U.S. Olympic Team Makes Appearance On "Oprah" Season Premiere

Oprah Hosts Over 175 U.S. Olympians During Her Show's Season Premiere In Chicago

Monday afternoon’s edition of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” was the season premiere for the show and featured over 175 U.S. Olympians at Chicago’s Millennium Park. Winfrey came on-stage to the Olympic theme music where she told the crowd, “Thousands of proud Americans are here today with me for three great reasons: Gold, Silver, Bronze!” The Olympians, all wearing their medals, came on-stage grouped by sport, with swimmer Michael Phelps being the first athlete to be interviewed one-on-one by Winfrey as his mother watched from the audience. Phelps: “I had fun (in Beijing with the other members of the swim team) … from playing cards in our room to playing Risk. We had a blast.” Winfrey said she wanted to meet all the athletes, but “who I most wanted to talk to was your mother, (Debbie Phelps).” Gold Medal-winning 4x100-meter men's freestyle relay team members Cullen Jones, Jason Lezak and Garrett Weber-Gale were also interviewed. Swimmer Dara Torres was interviewed later in the broadcast, with Winfrey telling her, “This is the thing I envy the most: not your body, not your strength. I envy your calories.” Phelps reportedly consumes 12,000 calories a day, and Torres said, “I can keep up with Michael (Phelps) probably.”

HOOP DREAMS: All 12 members of the Gold Medal-winning men’s basketball team appeared on-stage, and Winfrey said, “It seems like the basketball team transformed the way the rest of the world perceived men in basketball, not just in this country.” U.S. G Kobe Bryant: “We really care about how our game is perceived and how we’re perceived as athletes, and that was one of our main focuses, to go over there and win the Gold, but also show how we can play the brand of basketball that we feel can bring back the Gold Medal.” When asked about the attention he received in China, Bryant said, “I was very surprised. It caught me off-guard the way they responded to me. You would have thought I was moon-walking.”

BIG HITTERS: The Gold Medal-winning men’s indoor volleyball team received a standing ovation and talked about dealing with the tragedy of coach Hugh McCutcheon’s in-laws being attacked in Beijing, with his father-in-law being killed. Later, Gold Medal-winning beach volleyball duo Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh appeared, with the first question from Winfrey being, “Is it comfortable wearing those bikinis?” Walsh: “You get used to it.”

OTHER ATHLETE APPEARANCES: Many other Olympians were prominently featured during the broadcast. Gold Medal-winning gymnasts Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson were interviewed together, with Winfrey recognizing the men’s and women’s gymnastics teams as a whole. Sprinters Sanya Richards, Allyson Felix and Monique Henderson and softball P Jennie Finch also spoke with Winfrey. Winfrey also promoted Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 Games, saying the city is “hoping the world will get the chance to come to Chicago for the 2016 Games. We’ve got our fingers crossed for that” (“The Oprah Winfrey Show,” 9/8).

MORE FROM THE SMALL SCREEN: Several Olympians are continuing to make the late-night TV circuit more than two weeks after the Games ended. Michael Phelps was on NBC’s “The Tonight Show” last night. NBC’s Jay Leno said Phelps’ mother is also a “celebrity now.” Phelps: “She is: endorsement deals. She was saying she had to go up to New York and do some interviews and she got a private jet to take her up there” (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 9/8). Meanwhile, Liukin was on NBC’s “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” last night. O’Brien: “Your image is everywhere. … I was looking at your Wheaties box today.” Liukin: “It’s still a little weird to me” ("Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” NBC, 9/8). Liukin today appeared on ABC's "The View," where co-host Joy Behar asked Liukin, “Did you have to give up anything in your childhood to be where you’re at? You must have had to.” Liukin: “I guess gymnastics was just my thing and I loved doing it” (“The View,” 9/9).