BBC 2012 - The Olympic Broadcaster

I agree. It seems a cruel thing to do John Inverdale if his role has been relegated in any way. I've defended Lineker during these games and I totally understand why they've put him in the role they have.

This could really expose Lineker to a lot of criticism, if he makes any mistakes.

Hopefully it won't, as any criticism aimed at him will be mistargeted. Even if he's not suitable for the role, it's not his fault he's been asked to do it, it's not like he'll have turned up to a meeting today and announced he's taking Inverdale's role. Somebody (with a much better idea of what they want him to do than anyone here) well above Lineker's head will have made the decision, so any criticism, however accurate, should be aimed at them, not Lineker himself.

That's a very good point. The same could be said about Ortis Deley, who I feel was really ruined by Channel 4's decision to use him in the World Athletics Championships.

Don't think you can really compare them though. Gary may not be everyone's cup of tea, and has his limitations as a presenter (some of which have been exposed over the last week) but these are relatively minor in comparison to the limitations exposed in Ortis's abilities by C4's Athletics coverage...

I agree with that. I was just showing how poor decisions by broadcasters, can lead to reputation damage to the presenter.

That's one way of looking at it.

Another view is that poor decisions by agents and presenters can lead to the same result... Agents have a duty not to put their talent up for gigs that they aren't capable of fulfilling, and talent should be careful not to take jobs that they aren't suitably qualified for. Broadcasters don't force presenters into these jobs...

Also - some people here seem to think that talent decisions are taken in isolation from the talent themselves. That is not the case at the higher levels of talent-dom. Agents and high-profile presenters may have more say than some people think.

Absolutely wrong to give Lineker the gig over John Inverdale - though I suspect Inverdale would rather be there tonight. That said though I still feel Hazel Irvine should have been given the role of main athletics presenters a few years ago when John Inverdale got the job - as much as I rate Inverdale as one of the best presenters the BBC have I've just never taken to him covering athletics.

Incredibly emotional moment at the rowing with Inverdale, Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter earlier:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/mobile/olympics/2012/stories/19124776

It seems a strange decision to change Lineker's role all of a sudden. It's not as if he's done a particularly stand out job up to now.

Not sure what the issue is.

Gary is in the studio, linking the highlights of the day in a number of events (cycling, rowing, athletics etc.) and handing between teams in each arena for live stuff. John is at the stadium with Michael and Colin, just as Clare is at the swimming with Mark, and just as John was at Eton Dorney with Sir Steve.

The weird thing about Ortis (sorry to continue going off-topic) is that he had years and years of live TV experience from the likes of Live and Kicking and CBBC. Everyone seemed to forget that, saying that he was used to The Gadget Show being on tape. There was clearly something very odd going on during that broadcast that's never really been explained. I don't think he can be held entirely at fault unless he was just having a very bad (few) days.

It's the fact Gary is going to be in the stadium, and the fact it brings up the question of how it effects Inverdale's role.