CBC announcer Elliotte Friedman had a Steve Harvey moment on Thursday, Aug. 11, when he announced that swimming great Michael Phelps did not win the Men’s 200 IM and lost to fellow Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte.
In reality Phelps did win to make history and add yet another gold medal to his impressive collection, but viewers in Canada were told Lochte actually won the race and the gold medal because Friedman mixed up their lanes.
In a truly unfortunate instance, Friedman had confused the two swimmers the entire race and therefore his commentary included how Phelps just didn’t have “this one in him” and Lochte was going to win “his 13th career medal.” He also declared that Lochte was going to win and said that Phelps wouldn't even make the podium, but then he saw the unmistakable NBC graphics which showed that Phelps had in fact won. After a moment of silence and sheer embarrassment, Friedman apologized and told viewers that he got their lanes wrong rendering his commentary incorrect and useless.
Later, Friedman took to Twitter to apologize again for the mishap and received support from many who assured him that it was just an honest mistake.