NewsChannel 5 reporter Casey Nolen just got back from Sochi, Russia, where he covered the Winter Games for the local NBC affiliate. As the sole reporter on the ground for KSDK, he got by with little sleep, the use of NBC cameras and “a lot of help from home.”
“A lot of your day is spent getting from one venue to another or trying to meet with your local athlete or local person, and with the security and with the distance to walk, it can be time consuming. So I can get back from a shoot and something big would have happened somewhere else that I wouldn’t have any way of knowing about if someone didn’t help me keep track of that,” Nolen said.
Among the local athletes Nolen kept tabs on while in Sochi were figure skater Gracie Gold, hockey player David Backes and speed skater Patrick Meek.
On his last day in Sochi, he filed a piece reflecting on all the St. Louisans he met in Russia, from competitors to spectators.
Nolen said Backes was the only St. Louis Blue playing for the U.S. team to come through the press line after the loss to Canada.
“I commend David Backes for stepping up,” Nolen said. “He was one of the very few who would stop at all” after the disappointment of losing the game.
When asked what memory of the Sochi Games was most vivid to him, Nolen described a moment when he was inside the Olympic Park.
“Forgive me if it sounds corny, but I really felt what people call that Olympic spirit, where you hear multiple different languages that you can’t understand, but you see a lot of smiles,” Nolen said.
St. Louis on the Air provides discussion about issues and concerns facing the St. Louis area. The show is produced by Mary Edwards and Alex Heuer and hosted by veteran journalist Don Marsh.
