Peter Graves (announcer)
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Peter Graves (born May 16, 1952, in Bennington, Vermont) is an American television sportscaster and public address announcer specializing in Olympic, lifestyle and action sports. He was also the former cross-country ski coach for Harvard University.
Early career
Graves was a collegiate skier at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, graduating in 1975 with a degree in physical education. He began his broadcast career as news director of KIUP Radio in Durango and a Colorado reporter for KOAT-TV in Albuquerque. He worked from 1976 to 1981 as marketing director for a Norwegian cross-country ski importer, NorTur, Inc. in Minneapolis.
His career as a stadium sports announcer began at international cross-country ski races at Telemark Resort in northern Wisconsin in 1977. He went on to become synonymous as the voice of Nordic skiing at U.S. World Cup events and the international American Birkebeiner cross-country ski race from 1977 to 1985.
Graves also gained notoriety as the stadium announcer for the Lumberjack World Championships in Hayward, Wisconsin, which was televised by ABC's Wide World of Sports.
Television
In 1980 he was the expert commentator with ABC's Bill Fleming for cross-country skiing and biathlon at the Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid. He began as one of ESPN's early skiing commentators in 1981 covering international ski events with Jim Simpson. He worked as an expert commentator for ESPN's SportsCenter for the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Winter Games.
During the 1990s, he was a regular expert commentator and host for coverage of domestic and international mountain bike competition on ESPN, OLN, TSN (Canada), and EuroSport (Europe). He is a former VeloNews 'Announcer of the Year' award winner.
He was the primary television announcer for the U.S. Ski Team from 1986 to 1990.
Mountain Biking
Graves was one of the early stadium announcers for mountain biking beginning with the New England Mountain Bike Championships at Mount Snow, Vermont in 1988. He was one of the announcers for the first UCI World Mountain Championships in 1991 in Durango, Colorado. He has been the stadium announcer for nearly every World Mountain Bike Championship from 1991-2007.
Olympics
In addition to working with ABC Sports and ESPN for the 1980, 1984 and 1988 Olympic Winter Games, he worked as a stadium announcer and producer. He worked as the stadium announcer for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney for mountain biking. At the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, he was an associate producer in the SLOC sport production department. He also served as the stadium announcer for the opening and closing ceremonies for both the Olympics and Paralympics in Salt Lake City, as well as stadium announcer for cross-country skiing and ski jumping. He was the English-language announcer for all cycling events at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. At the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver he was the host Nordic announcer calling cross country skiing and ski jumping; he followed that up by serving as PA announcer at alpine skiing, jumping and at medals plaza at Sochi 2014. 2016 Graves was among the announce team for road cycling at the Rio Olympic Games and taught announce team work shops. In February 2017 Graves traveled to Pyeongchang, Korea, to serve as lead announcer for the FIS Alpine women's World Cup, a test event prior to the 2018 Winter Olympics. In 2018, Graves served as Alpine host announcer at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games.
Recent career
Graves continues as an active stadium announcer at international mountain bike events and domestic World Cup ski events including the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup at Beaver Creek, Colorado and the American Ski Classic at Vail, Colorado. He has been the finish line announcer for Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota since 1978 and is a member of their Hall of Fame.
Graves was the Nordic host announcer for cross-country, ski jumping and Nordic combined competition at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and served as Host Announcer for the Paralympics Alpine skiing competition at Whistler Creekside in 2010. In 2011 he was part of the announcer team for cross-country, Nordic combined and ski jumping at the 2011 FIS World Nordic Skiing Championships in Oslo, Norway. That same winter, he was the host announcer for IBU Biathlon World Cups at Presque Isle and Fort Kent, Maine, working with NBC's Chad Samela.
In 2010 Graves was awarded the USSA's John Clair Award for lifetime service to the United States Ski and Snowboard Association. In 2016 Graves was awarded the FIS Ski Journalist of the Year.
More recently Graves served as TV Host for SportsNet and NESN's coverage of the Quebec Grand Prix Cycling events in Quebec City and Montreal, working with former Canadian Olympic and Tour de France rider Gord Fraser. Graves worked three different venues as an announcer at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia: alpine skiing, Nordic combined and at Medals Plaza. The Vermont native also served as a commentator at the FIS Ski Tour Canada, which was also web streamed on CBC TV, and has broadcast the FIS Cross-country world cup finals in Quebec City.
At the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in South Korea, Graves served as host public address announcer for alpine ski racing and then traveled to Are, Sweden to announce at the FIS Alpine World Cup Finals. In 2019 Graves served as a co-public address announcer at the FIS Alpine World Championships in Are, Sweden and then hosted webcasting coverage of the 2019 NCAA Collegiate Skiing Championships from Stowe, Vermont.
In July and August 2019, Graves served as venue host announcer for triathlon, canoe kayak, in-line skating, mountain bike for the 2019 Pan-American Games in Lima, Peru and followed up with the 2019 Para Pan-American Games announcing both judo and road and track cycling.