World Athletics Championships - BBC commentators

Allison Curbishley

A former British Olympian, Allison is now a familiar voice for athletics on BBC Radio 5 live. Allison, a 400 metre runner, competed at the highest level including two Olympic Games (Atlanta and Sydney), World and European Championships and the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur. Allison remains the Scottish record holder for the women’s 400 metres.

Since 2003, Allison has been a key part of the 5 live commentary team, covering three Olympic Games (Athens, Beijing and London), two Paralympic Games (Beijing and London) we well as World and European Championships and Commonwealth Games.

Away from her broadcasting career Allison promotes International Netball and works with Sporting Ambassadors; teaming current sporting professionals with schools and community groups to provide positive role models to young people and encouraging participation in sport.

Steve Backley OBE

Olympic medallist Steve Backley OBE will be a key part of Radio 5 live’s commentary team at London 2012.

Steve won Olympic bronze in Barcelona in 1992 before winning silver medals in Atlanta 1996 and Sydney in 2000 in the javelin and as a result is the only British athlete to have medalled at three consecutive Games. 

He also won three Commonwealth and four European Championship gold medals between 1990 and 2002.  Steve was part of the 5 live commentary team at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and London 2012. 

Mike Costello

Mike Costello is one of BBC Radio 5 live's most recognisable voices, having commentated on athletics and boxing for the station since 2006. His passion for both sports has guided listeners through the highs and lows of these much-loved events.

Having previously worked for the BBC World Service in a similar role, Mike has covered every World Athletics Championships since Gothenburg in 1995.

Mike was a key part of the 5 live sports team for London 2012, having commentated on the previous five. He credits being able to follow the successes of athletes, such as Usain Bolt, as the most uplifting experiences of his broadcasting career so far.

Sonja McLaughlan

Broadcasting on the BBC since 1998, Sonja has been part of some of the biggest sporting events in the world, including every Olympic games since Atlanta 1996, the Rugby World Cup, World Championship Athletics, the London Marathon and the University Boat race.

Since joining as a trainee in 1988, Sonja has become one of the BBC’s most experienced broadcasters. She learnt her trade as a news reporter before joining the sports team from where she has never looked back.

Sonja was the first woman to produce BBC Radio’s rugby union output and made her name on the BBC’s Six Nations coverage, along with her work as a reporter for BBC Radio 5 live and Rugby Union for Grandstand.

Sonja can also be seen presenting the sports news throughout the week on BBC News and BBC World News and played a major role in the commentary team for last year’s Olympic Games.

Mark Pougatch

A seasoned and respected broadcaster across radio and television over many years, Mark Pougatch has presented some of the biggest shows in sports journalism and his CV includes Match of The Day and Football Focus on BBC television. Mark has also broadcast from every major sporting event that the station covers including the Cricket, Rugby and Football World Cups and Commonwealth Games. He presented from London 2012 for Radio 5 live – his fourth summer Olympics and from Wimbledon 2013.

On Radio 5 live he has broadcast right across the schedule in both sport and news roles including presenting 5 live breakfast, Drive, Test Match Special, on 5 live sport anchoring the flagship Saturday programme and presents the iconic Sports Report.

Donovan Bailey

Donovan Bailey, once the fastest man on earth, is a track and field legend having competed at world class level throughout the 1990s.

He held the world record for the men’s 100 metres at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta with a time of 9.84 seconds. He also claimed gold as part of the men’s 4x100 metre relay.

The Canadian sprinter is a three-time World Athletics Champion, having competed in Gothenburg (1995) where he claimed a gold medal in the men’s 100 metres and 100 metre relay. He returned to the world stage in Athens (1997) to help his team retain the men’s 100 metre relay gold medal.

Before becoming an athlete, Donovan was a stockbroker. He now lives in Toronto, Canada and regularly co-commentates for Canadian television.

Donovan is new to the BBC Radio 5 live commentary team for 2013.

BBC Television

Gabby Logan

A key member of the BBC’s presentation team for the London 2012 Olympics, Gabby presents Final Score, Inside Sport, the Six Nations and the Autumn Rugby Internationals for BBC One. Gabby has hosted a live daily show on Channel 5, LIVE with Gabby Logan, the FIFA 2011 Women’s World Cup for BBC Three, Match of the Day, the One Show and was in South Africa in 2010 reporting on the England team for the FIFA 2010 World Cup and Beijing in 2008 for the Olympics.

A former international gymnast, Gabby began her broadcasting career in radio in 1992 and joined Sky Sports in 1996, where she quickly established herself as a football presenter. First joining ITV in 1998 to front On The Ball, during her nine years at the channel Gabby’s repertoire expanded and her presenting credits include the World Cup, Champions League and the Premiership, as well as the Boat Race and sports news reporting. In 2004 she co-hosted Sport Relief with Gary Lineker for the BBC, before joining the corporation in 2007. Following various stints on the station, Gabby began presenting a regular weekly Sunday morning show on BBC Radio 5 Live in February 2008.

