ATA vice president, a 3-time Olympian and team bronze-medalist in 1988, says archery will receive unprecedented TV coverage at Athens Games in August.

Denise Parker, ATA Vice President

Denise Parker, a three-time U.S. Olympic Team archer and vice president of the Archery Trade Association, will serve as NBC-TV’s archery analyst for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece next month.

NBC Universal Sports & Olympics will provide around-the-clock coverage of the Games, including all 28 sports, totaling 1,210 hours of programming on seven networks: NBC, MSNBC, Bravo, NBC-HDTV, USA Network, CNBC and Telemundo, a Spanish-language network. In archery, the men’s and women’s individual gold-medal finals will be shown Aug. 18-19 on MSNBC, and the men’s and women’s team gold-medal finals will be shown Aug. 20-21 on Bravo. The Games are scheduled to run Aug. 13-29.

Parker will be teamed with veteran sports broadcaster John Dockery, who will do play-by-play. Parker said she is flattered NBC chose her as an analyst, but said the “bigger story” is that NBC Universal Sports & Olympics will televise archery. “I applaud NBC for giving archery this amazing opportunity, because few Americans have seen Olympic archery on TV,” Parker said. “Ever since I can remember, I’ve heard people say they wish the networks would show archery. Now they’ll get their wish.”

Jay McAninch, ATA president and CEO, said Parker will be missed during her three-week stint with NBC Sports, but added that he can’t think of a better person to provide archery analysis. “Denise is a real pro, and she knows this sport as well — if not better — than anyone in the country,” he said. “Plus, she is a great communicator and she projects a great image for archery. We’re extremely proud of her and grateful NBC recognizes her unique talents. This is not only a great opportunity for Denise, it’s a great opportunity to put archery into 82 million households on MSNBC and 76 million households on Bravo. That’s tremendous coverage for our sport.”

Although this will be Parker’s first work as a network analyst, she is no stranger to the national and international TV spotlight. When she qualified for the U.S. archery team at age 13 and then competed at age 14 in the 1988 Seoul, South Korea, Olympics, Parker found herself on the “Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson. She has also appeared on the “Today Show” with Katie Couric; and “Live with Regis,” when Bernadette Peters was filling in as a co-host. In that appearance, Parker met Regis Philbin and Peters in New York’s Central Park, where she taught them to shoot archery.

Denise Parker competed in the 1988, 1992 and 2000 Olympics as part of U.S. archery team. She now serves as vice president of the Archery Trade Association, and directs the industry’s annual trade show.

Parker said those experiences and her ongoing ATA duties with the Eliminator Competition at the ESPN Great Outdoor Games will help her performance, but just as important is her extensive knowledge of archery, the archery industry, and Olympic archers. “This is a great honor. I think this is the first time a network has assigned an analyst to Olympic archery,” Parker said. “Then again, no TV network has ever devoted this much time and effort to covering the Olympics. I have a lot of homework ahead of me the next couple of weeks, but I’m already in a great position to offer insights for NBC’s viewers. After all, three U.S. archers are my former teammates: Vic Wunderle (Illinois), Butch Johnson (Connecticut) and Janet Dykman (California).”

During her first Olympics in 1988, Parker helped the U.S. women’s team win the bronze medal. She also represented the United States at the 1992 Games in Barcelona, Spain, and the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Parker said those experiences will help her deliver unique perspectives for NBC.

“NBC likes to hire former athletes who have stayed active and up to date in their sports,” Parker said. “I know what it’s like to compete on the Olympic stage, where you feel the weight of your country, everyone in archery, and all your friends and teammates each time you step to the line and draw your bow. That’s an awesome experience, and something you can’t take lightly. That’s why there’s also a lot of pressure on me to do a good job analyzing the event. I want to do my best to help TV viewers understand this great sport.”

Parker said the most difficult aspect of her assignment is that she’ll be away from her husband, Scott, and their 1-year-old son, Jake. “I’m excited, but this was a tough decision,” she said. “I’ll be gone for most of August, and that’s a long time to be away from a 1-year-old. Frankly, my home life is one reason I haven’t competed in archery since 2000. Then again, I could not pass up this chance for me, the sport and the ATA. It might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Olympics Archery on TV
All times are Eastern. Times not specific because additional events will appear during the time block.

• Aug. 18, MSNBC: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Women’s individual Gold Medal finals.
• Aug. 19, MSNBC: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Men’s individual Gold Medal finals
• Aug. 20, Bravo: 12 a.m. to 1a.m., Women’s team Gold Medal finals
• Aug. 21, Bravo: 12 a.m. to 1 a.m., Men’s team Gold Medal finals