Bob Ballard is one of Britain’s most experienced broadcasters, covering sport nationally and internationally for almost 40 years.
But after an ill-judged joke about the Australian women’s relay team at Paris 2024, the world-class swimming and diving commentator has been cancelled.
As the 4x100m freestyle relay team won gold and walked off the off the pool deck yesterday, Mr Ballard made a tongue-in-cheek comment about them ‘finishing up’, adding: ‘You know what women are like… hanging around, doing their make up’.
Lizzie Simmonds, who was alongside Ballard on commentary duty for Eurosport, was not amused and described the comment as ‘outrageous’. She chided him – but also laughed with him – saying: ‘Some of the men are doing that as well’.
His comments sparked a backlash by some who called his words sexist. But he has also received support by viewers who have demanded that Eurosport should reinstate him because it was just a joke.
But today he apologised and stepped away from the job he loves. He said in a short statement: ‘The comments I made during the Australian freestyle relay victory ceremony on Saturday have caused some offence. 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’.
The veteran broadcaster worked for the BBC for most of his career, but has been outspoken about how he felt he was treated differently, even negatively, by bosses at the Corporation because he is gay.
Speaking in 2021 he said his sexuality was never a secret, but he was warned after he joined BBC 5 Live in 1997 that his boss had warned him that ‘it didn’t work to my benefit’ there. However, Claire Balding was not held back for being a gay woman, he claimed.
Bob has also praised the impact that Tom Daley has had as a gay athlete and how he hopes that influence will continue to spread to other sports.
Eurosport commentator Bob Ballard has been removed from the Olympics after his comment
Mollie O’Callaghan, Shayna Jack, Emma McKeon and Meg Harris of Team Australia after the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay final at Paris La Defense Arena on Saturday, when Bob commented on the speed in which they moved on
Mr Ballard interviews Tom Daley, and has commentating on his success throughout his career
Great Britain’s Tom Daley clutches a Pride towel during the Men’s Synchronised 10m Platform Final at the Aquatics Centre in Paris where he won silver with Noah Williams
Mr Ballard, who is well known for his diving commentary, also praised Team GB star Tom Daley for all he has done for gay people in and out of sport. He first met the diving superstar when he was 13.
He said recently that he hopes Tom’s courage will encourage gay stars in ‘more macho sports’ such as football and rugby to come out too.
Every year Bob commentates on The Royal Vauxhall Tavern’s annual RVT Sports Day, held at the end of August. The event raises money to help LGBTQ+ people to lead happier and healthier lives.
Bob’s broadcasting career began in local radio, in Sheffield.
Born in September 1959, Ballard has a career spanning over four decades and has been commentating since the mid-1980s on sports including swimming, diving, ice hockey, tennis, basketball, water polo, football, and cricket.
He founded a production company called RHB Productions Ltd which is based in Dorchester, Dorset, and has also worked as a music and news presenter on BBC local radio.
He has also previously said that at the BBC, he encountered ‘a lot of negative things when people found out I was gay’.
He told prideoftheterraces.com: ‘I was told by a high-ranking person who went on to be the network controller of 5 Live that it didn’t work to my benefit. These days at the BBC he probably wouldn’t get away with saying that, but he was honest enough to tell me in an appraisal that my sexuality probably didn’t benefit me when it came to career progression at that time.
‘It wasn’t that I was hiding it from anybody, but people found out. It’s obviously a small industry, so people find this stuff out, but I was told quite starkly and straightforwardly that it wasn’t really advantageous towards my career progression.
‘I worked for the BBC in a freelancing capacity from 1983, but I started at 5 Live in 1997. I was there for 14 years, but it was towards the back end of that in London when this kind of thing cropped up. I was told by somebody who was actually very supportive to be fair that unfortunately, because of the way this business works and the way BBC Sport worked at the time, it wasn’t particularly advantageous to be gay in the sports fraternity.
‘I pretty much thought that would be the case. As we know, out sports broadcasters are about as rare as out sports personalities.
‘There’s always this slight dichotomy I think. Clare Balding was very well accepted when she came out, and there’s a definite difference between people coming out who are female, and people coming out who are male, and I’ve never really understood why that would be the case.
‘People would say “oh Clare Balding, isn’t it great”, but with males within the industry it’s almost viewed in a completely different way. I’ve never quite worked out why, there’s almost a cache with being a lesbian in sport that doesn’t work the other way for male people involved in sport or broadcasting who might be homosexual’.
Bob said he was told at the BBC that his sexuality ‘probably didn’t benefit me when it came to career progression at that time’. But he added: ‘Clare Balding was very well accepted when she came out, and there’s a definite difference between people coming out who are female, and people coming out who are male, and I’ve never really understood why that would be the case’
Daley and Williams secured a remarkable silver in the men’s synchronised 10m diving event today
He was competing in the 10m synchronized platform event with alongside Noah Williams, to win his fifth medal (pictured together)
Dustin Lance Black, husband of Great Britain’s Tom Daley, gives an enthusiastic thumbs up
He has repeatedly praised Tom Daley, firstly as a sporting icon, and also as a gay icon.
