- An Olympics commentator has been removed from coverage of Paris
- Bob Ballard made a sexist comment about Australian female swimmers
- Eurosport has moved quickly to remove the commentator from its coverage.
Eurosport commentator Bob Ballard has been dropped from the broadcaster’s Olympics coverage after making a sexist comment about Australian female swimmers.
After claiming gold in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay, Australia’s quartet of Emma McKeon, Shayna Jack, Mollie O’Calloghan and Meg Harris left the Paris Aquatics Centre.
At that point, veteran commentator Ballard said: “Well, the women are finishing up. You know how women are… hanging around, putting on makeup.”
A clip of the comment has since gone viral on social media and Eurosport has moved quickly to remove Ballard from its ongoing Olympic coverage.
A commentator was removed for making a sexist comment about Australian swimmers
Eurosport commentator Bob Ballard has been banned from the Paris Olympics
“During a segment of Eurosport’s coverage last night, commentator Bob Ballard made an inappropriate comment,” the broadcaster said in a statement.
‘For this reason, we have removed him from our commentator list with immediate effect.’
Lizzie Simmonds, who was alongside Ballard on commentary, called the comment “outrageous.”
Ballard has yet to comment publicly since making the comment that sparked outrage online.
He did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s email requesting comment.
The awkward moment comes as Paris organisers have promoted the event as “The Equality Games”, and the IOC is celebrating the fact that women now make up 50 per cent of its participants.
Many viewers were upset by Ballard’s comment and expressed their frustrations online.
“When will these people learn?” asked Pragya Agarwal, a professor at Loughborough University, on Programme X. “Why aren’t they given some kind of training?”
‘Bob Ballard, hang your head in shame, walk off the air and go back to the 1930s,’ one fan wrote on X.