NBC Olympics Announcers Acknowledge Savannah Guthrie’s Absence: “We Send Our Love and Prayers”

The commentators for NBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympics opening ceremony took a moment to note the absence of their colleague, Today anchor Savannah Guthrie, at the top of the network’s telecast Friday.

Guthrie pulled out of NBC’s opening ceremony coverage to Milan, Italy, for the opening ceremony following the disappearance of her mother, Nancy, late last week in Arizona. Mary Carillo took her place on the opening ceremony, and she and fellow host Terry Gannon offered well wishes for Guthrie and her family before the ceremony began.

“We’re certainly without a very important and beloved member of our team tonight,” Gannon said of Guthrie. “She is dearly missed by everybody.”

Guthrie was set to work her fourth Olympics, joining Gannon and five-time Olympian Shaun White for the opening ceremony from Milan’s storied San Siro stadium. In the wake of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, which police and the FBI are treating as a possible abduction, she opted to stay home and has joined her siblings in pleading for their mother’s safe return.

“She’s covered so many Olympics, and she loves it,” Carillo said. “Right now, of course, Savannah and her family are in unspeakable, unfathomable pain. We know that in the U.S., her extended family is legion. Savannah, my friend, it’s the same way here.”

Gannon added, “We send our love and prayers and all of our positive energy to Savannah tonight.”

In an interview on Today Friday morning, Pima County, Arizona Sheriff Chris Nanos said he remains hopeful Nancy Guthrie will be found alive. “You have to have hope,” an emotional Nanos said. “You have to have hope. Come on, this is somebody’s mom. We’re gonna find her.”

Former Today host Hoda Kotb also joined Friday’s show to discuss the support Guthrie has received from colleagues and viewers.