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Poor Patrick Singleton. He gets his one moment in glory every four years and the media mangle his story. NBC has him living in Japan and being a ‘paper’ Bermudian while MSNBC turned him into a black man carrying another country’s flag.

The funniest story — if true — is why no women are allowed near him when he’s racing.

There were over 150 press reports on Singleton and/or Bermuda from the opening ceremonies. Below are snippets from both TV and print about him.

From the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s TV report: “This is a great story. This is Patrick Singleton. He is a skeleton racer from Bermuda — carries their flag as he did in Salt Lake City. I can remember running into him about a week before the games in Salt Lake City. He was training by himself. He said: ‘Look, it’s tough. It’s tough being from a winter sport from Bermuda and its even tougher being in a sport like skeleton.”

The CBC reporter must be slightly confused. Singleton competed in the luge at Salt Lake City.

NBC introduced Singleton this way: “Here’s a winter powerhouse, Bermuda. They’ve worn Bermuda shorts in the opening ceremonies they’ve done that in the past, not just in the summer games, but the winter games — Not this time. Patrick Singleton is the flag bearer. Used to compete in luge. Now he’s a skeleton competitor. Interesting story — He lives in Tokyo. He’s a financial reporter for Bloomberg television. Graduate of Elon University in North Carolina, but he was born in Bermuda therefore eligible to compete for that nation.”

NBC got it wrong. Singleton actually lives in England and grew up in Bermuda. His dad Derek is the tennis pro at Coral Beach and his mom Sallie works at the Bermuda airport for British Airways.

Over a dozen U.S. papers publicized this ditty: “Skeleton athlete Patrick Singleton made it through fine, too. Even in mixed company. We mention that because, according to his Olympic bio, he once injured his back in a crash, which his coach blamed on Singleton being distracted by a female German athlete in the start house. From then on, there was the Bermuda Rule. No women in the start house during training.”

The Knight Ridder Tribune report focused on Bermuda’s fashion.

“Among the pressing questions leading into the ceremony was whether skeleton slider Patrick Singleton, the one-man Bermuda delegation, would brave the 20-degree weather and wear Bermuda shorts, as he did in Salt Lake City four years ago. Answer: No.”

Even without the shorts, Singleton was still a hit.

A separate KRT report said: “The loudest cheers came for Italy during the Parade of Nations. Because it is the host country, Italy appeared last. The crowd jumped to its feet, dancing and shouting, and rang souvenir cowbells provided by show organizers.

“Bermuda, Venezuela and Kenya — among the countries with just one athlete—- received solid ovations.”[[In-content Ad]]

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