If you get a knot in your stomach watching the final minutes of a close game featuring your favourite team or sports hero, try being in Peter Jonasson's shoes.

Jonasson, laboratory supervisor for the Department of Engineering Physics at McMaster, is in Whistler, B.C., where he'll oversee technical operations for the broadcast of biathlon events during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. He'll also be supporting the cross-country ski broadcast.

On most days, Jonasson runs labs for senior engineering students, keeping the computers humming amid a myriad of other chores, but every few years he takes time off to help broadcast some of the world's most prestigious sports events: five Olympic Games, two Commonwealth Games, a Pan American Games and two Goodwill Games.

Jonasson's official title at the Games is deputy venue technical manager (DVTM). He reports to the International Olympic Committee's broadcast arm, which provides pictures and images of the Olympic Games to all broadcast organizations which have bought rights.

As DVTM, Jonasson is working with a team of 168 technicians from 14 countries, responsible for ensuring that all broadcast equipment for the biathlon and cross country compound - cameras, cabling, generators and dozens of other gadgets - seamlessly transmit images of the competitions to the International Broadcast Centre.

"It's the ultimate in broadcasting," said Jonasson. "It has got to work. If something goes wrong, the whole world knows it."

This will be the first Olympic Games Jonasson has worked on home soil.

"It's your country and even though everyone working on the technical side of the broadcast is nation-neutral you still want your country to look its best and you want to represent it well."

His team will have their share of challenges to deal with, including distance. Nordic events are being held at Whistler Olympic Park in the Callaghan Valley, about a 20-minute drive from Whistler Village. The biathlon course stretches to four kilometres and the cross-country track to 50 kilometres.

There is also the wide variety of equipment that needs to be monitored and maintained. In biathlon, which combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting, there are 10 competitions where the progress of athletes must be followed in loops ranging from 150 metres to four kilometres. The shooting segments require zooming in on targets as small as a golf ball 50 metres away.

For cross-country skiing, there are 12 events with a variety of course lengths and up to 80 skiers racing across rolling hills. Handheld, robotic and rail cameras will be used to track the skiers and provide close-up action as they come through the start-finish area.

Asked why he has remained involved over so many years, Jonasson explains that he has become part of a community of friends spread around the globe.

"You make friends that last a lifetime doing this," he said. "You're working with each other day-in and day-out for three or four weeks at a time, and you have to rely on each other. And the same people tend to come back again and again, so you just pick up where you left off."

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