Executive Producer of NBC Sports Dick Ebersol spoke on Saturday about changing the face of the Olympics. As one of the lecturers featured at the Student International Business Council Forum held this weekend, Ebersol embodied the "peace through commerce" motto of the Council.

In light of the tragedy of Sept. 11, Ebersol noted that the 2002 Winter Olympics fulfilled "a need for many people to feel closer together."

Ebersol said the Olympics is an image of, as the promotional segment said, "a world as we wish it could be." According to Ebersol, the 2002 Olympics needed a personal appeal.

NBC highlighted individual stories making each young man or woman come to life for the viewing public. For the participants, an Olympic event is the culmination of a life's work. When an audience can empathize with an athlete's struggle it provides viewers with adrenaline for the race, said Ebersol.

Ebersol was present at the inception of such personalized athlete coverage when he worked with legendary sports producer Roone Arledge. His first job with ABC in the early 1970s consisted of being given a credit card without a limit and a mission to learn the stories of Olympic hopefuls.

Ebersol has fine-tuned the skill of no longer allowing foreign and domestic athletes to be strangers to the viewing public.

To continue making this possible, Ebersol had to turn sportscasters known for their play-by-play announcing of informed narrations into prize-winning storytellers. The announcers had to build emotional attachment of the audience to the athletes participating.

For Ebersol this approach was logical. "The beauty of sport is that it is unscripted; it's real," Ebersol said.

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