Universal Sports is an American NBC Sports television network that airs various sports, primarily those contested in the Olympic Games, including swimming, gymnastics, cycling, track and field, figure skating, skiing, bobsledding and triathlon.

Universal Sports Network televises more than 1,200 hours of premiere programming each year.^[when?] It covers over 30 sports, including World Championships, World Cups and Grand Prix Events. The range of these events include:

The channel has long-term broadcasting agreements with the:

The channel features American Olympic stars including Apolo Ohno, Nastia Liukin, Michael Phelps and Lindsey Vonn.

It carried the 2008 Summer Paralympics from Beijing, China, from October 8 to November 19, 2008. On September 9, 2008, it also began the "Olympic Replay", rebroadcasting selected competitions from the 2008 Summer Olympics, also from Beijing. The channel played a large role in NBC Universal's coverage of the 2010 Winter Paralympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.^{[citation needed]}

The Honourable Usain St. Leo Bolt, OJ, C.D. ( /ˈjuːseɪn/; born 21 August 1986), is a Jamaican sprinter and a five-time World and three-time Olympic gold medalist. He is the world record and Olympic record holder in the 100 metres, the 200 metres and (along with his teammates) the 4×100 metres relay. He is the reigning Olympic champion in these three events, and is one of only seven athletes (along with Valerie Adams, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jacques Freitag, Yelena Isinbayeva, Jana Pittman, Dani Samuels) to win world championships at the youth, junior, and senior level of an athletic event.

Bolt won a 200 m gold medal at the 2002 World Junior Championships, making him the competition's youngest-ever gold medalist at the time (since surpassed by Jacko Gill). In 2004, at the CARIFTA Games, he became the first junior sprinter to run the 200 m in less than 20 seconds with a time of 19.93 s, breaking the previous world junior record held by Roy Martin by two-tenths of a second. He turned professional in 2004, and although he competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics, he missed most of the next two seasons due to injuries. In 2007, he broke Don Quarrie's 200 m Jamaican record with a run of 19.75 s.

Theodore Sharp "Ted" Ligety (born August 31, 1984, in Salt Lake City, Utah) is a champion alpine ski racer from the United States. He was the 2006 Olympic gold medalist in combined and the three-time World Cup champion in giant slalom (2008, 2010 and 2011). Ligety won the gold medal in the giant slalom at the 2011 World Championships. Through March 10, 2012, he has 11 victories (all in giant slalom), 29 podiums, and 82 top-ten finishes in World Cup competition.

Growing up in Park City, Utah, Ligety began skiing at two and racing at ten. He attended The Winter Sports School and graduated in 2002. He was named to the U.S. Skiing Development Team and won a silver medal in slalom in the Junior World Cup in 2004. He made his first start in a World Cup event during the 2004 World Cup season in the giant slalom at Park City, and he was added to the U.S. Ski Team full-time in the 2005 season, during which he had four top-15 finishes in slalom, placing 24th overall in the discipline.

Ashley Wagner (born May 16, 1991) is an American figure skater. She is the 2012 Four Continents champion, the 2012 U.S. champion and a two-time (2008 and 2010) U.S. bronze medalist. She is a two-time (2007 and 2009) World Junior bronze medalist. She placed fourth at the 2012 World Championships.

Ashley Wagner is the first child and only daughter of LTC Eric Wagner, U.S. Army (Retired) and Melissa Wagner. A military brat, Wagner was born on a U.S. Army Base in Heidelberg, Germany, where her father was stationed at the time. Although she was born in Germany, she is a United States citizen, because her parents are U.S. citizens. Her father is a retired Army lieutenant colonel, and her mother is a retired fourth-grade teacher. Her younger brother Austin is also a skater and competes on the national level.

Because Wagner's father was in the military, her family moved seven times during Wagner's childhood. Besides Germany, she has lived in California, Alaska, Kansas, Washington State, and Virginia. Wagner currently lives in Alexandria, Virginia, but considers Seabeck, WA home. She previously attended Northern Virginia Community College via their online study program. Wagner attended West Potomac High School through the 2007/2008 school year. She had previously attended Whitman Middle School. Wagner was home schooled by her mother for half a year before entering Whitman Middle School but returned to public school because she missed it.

Shawn Machel Johnson (born January 19, 1992) is an American artistic gymnast. She was the 2008 Olympic balance beam gold medalist and all-around, and floor exercise silver medalist, the 2007 all-around World Champion, and the 2007 and 2008 U.S. all-around champion. In 2009, Johnson became the winner of the season eight edition of Dancing with the Stars.

Johnson was born in Des Moines, Iowa, the only child of Doug and Teri Johnson. Her parents enrolled her in a gymnastics class at age three after they noticed her climbing cabinets and jumping off tables. At age six, Johnson was one of Liang Chow's first students when he opened a gymnastics school in West Des Moines.

Johnson attended a public school, Valley High School. She was on the honor roll, attended football games, and participated in extra-curriculars. Through 2008, Johnson maintained a more balanced lifestyle than typical of elite female gymnasts. She limited her gymnastics training to 25 hours per week, as opposed to the more typical 40 hours.