Olympic Sportscaster Bob Ballard Loses Job After Comment About Australian Women’s Swim Team
If you’ve been keeping up with the 2024 Summer Olympics, you may have seen the Australian women’s Olympic swim team take home the gold medal following Saturday’s 4x100 meter freestyle relay. As champions Shayna Jack, Mollie O'Callaghan, Meg Harris and Emma McKeon made their way out of the pool and celebrated, British sportscaster Bob Ballard commented on the team’s exit from the Paris Aquatic Centre with a statement that ended up costing him the gig.
“Well, the women just finishing off. You know what women are like, hanging around, doing their makeup,” Ballard said, commenting on the team’s apparent lag in exiting the facility as they cheered on their win. Co-host Lizzie Simmons, who herself is a former Olympian, quickly shot back. “Outrageous, Bob,” she said as he laughed. “Some of the men are doing that as well.” European pay TV company Eurosport relieved Ballard of his broadcasting duties shortly thereafter, confirming his exit in a statement to CNN.
“We can confirm that Bob Ballard has been removed from our commentary roster with immediate effect,” the European Olympics broadcast company said in response to his comments made at the 2024 Paris Games.
Ballard, a tenured sports reporter for decades who has covered multiple Olympic Games and works as a music and news presenter for BBC Local Radio, took to social media to issue his own statement following the news.
“The comments I made during the Australian freestyle relay victory ceremony on Saturday have caused some offence,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “It was never my intention to upset or belittle anyone and, if I did, I apologise. I am a massive advocate of women’s sport.”
“I shall miss the Eurosport team, dearly and wish them all the best for the rest of the Olympics,” he added. “No further comment will be issued. Thank you.”
Additionally, Ballard asked his followers not to involve co-commentator Simmonds and assured his new followers that he is generally “quite boring really,” and “not normally the subject of a news story that’s gone worldwide.”
Viewers react to Ballard’s comment made at the Paris Olympic event
After Ballard made his comment about the female swimmers at the summer Olympic Games, Simmonds retorted, and the clip subsequently went viral with many viewers sharing their thoughts in the comments. Watch it here:
“Casual sexism being thrown around on the swimming coverage,” wrote the user who posted the video.
“Wow, how sad that this man is so insecure that he has to try and degrade a strong powerful woman at the top of her career,” read one comment.
“Even crazier to say that as a British broadcaster when the only medals we’ve won so far have come from women - the lack of respect is disgraceful,” said another.
However, others posed the question of whether the comment made about the relay team was malicious enough to warrant Ballard losing his job.
“I don’t think it was that bad!” one user wrote. “Isn’t he just making a joke?” someone else asked.
Similar sentiments were shared on X (formerly Twitter) in response to Ballard’s posts about the situation, where many people shared their support for the longtime sportscaster.
“Absolutely crazy to fire someone for something as inoffensive as that,” said one follower. “Especially as yourself, who has done so much for women’s sport even from your days at Radio Sheffield. Chin up Bob.”
Ballard called in to Leading Britain’s Conversation (LBC) to speak with host Carol Vorderman on Tuesday about the reactions to his remarks at the Summer Olympics in Paris.
“I am overwhelmed by the reaction I’ve had from the British public,” he said. “It was a throwaway line, some people might say it was a bit old-fashioned: ‘Bob, you’re an old geezer,’ whatever. It was never meant to offend, it was never meant to upset anybody, I think there’s been a massive overreaction from my employers and I’m obviously dealing with it as best as I can right now.”
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