":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}