This local connection at the Olympics will look familiar to Bulldogs fans

There aren’t any Fresno-area athletes in the Winter Olympics this year.

But Fresno does have a local tie, and he’ll look quite familiar to Fresno State fans.

Sports anchor Andrew Marden, host of the popular Bulldog Insider that airs weekly on KSEE24, is covering the winter games from PyeongChang in South Korea.

And among the biggest stories he’ll report on is life inside the Korean Demilitarized Zone – territory near the North and South Korea border that runs roughly along the famed 38th parallel.

Marden, 35, is part of a six-person team sent by parent company Nexstar Media Group. The team will provide daily coverage for Nexstar’s 170 stations that covers 100 markets throughout the United States, including locally on KSEE24 (NBC affiliate) and KGPE 47 (CBS affiliate).

Marden will serve as a West Coast correspondent, giving live reports not only for Fresno but for a Nexstar affiliate in Bakersfield and the NBC stations in the Texas cities of Abilene, Amarillo, Austin, Brownsville, El Paso, San Angelo, Tyler and Wichita Falls.

“I’ve always watched the Olympics and wanted to go to the Olympics, so getting to cover the Olympics, it was an opportunity of a lifetime,” Marden said. “My goal is to provide a flavor of the country, what’s going on and what’s it like on that side of the world.”

With South Korea 17 hours ahead of time in California, the 2018 Winter Olympics will officially kick off with the Opening Ceremony from PyeongChang’s Olympic Stadium when it’s 3 a.m. Thursday in Fresno.

Olympic enthusiasts can watch the ceremony live on the NBC Olympics website, as well as the NBC Sports app. In addition, there will be a U.S. prime time broadcast at 5 p.m.

NBC will broadcast the sporting events live, with the Olympics running through Feb. 25.

Marden will provide a report for Fresno three times a day.

He’ll appear on the 4 p.m. KSEE24 newscast as well as the Olympics show that follows at 4:30 p.m., and have reports during the late night newscast (newscast typically scheduled for 11 p.m. but times could move because of the Olympics).

“Since the Valley doesn’t have any athletes in these Olympics like they did in others, we’ll cover the big story lines – the Shaun Whites and Lindsey Vonns,” Marden said. “We’ll also get to know less-familiar names. But my experiences might be the bulk of my coverage, seeing the country through my eyes.

“One thing I’m actually concerned about isn’t so much the threat of North Korea. But they said this could be the coldest Winter Olympics ever. It was negative 17 degrees with the wind chill Sunday.”

Marden has become quite familiar reporting on major sporting events.

He covered the 2016 Summer Olympics from Brazil – and offered this unique insight on the Rio atmosphere: “It was interesting in Brazil, not being allowed to drink the water. We weren’t even allowed to flush toilet paper in the toilet because their pipes were so weak.

“We’ve been told accommodations will be much improved in PyeongChang.”

Marden also covered Super Bowl 50 in San Francisco and Super Bowl LI from Houston.

“These are long work days,” Marden said. “The Super Bowl, that’s hard work but that’s also a week stretch. The Olympics, I’m gone 26 days.”

And though Marden will be gone for nearly a month, he won’t miss air time on Bulldog Insider.

That’s because the Olympics will be broadcast live on KSEE24 during those Sunday nights that the Insider typically would be running, thus postponing the Fresno State show throughout February.

The Bulldog Insider will resume March 4.

“Fresno State football season will be starting soon enough,” Marden said. “For now, we’ll get to enjoy the Winter Olympics.”

This story was originally published February 6, 2018 at 10:18 AM with the headline "This local connection at the Olympics will look familiar to Bulldogs fans."