Sports Factory

Who says Americans don't make anything anymore? For the next three weeks, this factory will produce highlights, world records and household names.

Hundreds of permanent and temporary employees make up the NBC Sports "at home" team during this Olympics. This includes on-air talent, play-by-play announcers, producers, statisticians, graphic designers, writers, editors and researchers. Another couple hundred employees will be based in Rio.

More so than any other job, my job as researcher is to watch sports. I am basically supposed to be a "smart fan" who knows all the medal favorites, human interest stories and, most importantly, how to pronounce each athlete's name.

It's a tough gig but somebody's got to do it.

To learn about 5 of my sports, watch these short video guides: Canoe/Kayak, Fencing, Wrestling, Judo, Taekwondo.