By: Will Bedwell
The U.S. Olympic Speedskating Team fell on hard times last year when sponsor Dutch Bank DSB went bankrupt in October. The bank had a four-year sponsorship worth $300,000. U.S. Speedskating CEO Bob Crowley announced budget cuts would have to be made in a number of key areas. Then when it seemed all hope was lost, an unlikely hero stepped forward. That hero’s name was Stephen Colbert.
Stephen Colbert is the comedic host of Comedy Central’s satirical news show The Colbert Report, where he humorously imitates opinionated conservative news pundits. The show has been one of Comedy Central’s highest rated: collecting three Emmy nominations. Colbert is also the author of satirical bestselling book I Am America (And So Can You!).
Colbert asked his nation (the name given to his viewing audience) on November 2nd to go to his website, www.colbertnation.com, and pledge money to the speedskating team. On the same episode, he signed sponsorship agreement papers with the team. Colbert yelled to his audience, “We’ve got to step up and make sure it is America’s 38 inch thighs on that metal platform.”
The sponsorship deal entails the speedskaters wear Colbert Report patches on their thighs. Short track skater Katherine Reutter came to a show in December for Colbert to actually sign, in sharpie ink, her “billboard thighs” as she has called them since the sponsorship began.
Many such stunts have caused some to be wary of Colbert’s intentions, fearing this was all nothing more than a joke. Others began calling it a publicity stunt after Colbert was featured on the front of the December issue of Sports Illustrated wearing full speedskating gear.
On one show, Colbert began poking fun at the Canadian Olympic team due to complaints about their limiting of international athletes access to facilities for the 2010 Winter Games scheduled in Vancouver. He stated, “Those syrup-suckers won’t let us practice at their Olympic venues. At the Salt Lake Games, we let the Canadian Luge team take 100 practice runs!” After this comment, American speedskating gold medalist Shanti Davis verbally attacked Colbert saying, “He’s a jerk. You can put that in the paper.” Davis has training ties to Canada, and has had past problems with the U.S. team.
In response to this, Colbert challenged Davis to a speedskating race for his spot on the U.S. Olympic Team. Colbert stated, “I will start skating and then I will call him on my cell phone to let him know he can start getting dressed.”
In January, the announcement came that the Colbert Nation had raised the $300,000 for the team’s sponsorship. The U.S. Speedskating Team knows it must now find a long-term sponsor, but feels all of the exposure provided so far will make this an easy feat.
On January 20th, Davis accepted Colbert’s offer to race. The race was hard fought by both skaters, but in the end, only one could win. Davis’s time was 34.24 seconds, beating Colbert’s time of 13 minutes and 43.89 seconds. Despite the loss, just after the race Colbert was actually given a spot on the team as their Assistant Sports Psychologist for the 2010 Winter Games. Colbert addressed his audience with inspirational words of advice, “This just goes to show there’s nothing you and $300,000 of other peoples’ money can’t achieve.”
