STAMFORD, Conn. -- Two people in a recording booth deep inside a Connecticut office park are helping millions of blind Americans feel part of the Olympics like never before.For the first time in the U.S., NBC is airing the Olympics in prime time with additional narrators who simply report whats happening on screen -- a sort of closed captioning for the visually impaired. Most viewers wont even know the additional narrators are there; to hear them, you need to turn on special cable-box or TV settings to activate their audio track. But their running blow-by-blow can open things up for the blind, who at best get an incomplete picture from traditional sportscasting that takes visuals for granted.I love the Olympics, says Marlaina Lieberg, 66, whos been blind since birth and has long bugged her sighted husband to describe the athletic events. Im so happy Im going to be able to sit back, watch the Olympics like anybody else, know whats going on, not have to imagine or wonder. Thats huge.DESCRIBING THE SUNSETOn a recent Wednesday, narrator Norma Jean Wick opens the Olympics broadcast in a neutral, almost robotic tone, saying Golden orange sunset in Rio de Janeiro as music swells over a shot of the city. Night has fallen, she continues, right after NBCs Bob Costas intones, Aaaand here we go.Wick and Jim Van Horne, both Canadian sports broadcasting veterans, devoted hours to studying the sports and NBC commentators speech patterns. They aim to wedge in short sentences or even a few words amid the often breathless announcing. At one point during a beach volleyball match, Wick mostly limits herself to reciting the score -- otherwise invisible to those who cant see -- in-between points.While they try not to talk over announcers, it happens. During a pause, Van Horne notes that U.S. player Kerri Walsh Jennings was waiting for the wind to die down to serve; the announcers started up again before he finished his sentence. Blind viewers say sometimes they cant hear the NBC announcers in the crosstalk.Finding the right words can be difficult, said Wick, who keeps stacks of notes in front of her. When you say a spike, what does that mean? When you say a tumbling pass, well, what are they doing exactly?CAPTIONS FOR THE BLINDWhile closed captioning for the deaf today is ubiquitous, most people who arent visually impaired have never heard of audio description or video description, as this sort of narration is formally known. It was developed for U.S. TV in the 1980s, and is now available for certain prime-time series and childrens shows on the major broadcast networks and a few cable channels. Descriptions are also available in many movie theaters, on Netflix and during some live theater.For a long time, the visually impaired didnt know how much they were missing from TV shows and movies, says Paul Schroeder, head of programs and policy at the American Foundation for the Blind. If youre trying to follow a program, you need to know the basis of whats going on. The car chase, the gun shots, the subtle or not-so-subtle look across the room.But live TV events are much harder to narrate because theres no script, and as a result narrated sports events remain rare in the U.S. All that raises the level of difficulty for NBCs narrators.The aim is to provide what and how, says Van Horne -- what an individual is wearing, the expression on their face, how did they fall, how did they twist the ankle. Not only can the blind follow the action, they can also connect with the emotional upheavals that are as much a part of the Olympics as the sports.Karen Gourgey, 68, the director of a center that trains blind people to use technology at Baruch College in New York, normally finds herself bored by the Olympics, for obvious reasons, she says. Now, though, shes getting more specifics when medals are presented -- this ones in tears, that ones hugging, all the stupid stuff. Shes learned that a gymnast used the whole floor during a tumbling routine and that swimmers perch on starting blocks before they dive into the pool.You can still get quite electrified, she says.HARD-TO-SEE CONTROLSNarration for the blind isnt always easy to find or operate on TV. Lori Scharff, a 41-year-old blind social worker on New Yorks Long Island, cant activate the setting herself because shed have to navigate a TV-screen menu. She cant just leave them running all the time, either, because they share a track with Spanish-language audio that kicks in when a show isnt narrated for the blind (as most are not).Advocates credit Comcast, which owns NBC, for producing a cable box that audibly recites menu options in a mechanical female voice. That lets the blind activate narration without help from someone who can see. All major cable and satellite TV providers are required to provide similar audio features by Dec. 20.It can also be hard to know what shows gets narrated. 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NEW YORK -- The biggest surprise Monday for 10-year-old Rainn Sheppard, competing at the Junior Olympics in Houston and far from the New York City homeless shelter she shares with her two sisters and mother, wasnt the gold medal she won in the 3,000 meters.It was the arrival of her mother.Rainn and her sisters, 11-year-old Tai and 8-year-old Brooke, had hoped merely to make their mother proud, since she couldnt afford to make the trip from the Brooklyn shelter herself. But as Rainn was being interviewed by a local reporter Monday at the race venue, Tonia Handy surprised her daughter with a giant hug.I couldnt believe she was here, Rainn said in a phone interview. I still cant believe it.After The Associated Press wrote Friday about the familys challenges, a New York philanthropist contacted Handy and bought her a plane ticket.Shortly after the surprise, Rainn went on to win the gold medal in the 3,000-meter race for her age group. Her two sisters compete in their first events Tuesday.The girls and their mother have been homeless since early last year, when they were evicted from their Brooklyn apartment for failing to pay the rent. Handy, 46, has a job answering phones at a car service, but it hasnt been enough to support the family. She has been raising her family alone for a decade. After a stint in a motel, they wound up in a city shelter.The girls, who still have their estraanged fathers last name, started competing in track in January 2015.ddddddddddddAfter reading about the family, Ken Smaltz Jr., who runs an Alzheimers foundation and owns a rare coin business, reached out to Handy and offered to pay for her flight to Houston. Smaltz said he never intended to be public about the gesture, but spoke after the AP tracked him down.It just feels nice to help someone, he said.That hasnt been the only offer of help. Other people who saw her story contributed at least $7,000 to a crowd funding website that Handy had set up to raise money for the trip -- more than twice the original goal. Handy said she has since shut the site down and redirected donors to the website of their team, the Jeuness Track Club.Handy said she has also received calls from people asking for her resume with the intention of offering her a better job. The mayors office, she said, has contacted the family and asked to set up a meeting when they get back to New York. Local track teams sent gifts and cards to the girls entire team.For Handy, who had felt like she was burdening the team because she couldnt pitch in financially, the support has been extra meaningful.Now it feels like not only can I be on the team, but I can actually give to the team, she said. ' ' '