From January 2010 to April 2011 she presented The Gabby Logan Show weekdays from 12pm – 2pm, which covered news and sport from across the UK as well as comprehensive analysis of Prime Minister's Questions every Wednesday. She is a columnist for The Times and has previously written for the Sunday Mirror, Independent and Yorkshire Post.

Jonathan Edwards CBE

Jonathan Edwards' achievements on the track have earned him a place in history as one of the World's greatest and most admired athletes. Almost 17 years after his incredible efforts in Gothenburg, Jonathan Edwards still holds the world record for the triple jump at 18.29m.

In 2000 Jonathan won a gold medal during the Sydney 2000 Olympics and returned home to a hero's welcome. After a career that spanned 15 years, Jonathan made his last competitive triple jump at the World Athletics Championships in Paris in 2003; he retired soon after as one of Great Britain's most successful athletes.

Jonathan has received several awards in recognition of his sporting achievements including BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1995; an MBE in 1996 and then a CBE in 2001.

Since retiring Jonathan became one of BBC Sport’s key pundits and commentators covering all the major athletics events, including the Olympics in London 2012, Beijing in 2008 and Athens in 2004. Jonathan has been part of the presentation team throughout 2013, covering the Diamond League meetings and the London Anniversary Games for the BBC.

Colin Jackson  

Colin Jackson is without a doubt one of the greatest athletes that Great Britain has ever produced, with almost over a decade spent at the very pinnacle of his sport.

As a 110m hurdler, Colin was ranked in the world top ten for 16 years and he was World No.1 from 1992-1994. For the last seven years of his career Colin was never out of the world’s top 3 and went on to set seven European, eight Commonwealth and nine UK records at 110m hurdles. Colin still holds the World Record over 60m hurdles indoors (7.30, Sindelfingen 1994).

On retirement, Colin was a natural choice to become one of the key members of the BBC’s sports production team and he continues to cover all of their Athletics output as a BBC pundit. His broadcasting career began by covering the Athens Olympics and since then he has been an integral part of the BBC output for all major athletic events since including the London Olympics last year and Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Colin traced his roots in a moving episode of BBC One's highly acclaimed, ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ and appeared on ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.

Colin worked extensively with the BBC Wales award nominated sport website ‘Raise your Game’ from 2004 until early 2012, which, with the help of celebrity interviews and invaluable advice, encouraged children to be ambitious in sport and life in general.

Steve Cram MBE

Steve Cram is one of the UK's most famous sporting personalities. As an athlete his career was forged alongside Coe and Ovett to form a period of unprecedented success in British athletics and since his retirement he has built a solid broadcasting career as a presenter/commentator for the BBC.

In a career spanning over three decades, since appearing as a 17 year old at the Commonwealth Games in 1978, Steve’s many achievements include six Gold medals at the Commonwealth Games and the European and World Championships.

At the 1984 Olympic Games held in Los Angeles, Steve returned from injury to take a silver medal in the 1500m behind Sebastian Coe. The following year he broke world records in the 1500m, 2000m and Mile, all within 19 days; the latter lasting almost nine years.

In 1983 Steve was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year, one of the few athletes to have won the award, and in 1986 he was awarded an MBE.

Since retiring from competitive athletics Steve has become a successful television commentator, first with Eurosport, and then with Channel 4 before joining the BBC as the Chief Athletics Commentator.

Steve was part of the BBC’s presentation team during the London 2012 Olympics. He also co-presented the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Athens in 2004, both the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing 2008 and the Vancouver Winter Games in 2010.

Steve has also been a regular contributor to BBC Radio 5 live including hosting the popular 606 and Sunday Sport shows.

Phil Jones

Phil is the BBC’s trackside athletics reporter, having first taken on that role at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. He subsequently covered the London 2012 Olympics, Beijing Olympics in 2008, World Championships in Osaka in 2007 & Berlin 2009 and European Championships in Gothenburg in 2006 & Barcelona in 2010 – along with all the BBC’s domestic athletics output, including the London Marathon and Great North Run.

Phil currently presents sport on the BBC World News channel out of MediaCity in his home city of Salford. He carried out a similar role for almost eight years from September 1994 for CNN International, hosting their flagship World Sport show almost 2,000 times and co-hosting CNN’s coverage of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City in 2002, World Cup football in France in 1998 and both Euro 96 and Euro 2000 football tournaments. He also presented CNN’s weekly golf show for two years, reported from the Masters and co-hosted the US PGA Championship for CNNSi in 2001.

