Why did Cynthia Potter retire in the middle of the Olympics

[Anonymous]

I welcome Laura Wilkinson. As a former diver, I often find myself in the position of explaining the sport to others. I find that Laura adds a textured layer that’s familiar to divers, yet still understandable to average spectators. Cynthia was a joy to listen to over the years, but change from one beloved to someone new doesn’t mean the new is bad. Indeed, Laura is delightful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I welcome Laura Wilkinson. As a former diver, I often find myself in the position of explaining the sport to others. I find that Laura adds a textured layer that’s familiar to divers, yet still understandable to average spectators. Cynthia was a joy to listen to over the years, but change from one beloved to someone new doesn’t mean the new is bad. Indeed, Laura is delightful.

We just want to know why Cynthia was so abrupt and unceremonial.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I welcome Laura Wilkinson. As a former diver, I often find myself in the position of explaining the sport to others. I find that Laura adds a textured layer that’s familiar to divers, yet still understandable to average spectators. Cynthia was a joy to listen to over the years, but change from one beloved to someone new doesn’t mean the new is bad. Indeed, Laura is delightful.

Fellow former diver and judge here.

Laura wasn’t my favorite diver, so I think my criticism of her stems partly from that. I also don’t like commentators that need to constantly remind people of their credentials. I think it’s more recent to this generation of announcers that feel the need to remind us of who they are and who they know. Have some confidence and show us you’re qualified- don’t tell me.

I think struggle with how showy she is with her religion and even though I haven’t heard her bring it into her recent Olympics announcing, it’s all over literally everything else she does and that’s off-putting for me.

[Anonymous]

I like the new person who worked the events the last few days, but also thought the mid-Olympic retirement was jarring. Maybe they wanted to giver her a bit of a finale, rather than having her disappear between Olympics?

I give credit to NBC— they have a great team of commentators across key sports. I love the track and field team, the swimming team, and mostly the gymnastics team. The commentators are a strength of their coverage, in my opinion.

[Anonymous]

I assume she did something inappropriate or someone did something inappropriate to her that NBC is covering for.

[Anonymous]

I think the problem with Laurie is she's too close to the girls currently competing after only recently leaving the team. In a few more Olympic cycles maybe she will voice her honest critique like a pro, not their friend with a mic.

Back to the original point with Cynthia, I wondered if she only came back to call Tom Daley's final Olympics? Even as a casual diving fan, she is the only voice I've known and I can only hope her sendoff was on her terms. Enjoy retirement Cynthia, and thank you!

[Anonymous]

Cynthia at times was overly critical,and got to be annoying at best. Time for a more welcoming voice ,Laura more recent competitive diver and her insight is more fresh than someone who dove 40 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I welcome Laura Wilkinson. As a former diver, I often find myself in the position of explaining the sport to others. I find that Laura adds a textured layer that’s familiar to divers, yet still understandable to average spectators. Cynthia was a joy to listen to over the years, but change from one beloved to someone new doesn’t mean the new is bad. Indeed, Laura is delightful.

Fellow former diver and judge here.

Laura wasn’t my favorite diver, so I think my criticism of her stems partly from that. I also don’t like commentators that need to constantly remind people of their credentials. I think it’s more recent to this generation of announcers that feel the need to remind us of who they are and who they know. Have some confidence and show us you’re qualified- don’t tell me.

I think struggle with how showy she is with her religion and even though I haven’t heard her bring it into her recent Olympics announcing, it’s all over literally everything else she does and that’s off-putting for me.

It came out when discussing one of the female springboard divers who didn’t perform well, how she had talked about her “greater purpose” and living for Christ and I was like uhhhh…there was awkward silence from her partner and it didn’t come up again.

Aside from that, I enjoyed her commentary. It was insightful and realistic without being relentlessly negative and nitpicky like Cynthia Potter, and a bit more up to date. She made positive comments about each diver but also explained exactly what scores she expected and why, and how mistakes were reflected in scores. I felt like she conveyed a good balanced understanding of the events to the audience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cynthia at times was overly critical,and got to be annoying at best. Time for a more welcoming voice ,Laura more recent competitive diver and her insight is more fresh than someone who dove 40 years ago.

I used to think that, but during this Olympics, I found myself feeling that she mellowed. I was enjoying her commentary and was disappointed that she was gone midway through the Games. As a mostly four-year fan of the sport, she's been the voice of diving for me as long as I can remember.

On a somewhat unrelated note, I'm glad that Rowdy Gaines has made it public that he'll be returning after LA 2028. As is the case with Cynthia, it's hard for me to imagine watching Olympic swimming without Rowdy's excitement (which can be hilarious at times). He will be missed.

[Anonymous]

My bet is she or her husband is having a health problem that meant she had to leave suddenly.