Sir Steve Redgrave will join talkSPORT as a pundit for Paris Olympics, after five-time gold medallist was let go by the BBC ahead of the summer Games
- Sir Steve Redgrave will join talkSPORT for this summer's Olympic Games
- The five-time Olympic gold medallist was let go by the BBC earlier this year
Sir Steve Redgrave will work for talkSPORT as a pundit at the Olympics after being let go by the BBC.
The five-time Olympic gold medallist revealed to Mail Sport in April that he would not be part of the Beeb’s line-up in Paris and feared he may miss his first Games since Moscow 1980.
However, Redgrave, 62, has now been snapped up by the BBC’s radio rivals talkSPORT, who have secured live commentary rights for the Olympics for the first time.
The former rower will be part of the station’s broadcast team in Paris at the start of the Games before offering his insight from their studio in London.
Redgrave won Olympic gold at every Games from Los Angeles 1984 to Sydney 2000. He then worked for the BBC at Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016.
Sir Steve Redgrave is set to join talkSPORT for the Olympic Games after leaving the BBC
His BBC work dried up, whilst former crew-mate Matthew Pinsent (right) remains on their team
However, he was not used by the Beeb at the Covid-affected Tokyo 2020 after he became high performance director of the Chinese rowing team.
Redgrave’s former crew mate Matthew Pinsent will continue to report on the rowing for the BBC at Paris 2024, with London 2012 champion Katherine Grainger offering analysis, and Rio 2016 gold medallist Moe Sbihi also joining the team.
About his BBC snub, Redgrave told MailSport in April: ‘I wasn't told that I've been discontinued, but it’s sort of evolved.
‘Matt is the presenter and Katherine Grainger is the equivalent to what I was doing. The three of us worked together at the World Championships the year after Rio, but then they went, “Male-female, covered on Olympic medals, why have three?”.
‘Working for China at the last Games probably didn't help matters.’
Redgrave will be joined at talkSPORT by double Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes and Tessa Sanderson, who won javelin gold at Los Angeles 1984.
The former rower will be part of the station’s broadcast team in Paris at the start of the Games before offering his insight from their studio in London
Rio 2016 hockey champion Alex Danson, two-time silver medal-winning swimmer Jazz Carlin and former rowers Polly Swann and Jack Beaumont are also in their line-up of pundits. Natalie Sawyer will anchor talkSPORT’s coverage of the Olympics every night.
In February, the station announced they had managed to secure rights to broadcast the Games, with the International Olympic Committee making them available for commercial radio for the first time.
The BBC will also have live radio commentary of the Olympics as usual but their rights are not exclusive.