He said: ‘I’m not saying we should make a catalogue out of people, but for me every sport should have role models for people. There should be a Tom Daley in every single sport for people to look up to.
‘We’re still waiting for a major tennis player to come out, and I think we seem to forget that. There have been plenty on the female side, but there is no out tennis player in the men’s top 100 right now. Just like in football, there has to be one.
‘There are 2000+ professional footballers in this country, are you telling me that not even 5% of footballers are gay or bisexual? There has to be. We know that’s the case, but we keep thinking it’s going to happen and it doesn’t.
‘In other, more macho sports like Rugby League or Rugby Union – if they can be out in those big machismo sports, why can’t it happen in football? That’s the age old question that we won’t ever get answers to until someone comes out, and in the modern era there is no sign of that happening.”
‘Hopefully there will be a lot more Tom Daleys in the future. I think he, like people in other industries like entertainment who have opened the door for other people, has been that major benefactor for other people in sport’.
Mr Ballard was today backed by nearly three quarters of MailOnline readers after making a sexist remark about Australia’s female swimmers at the Olympics.
Ballard lost his spot on the broadcaster’s commentary team after saying the 4x100m freestyle relay team were late to leave the swimming venue because they were ‘doing their make-up’.
But 72 per cent of MailOnline readers responding to a poll said the former BBC commentator should not have lost his job, agreeing with the phrase that ‘it was a joke’.
A further 23 per cent backed Eurosport’s decision, agreeing that it was a ‘sexist statement’ while 5 per cent of the 55,000 respondents said they were not sure.
Meanwhile messages of support for Ballard were also on flooding in on his X profile today, with one saying it was a ‘ludicrous cancellation’ and another bemoaning the ‘extreme injustice dealt to you by the woke mind virus brigade’.
A third wrote: ‘Countless hours of commentary, trying to keep things interesting and entertaining, sometimes when not much happening. And then removed for one misjudged comment. A chance to apologise would have seemed more proportionate. Take care Bob.’
Some 72 per cent of MailOnline readers said the former BBC commentator should not have lost his job, agreeing with the phrase that ‘it was a joke’. A further 23 per cent backed Eurosport’s decision, agreeing that it was a ‘sexist statement’ while 5 per cent said they were not sure
It comes after Australia’s quartet – consisting of Emma McKeon, Shayna Jack, Mollie O’Calloghan and Meg Harris – had been making their way out of the Paris Aquatic Centre after securing gold on Saturday.
At this point, experienced commentator Ballard said: ‘Well, the women just finishing up. You know what women are like… hanging around, doing their make-up.’
A clip of the comment has since gone viral on social media and Eurosport has opted to act swiftly, removing Ballard from their coverage of the ongoing Olympics.
‘During a segment of Eurosport’s coverage last night, commentator Bob Ballard made an inappropriate comment,’ a statement from the broadcaster read.
‘To that end, he has been removed from our commentary roster with immediate effect.’
Lizzie Simmonds, who was alongside Ballard on commentary duty, described the comment as ‘outrageous’.
Ballard has yet to comment publicly since making the remark.
He did not immediately respond to MailOnline’s request for comment.
Ballard did make one remark on X, wishing Eurosport’s Laura Winter luck on Sunday night’s broadcast.
‘Have a great one,’ Ballard wrote.
Ballard’s embarrassing comment comes as Paris organisers have promoted the event as ‘The Equal Games’, with the IOC celebrating the fact that women now make up 50 percent of its participants.
Ballard is no stranger to Olympic water sports.
A veteran of more than four decades in media, Ballard has covered swimming, diving, and water polo during his broadcasting career.
Emma McKeon, Shayna Jack, Mollie O’Callaghan and Meg Harris celebrate in Paris
Ballard previously admitted in 2019 to another embarrassing on-air moment – this one at the 2005 World Championships in Montreal.
‘… I duly went to the interview position and spent a few awkward minutes on live TV being lambasted by the national performance director, who accused me of being the most negative journalist,’ Ballard told Swimming.org in 2019.
‘That came as a surprise to the swimmers, who had always considered me very sympathetic and objective. It was used on Breakfast News, both BBC and ITV the next morning, and I’ve never been allowed to forget it by the coaches who were around in 2005.’
Some viewers were upset with Ballard’s comment and vented their frustrations online.
‘When will these people ever learn?’ asked Loughborough University’s Professor Pragya Agarwal on X. ‘Why aren’t they being given some training?’
‘Bob Ballard hang your head in shame and get off the broadcast and back to the 1930s,’ one fan wrote on X.
O’Callaghan, Jack, McKeon and Harris set an Olympic record of 3:28.92 in the 4X100 relay on Sunday.
The American team of Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh, Torri Huske and Simone Manuel rallied to finish second in 3:30.20 – one tenth of a second ahead of Team China.
This was the first swimming medal for China, and it comes after it was recently revealed that nearly two dozen of that country’s swimmers tested positive for a banned substance ahead of the Tokyo Games in 2021.
Two of the swimmers that tested positive – Zhang Yufei and Yang Junxuan – were on China’s 4X100 team that won bronze on Sunday.
