Bob Costas announced that he would be stepping away from his Olympic coverage duties Thursday morning on the TODAY show.
Costas, who has hosted the Olympics since 1992, will turn over his duties to Mike Tirico in 2018 during the Winter games in PyeongChang, South Korea.
“I am going to be like the rest of the country, watching Mike Tirico, who will be an able successor in Korea for the Winter Olympics, Costas told TODAY show host Matt Lauer.
Costas, 65, has been with NBC for 37 years and has won 25 Emmy Awards during his time there.
As for Tirico, he will assume the prestigious mantle of the network’s Olympic host from the man that he grew up admiring from afar.
“Someone who I grew up idolizing,” Tirico said onThursday. “I went to Syracuse in large part for college because Bob did. I received a Bob Costas scholarship 30 years ago.”
Tirico, 50, will also replace Costas as the host of Football Night in America. Costas seemed to be content with the transitional phase of his career, citing another anchor we have let into our homes for decades.
“They’ve been kind enough to call it the Brokaw phase of my career, so I’ll be to sports what Tom has been for the last several years to (NBC) News,” Costas said. “I’ll show up when it’s appropriate for me to show up, including sometimes on the Olympics or the Kentucky Derby or the Super Bowl.”
He also touched on the moment that resonates with him most during his Olympic duties.
“I always go with Muhammad Ali lighting the torch in 1996 in Atlanta because it stands alone,” said Costas. “When he stepped out of the shadows and Janet Evans handed him that torch and you saw him trembling that way, somehow even in that condition, he was just as charismatic and magnetic as he’d ever been.”
