Eurosport commentator Bob Ballard has been removed from the broadcaster’s coverage of the Olympic Games after he made a sexist remark regarding Australia’s female swimmers.
After securing gold in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay, Australia’s quartet – consisting of Emma McKeon, Shayna Jack, Mollie O’Calloghan and Meg Harris – made their way out of the Paris Aquatic Centre.
At this point, experienced commentator Bob 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’.
Bob Ballard has yet to comment publicly since making the remark which has caused outrage online.
Bob 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.
A veteran of more than four decades in media, Ballard has covered swimming, diving, and water polo during his broadcasting career.
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.’
‘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.