Sacked Olympic commentator breaks silence
The Olympic commentator who was removed from the Paris Games broadcast over his sexist remarks about the Australian women's swim team has apologised for his comments.
Bob Ballard was pulled from Olympic broadcaster Eurosport's coverage of the Games after he was met with a wave of backlash online for comments made following the Aussie swim team's win in the 4x100 metres freestyle relay.
During the medal ceremony, Ballard made a comment that quickly drew widespread criticism, "Well, the women just finishing up," he said. "You know what women are like … hanging around, doing their make-up."
Ballard's co-commentator, Lizzie Simmonds, described the remark, which went viral on social media, as "outrageous".
On Monday night, Ballard apologised on X, formerly Twitter, saying he didn't mean to cause offence.
He wrote, "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."
He then added that he didn't want fans to "pile on" his co-commentator Simmonds, saying she "had nothing to do with it."
Following the widespread backlash to his controversial comments, Eurosport announced they would be removing Ballard from its Games broadcasts.
Image credits: X (Twitter)/Xinhua News Agency/Shutterstock Editorial