Rejoice! Sally Gunnell retires from trackside interviews.

That's fantastic news, though it's a shame she isn't going before the Commonwealths. Hopefully they'll get rid of Brendan Foster next...

Hooray wrote:

Hopefully they'll get rid of Brendan Foster next...

Don't know what your problem is, but Foster is a fantastic announcer. I have been listening to him commentate races for years and he is extremely knowledgeable, very enthusiastic, and makes the race more exciting to watch.

If you are from England I invite you to tune in to an American track broadcast sometime. You will be so thankful for Foster.

Thats pish,listen to him he sounds like a punch drunk boxer he can,t even say eighteen properly,reapeats himself non-stop,makes references to things which are not relevant,a load of shite if you ask me.

I'm sure she's a nice person, but this is so far overdue it's not even funny anymore.

'I mean, you were literally dying in the home straight out there'

comments usually heard during Foster commentary...

1) we saw him / her win the Great North Run

2) will be running the Great NOrth Run

3) was second at the Great Manchester Run

4) the inspiration for the Great Ethiopean run

5) Here at Edinburgh for the Great Northern XC

repeat as necessry to boost your own events....

will also do the following

repeat endlessly "we have the world record holder, agaisnt the world champion and the olympic champion"

no genuine insight whatsoever, which is sad because if you read his bok from '77 its great, down to earth, common sense. pity he seems to have forgotten most of it.

Judging by the negativity on this thread, a few of you are somewhat jealous of our BBC reporters, all of whom have more than earned the right to be where they are.

I suspect wrote:

Judging by the negativity on this thread, a few of you are somewhat jealous of our BBC reporters, all of whom have more than earned the right to be where they are.

That's exactly the problem with the BBC commentators (and I'm not having a go at 'your' BBC, I'm very much British myself) - they think that any athlete who's achieved something notable should get a free pass to the commentary box. They do it in other sports too, but I think Athletics may be the worst.

Some are very good (Cram, Michael Johnson), some are average (Colin Jackson, Jonathan Edwards) and others are awful (Gunnell, Gunnell, and Gunnell). There are many people out there with huge knowledge of the sport, as well as having been actually trained to speak into a microphone.

It's not hating, it's just common sense. I'm glad they realised that Sally Gunnell wasn't up to scratch.

iron man wrote:

,a load of shite if you ask me.

No one asked you.

For young athletes, the BBC commetary team may be quite intimidating, since so many of them have Olympic medals and current or former World Records.

I think Sally Gunnell could continue to do a good job of motivating and consoling the younger athletes in times of crisis, in ways we don't get to hear about.

Typical Foster Commentary wrote:

comments usually heard during Foster commentary...

1) we saw him / her win the Great North Run

2) will be running the Great NOrth Run

3) was second at the Great Manchester Run

4) the inspiration for the Great Ethiopean run

5) Here at Edinburgh for the Great Northern XC

will also do the following

repeat endlessly "we have the world record holder, agaisnt the world champion and the olympic champion"

no genuine insight whatsoever, which is sad because if you read his bok from '77 its great, down to earth, common sense. pity he seems to have forgotten most of it.

You forgot number 6

6) This is a classic race/classic athlete

He must have said that about 20 times at the Edinburgh cross country.

Great news about Gunnell though she was awful. I used to reach for the mute button whenever she came on.

I was rather intrigued when the BBC started employing ex medallists/ world record holders as commentators.

I assumed we were to become enlightened as to a hidden world of concealed knowledge and top secret information about top class athletics.

I soon realised many had little in-depth knowledge of the sport at all. They just happened to be naturally talented runners, jumpers etc.

One could hear a far more expert and informed analysis of the meeting the day after in most athletic club dressing rooms.

On a different tangent; has anyone noticed how the field event lobby have taken over the televised athletic events?

Especially those from the Continent.

They are actually breaking into 1500mt races now to show some competitor taking a jump or a throw. I wonder how soon they’ll cut in on the 800?

Even worse, if it’s a no-jump or throw, they don’t instantly switch back to the race.

No - we have to see a bloody replay of it and then the competitor walking away scratching their bum or whatever.

The most exciting part of the hop-skip and jump is watching the officials peering at the spike marks on plasticine board.

These days I always video athletic meetings and in an about a three hour programme, I find about 20 or 30 minutes of interest.

Talking of which, I didn't see any BBC coverage of British runners in the men's long race at the Edinburgh XC. Once Lebid had finished that was pretty much it. I realise they were a good way off the pace, but it would at least been nice if they'd told us who was the first British finisher. I suppose darts is more important to them these days.

I suspect wrote:

Judging by the negativity on this thread, a few of you are somewhat jealous of our BBC reporters, all of whom have more than earned the right to be where they are.

but they have funny accents.

See the attached forum for a discussion about this touchy subject and also the results for the Edinburgh Cross Country event.

Roadrunner (8th), thegreatestdescender (11th) and Bisto (16th) in the Senior Men's Long Course all post on this forum but none got any mention on the BBC!

Sorry, I should have said Oxo Cube rather than his brother Bisto. Both are the sons of a former British Olympic marathon runner.