WAUWATOSA, Wis. — A Wisconsin television producer is trading his local studio for the Olympic broadcast booth after a decades-long journey that began with watching curling on TV.
Dave Traut will join a U.S. and Canadian production team to bring Olympic curling coverage from Italy to American audiences during the upcoming Winter Games. His role will involve managing the graphics, pictures and technical elements that viewers see during the broadcast.
“It was like, OK, absolutely, we’re — I don’t care what I’m doing, but sign me up, I’m in,” Traut said about his reaction to being asked to attend the Olympics.
Traut’s Olympic opportunity stems from his work in TV production and his involvement with World Curling broadcasts around the globe. But his connection to the sport runs much deeper.
“You’ll see our pictures, our graphics — it’s what I’ll be doing — and basically everything that we’re doing in the TV truck in Cortina is what you’ll be seeing here,” Traut said.
His curling journey began during the 2006 Olympics when the U.S. won bronze in the sport.
“I saw curling in the 2006 Olympics when the U.S. won bronze and figured, OK, there’s got to be someplace to try it or at least go watch it and see how this all happens,” Traut said.
That curiosity led him to become an active member of the Wauwatosa Curling Club, where he has learned the intricacies of the sport that captivated him two decades ago.
The ice used in curling differs significantly from hockey rinks. While hockey ice is smooth and flat from the Zamboni, curling ice is shaved flat and then textured with something called “pebble,” which helps the rocks travel down the ice without creating friction underneath.
For Traut, working at the Olympics represents the culmination of a passion that began as a casual viewer.
"I watched this 20 years ago and now I get to go work it and be part of the Olympics. It'll be the closest thing I have to being able to participate in the Olympics, so to speak, that'll be the closest thing I have to being on the ice," Traut said.
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