Gabby Logan leaps to defence of BBC Olympics colleague Clare Balding after host called out for ‘incredulous’ statement

GABBY LOGAN has come to the defence of her BBC Olympics colleague Clare Balding.

The host had been called out for an “incredulous” statement during coverage of the swimming.

Getty

Getty

Both Logan and Balding are part of the BBC’s broadcasting team at the Paris Olympics.

Balding had been presenting coverage from the pool at the Paris La Defense Arena, where she was speaking to Rebecca Adlington.

However, she was left stunned when the two-time gold medallist claimed Olympic swimmers never visited her school when she was younger.

Adlington’s claim prompted Balding to respond: “What? No (Olympians) visited your school?”

Viewers were quick to criticise the BBC presenter on social media, though, with one writing: “Watching the Olympic swimming and Clare Balding said something in such an incredulous tone which summed up the establishment perspective and how their experience differs.

“Because of course Balding thought it TOTALLY NORMAL for Olympic medal winners to visit schools because being privately educated and descended from nobility and privilege this kind of thing is part of the cultural experience they expect.”

The post continued by pointing out the lack of exposure to famous sports people for working class children, adding: “If you come from wealth and privilege it is so much easier though, and this is what is being paid for in private education.

“Access to expensive interests, access to contacts, access to opportunity. Her comment summed up the class brick wall we have in the UK.”

BBC's Olympics line-up in full

Presenters:

• Clare Balding
• Gabby Logan
• Hazel Irvine
• Isa Guha
• Jeanette Kwakye
• JJ Chalmers
• Mark Chapman

Studio guests:

• Beth Tweddle
• Chris Hoy
• Denise Lewis
• Fred Sirieix
• Jessica Ennis-Hill
• Kate Richardson-Walsh
• Katherine Grainger
• Laura Kenny
• Mark Foster
• Michael Johnson
• Nicola Adams
• Rebecca Adlington
• Tonia Couch

Radio:

• Adrian Chiles
• Eleanor Oldroyd
• Kelly Cates
• Mark Chapman
• Naga Munchetty
• Tony Livesey

Logan has since defended Balding, however, as she praised her BBC colleague.

She said: “I’m sure lots of what you say may be true about private school experiences, but it’s certainly not true about the whole of the BBC.

“I went to a state school nobody visited, teachers were striking in the 80s, and no school trips.”

Her response continued: “Also to be clear I love my colleague and she’s a great broadcaster. But a sweeping statement about the BBC needed addressing.

“Look at our Olympics line up across the day, we are a mixed bag from different backgrounds bringing all our many experiences to the way we communicate.”

Balding has anchored coverage of the swimming throughout the Paris Olympics.

The 53-year-old is working on her eighth Olympics after first joining the BBC National Radio in 1994.