Clare Balding, 51, joined the BBC as a trainee in 1994, and has since led the coverage of sporting events including the Olympics and Paralympics, Royal Ascot and the Commonwealth Games. She is also the president of the Rugby Football League.
In 2021, you present the BBC’s coverage of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics … from Salford. How was that?
The tech team did a terrific job; with Bethany Firth, the swimmer who won gold for Team GB at the Paralympics, we had her mum on the line just as her hand touched the wall, which was brilliant. The other benefit of being here is that you know what’s catching on and what people are responding to, which you don’t always know when you’re in another time zone. Of course, the big difference since the last Olympic cycle is that athletes have more confidence in their own voice, whether that’s Simone Biles or Emily Campbell, the weightlifter who wanted to use her platform to talk about body image. They have become much more vocal, and they represent more than just sport.
