Best Olympics commentators/analysts

[Steel Icarus]

I'm not sure what the situation is in Spain but I was in a reasonably small town in the north earlier this year and was really surprised at the size of the local sports centre. That is, it was way, way bigger than you'd expect for the size of the town.

My town (pop. 11,000) had a large sports hall including outdoor five a side pitches when I moved here, but it was demolished to build a new bit of the shopping centre. I think it was barely used by that time anyway. Presumably people just travelled 8 miles to the huge leisure centre instead.

 

[stavros]

From a presenting perspective have the BBC made a conscious decision to go with a very female-centric team? Logan I think is the most senior, followed by Balding and Irvine, with Kwakye doing the morning sessions. JJ Chalmers is the only male presenter I can think of.

 

[QueenOfGoths]

In my imaginary world Michael Johnson and Denise Lewis are married to each other as I think they'd make such a great couple

 

[Lord Camomile]

From a presenting perspective have the BBC made a conscious decision to go with a very female-centric team? Logan I think is the most senior, followed by Balding and Irvine, with Kwakye doing the morning sessions. JJ Chalmers is the only male presenter I can think of.

Possibly? But I'm also not sure which men would be obviously 'missing' from that line up?

Logan, Balding and Irvine are all very established anchors, have been for years, particularly in Olympic coverage. Lineker's the only high profile presenter I can think of but he's never done much Olympic stuff, has he?

 

[Steel Icarus]

In my imaginary world Michael Johnson and Denise Lewis are married to each other as I think they'd make such a great couple

Things I didn't know until today: Demise Lewis is married to the former manager All Saints who is also the son of Tom O'Connor, TV "funnyman" and "star" of Crosswits.

 

[Elpenor]

Possibly? But I'm also not sure which men would be obviously 'missing' from that line up?

Logan, Balding and Irvine are all very established anchors, have been for years, particularly in Olympic coverage. Lineker's the only high profile presenter I can think of but he's never done much Olympic stuff, has he?

Didn’t Lineker do swimming a few Olympics ago?

 

[Steel Icarus]

Possibly? But I'm also not sure which men would be obviously 'missing' from that line up?

Chappers

 

[Elpenor]

Chappers

He was doing the morning “yesterday at games” show with Isa Guha I think or was on one of the mornings

 

[Lord Camomile]

Things I didn't know until today: Demise Lewis is married to the former manager All Saints who is also the son of Tom O'Connor, TV "funnyman" and "star" of Crosswits.

Is he a sardine?

 

[Steel Icarus]

Is he a sardine?

Quick, he was. Like lightning out of a dish.

 

[stavros]

Possibly? But I'm also not sure which men would be obviously 'missing' from that line up?

Jenas? Manish?

I suppose I think back to the Grandstand days, when Lynham and Ryder used to do alternate weeks (I think).

 

[Nine Bob Note]

Didn’t Lineker do swimming a few Olympics ago?

They had him as the evening studio presenter alongside Ian Thorpe in a very awkward pairing. IIRC they got rid of them mid-games and since then they've just passed between the athletic's stadium booth and Balding's balcony spot at the swimming/cycling without a main presenter, and only go back to the studio when everything has finished.

 

[Elpenor]

Lutalo Mohammed very good on discovery, in the studio with Laura Woods, Ian Thomas and someone I can’t remember on the “today at the games review show” which has a different title (Bon Soir Paris maybe?)

 

[Boo Radley75]

Didn’t Lineker do swimming a few Olympics ago?

Remember that, him doing it with Ian Thorpe, was hilarious. Ian Thorpe just seemed permanently pissed off with Lineker, for some reason.

 

[stavros]

The skateboarding fellas seem to come dangerously close to saying "Shit! Did you see that?! That was liquid skateboarding!".

 

[Petcha]

The skateboarding fellas seem to come dangerously close to saying "Shit! Did you see that?! That was liquid skateboarding!".

Yes, these guys/girls definitely win. I think its the same guys who do the the short course stuff in the Winter Olympics which is equally as hilarious. It's like a different language. Love it.

 

[mikaseem0]

Christine has always been top notch. Craig is mostly fine, though not a patch on the much missed Mitch Fenner. Matt Baker is an excitable moron who has no business being there - the gymnastics equivalent of John Virgo.

Indeed! Christine has always been top notch

 

[hash tag]

I get really sucked into thinking about the enormity of this occasion...4 years of something being the most important thing in your life,

It's not though. Don't the non olympic year round events count for anything. It gets to me when they go on about having trained all their life for this one competition. Many of the athletes compete year round, sometimes in European championships, sometimes worlds or nationals.
That's just the trophies outside the Olympics. In some sports their a fortune to be won outside the Olympics.

 

[Hollis]

Lineker's the only high profile presenter I can think of but he's never done much Olympic stuff, has he?

Please let that be the last we ever hear of Lineker doing the Olympics. I'm sure he'd manage to weave in how he won the Golden Boot in 1986.

Didn't John Inverdale used to do some, but I think he's fallen from grace?

I always liked Adrian Giles when he did sports stuff, and Mark Pougatch is pretty good.

 

[Pickman's model]

Please let that be the last we ever hear of Lineker doing the Olympics. I'm sure he'd manage to weave in how he won the Golden Boot in 1986.

Didn't John Inverdale used to do some, but I think he's fallen from grace?

I always liked Adrian Giles when he did sports stuff, and Mark Pougatch is pretty good.

He won't be on about winning the golden boot at the non-existent 1986 games, that's for sure

 

[stavros]

This may be worthy of another thread, but it is a disgrace that the BBC, or any other free channel for that matter, doesn't have full coverage of the games, and has to make do with only two streams. A new government with a fuck-off huge majority ought to rewrite the protected list of sporting events to exclusivise it onto the Beeb, ITV or whoever.