CBS TEAM AIMS TO CAPTURE THE DRAMA ON ICE

The buildup to this year’s Olympic figure skating competition draws to an unpredictable finale this week as the medal hopefuls glide out to what is sure to be one of the most-watched events of the Games.

Observers may think the ice would melt under the glare of the media attention, which began after the January attack on figure skater Nancy Kerrigan and arrest of rival Tonya Harding’s ex-husband and bodyguard. But on Wednesday the ladies competition finally gets under way and ice dancing--featuring the return of Great Britain’s Jayne Torvill and Christpher Dean--wraps up Monday.

As they did at the 1992 Games, host and play-by-play announcer Verne Lundquist, analyst Scott Hamilton and analyst-reporter Tracy Wilson provide CBS’ on-air coverage.

No one could have foreseen this year’s added drama, says David Banks, director of the figure skating events for CBS. But, he says, “We’re objective reporters. I don’t want the (Kerrigan-Harding) story to run away from us. Our job is not to go over the top, but to give it the coverage it deserves.”

Banks rides herd over nine cameras, including a robot-controlled device backstage near the competitors’ dressing rooms, and can also use shots from a worldwide feed. (It is this feed that provides most of the figure skating coverage by cable’s TNT, which, headed by play-by-play announcer Jim Simpson and analyst Peter Carruthers, airs each day this week, except Monday, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.)

“Viewers want to get to know these people,” Banks says of the figure skaters and the network’s extensive coverage. “They are artists. But there’s a drive, a competitiveness, too. The emotions are right there in front of you, and that has to be compelling.”

For his part, 1984 Olympic champion Hamilton, still an active skater, says he believes that helps him describe the competitors. “I’ve skated with them, and I know them pretty well. I’m not looking at a piece of paper--what I say comes out of my heart.”

The CBS team is aware that viewers criticized the network’s 1992 coverage, which broke up figure skating segments throughout each long evening. “I’m not defensive about it,” producer David Winner says matter-of-factly. “When you do ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ and the Beatles are on, the Beatles are last. Generally, we have figure skating on early, and then come back later. You’d have to be crazy to put your ‘A’ material on in the first hour and then have everybody turn you off.”