Denise Lewis OBE

Denise Lewis OBE is a retired British athlete who specialised in the heptathlon, in which and she won the gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Alongside Kelly Holmes, Paula Radcliffe and Christine Ohuruogu, Lewis is one of the current "golden girls" of British athletics and has twice (1998 and 2000) been runner up in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

In 2004, Lewis took part in the BBC’s “Strictly Come Dancing”. She was partnered alongside professional dancer, Ian Waite and in the first few weeks scored the highest number of points with the judges. She eventually reached the final and was runner-up to actress Jill Halfpenny.

In 2009, Denise was a pundit for BBC Sport's coverage of the 2009 World Athletics Championships from Berlin alongside Michael Johnson and Colin Jackson a role she filled again for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

In 2012, Denise brought her sporting expertise to the BBC’s presentation team for the London Olympic Games. This year, Denise is once again a major part of the BBC’s athletics output as she presents from Diamond League meetings and the London Anniversary Games as well as the World Athletics Championships.

Paula Radcliffe MBE

Paula Radcliffe is one of Britain’s most successful athletes and still holds the world record for the women’s marathon with a time of 2:15:25 hours. A three-time winner of both the London and New York marathons, she is the former world champion of the marathon, half marathon and cross country.

In 2002, Paula won the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year Award after winning her first London Marathon, the Chicago Marathon, 10,000 metres in the European Championships and gold in the 5000 metres at the Manchester Commonwealth Games all in the same year.

The long-distance runner represented Great Britain at four consecutive Olympic Games (1996 to 2008) and six World Athletics Championships (1993, 95, 97, 99, 2001 and 2005), winning Britain’s only gold medal in Helsinki in 2005.

Paula will join Gabby Logan and the team in Moscow, bringing all her expertise to the Championships for BBC television.

Andrew Cotter

Andrew Cotter is one of the most recognised voices across BBC Television and Radio’s coverage of golf, rugby and tennis and has recently joined the BBC’s athletics team.

Originally a presenter of sports bulletins on BBC Radio 5 live, as well as Radio 1, 2 and 4, Andrew went on to become a sports presenter on the BBC News Channel, while at the same time building a career commentating on golf and rugby for BBC Radio and Television, working on major events including the Six Nations, Ryder Cup, The US Masters, US Open and USPGA.

Andrew began his broadcasting career in commercial radio in his native Scotland, going on to work for Sky News before joining the BBC in 2000.

Andrew will join Gabby Logan and the team as part of BBC televisions coverage of the 2013 World Athletics Championships in Moscow.

Paul Dickenson

As an athlete, Paul Dickenson competed in two consecutive Summer Olympics; Montreal in 1976 and Moscow in 1980. He held the British and Commonwealth records for throwing the hammer.

Paul joined the BBC Sports team in 1987 as a trackside reporter and since 1990 he has commentated on every major athletics meeting for the BBC, as well as the Winter Olympics and Paralympics. Paul is a voice that is known to millions. Amongst many major outside broadcasts, Paul has also commentated on the London 2012 Olympic Games as well as programmes such as the Lord Mayors Show, Superstars, World’s Strongest Man, Comic Relief and Sports Relief.

Brendan Foster MBE

Brendan Foster's athletics career saw him compete in in three Olympic Games; the 1970 Commonwealth Championships in Edinburgh (15,000m), the 1974 European Championships (5,000m) and the 1978 Commonwealth Championship in Edmonton (10,000m).

He also set two world records for the 3,000m (1972 and 1974), competed in three Olympic Games and claimed Britain's only track and field medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

In 1980, Brendan retired from active athletics. His career as a commentator began shortly afterwards and he has worked for the BBC commentating and reporting on Athletics at every major event since 1983, including last year’s Olympic Games in London.

Brendan was also the brains behind Britain's biggest annual road race, The Great North Run.

Brendan Foster was awarded the MBE in 1976 and a CBE in 2008.

Michael Johnson

Michael Johnson is one of the most successful runners in the world and is generally considered one of the greatest sprinters in the history of track and field.

He made history at the 1996 Olympics where he became the first man to ever win a gold medal for both the 200 metres and 400 metres at the same Olympics.

During his career he has won 19 international gold medals. He held the world record for the 200 metres between 1996 -2008, his world record for the 400 metres set in 1999 is yet to be broken.

Michael’s many accolades include being inducted into the USA Track and Field Hall Of Fame, being named U.S Male Olympian of the Decade (1990-1999), winning an ESPN Award and being awarded International Sportsman of the Year in 2000.

After winning the 400 metres and 4x400m relay at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Michael retired. He is now an integral part to the BBC’s commentary team providing expert analysis on a range of athletics sporting events, including last year’s Olympic Games in London.

He has also appeared on Radio 4’s iconic programme Desert Island Discs.