Olympic sports writer for Chicago Tribune since 1987 and Tribune Company since 2004. Have covered 15 Olympics -- 9 Winter and 6 Summer. Olympic (and soccer World Cup) coverage has taken me all over the world. I have reported from some 50 countries, including Iran. The beat encompasses Olympic politics (including such things as Chicago's failed bid for the 2016 Summer Games). My favorite part of the job: using sport as a way to write about the culture of a country or an athlete. I also do various non-Olympic-related features.

Born in Boston. Graduated from Yale with B.A. in French. Did advanced study in Spanish and Italian. Worked for Gloucester (Mass.) Daily Times, Baltimore Evening Sun, Chicago Daily News and Chicago Sun-Times before joining Tribune in 1984. Four-time nominee for Pulitzer Prize (always a bridesmaid. . .) Winner of multiple Associated Press Sports Editors annual writing awards; Chicago Headline Club awards; Chicago Society of Black Journalists award; A German publication, SportIntern, has ranked me among the 100 most influential people in international sport 11 times, including this year. ``Award'' I prize the most: N.Y. Times columnist George Vecsey wrote that ``among the qualities of an ideal journalist is the international vision of Phil Hersh.''

Chamber music, opera, scuba diving, reading junk novels on the beach, wine, road cycling, Cuba, the Bach unaccompanied cello suites, Russia, any books by James Lee Burke and Michael Connelly, figure skating