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Apolo Anton Ohno, Al Michaels confirmed by NBC for Winter Olympics

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Apolo Anton Ohno, America’s most decorated Winter Olympic athlete, may have retired from short track speed skating, but he’ll be at the Winter Olympics anyway next year.

NBC Sports Group announced this weekend that it has signed Ohno as an analyst for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The athlete, who won eight medals, will also work on features and provide studio commentary during the Games.

Joining him will be an even more familiar face: that of Al Michaels, who will host daytime Winter Olympic coverage on both weekdays and weekends. Michaels became familiar to NBC viewers as a host during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and the 2012 London Summer Olympics.

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Before that, of course, he was a mainstay at ABC, where he is best known for his famous “Miracle on Ice” call at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y. In a famously tense game, the American ice hockey team beat the Soviet team, which had won nearly every world championship since 1954.

Toward the end of the third period, Michaels made his now-famous pronouncement:

“Eleven seconds, you’ve got 10 seconds, the countdown going on right now! Morrow, up to Silk. Five seconds left in the game. Do you believe in miracles?! YES!”

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“We are excited to have two Olympic icons in their own right on board to play an integral role in our Sochi coverage,” Jim Bell, executive producer of NBC Olympics, said in a news release. “Al’s historical perspective and expertise will serve as a foundation for NBC Sports Group’s live daytime coverage, while Apolo will bring a fresh off-the-ice and pop culture perspective.”

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