Bruce McAvaney snapped up by rival network to commentate Paris Olympics

Aussie commentary legend Bruce McAvaney will be calling the Paris Olympics after a rival network snapped up his services.

Bruce McAvaney will call the Olympics for ABC Radio.

Australian sport fans rejoice, Bruce McAvaney will be commentating on the Paris Olympics.

One of the country’s most legendary sports broadcasters, McAvaney has commentated on every Summer Olympic Games from Moscow 1980 to Tokyo 2020.

But it was thought McAvaney’s Olympic career was over when Channel 9 secured the broadcast rights for the Olympic and Paralympic Games for Paris 2024, Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032.

McAvaney is most famous for calling Cathy Freeman’s gold medal run in the 400m in Sydney 2000.

A stalwart of Channel 7’s sport coverage, McAvaney stopped commentating on the Australian Open in 2016, finished up hosting the Brownlow Medal in 2018 and stepped away from AFL commentary in 2021.

Now the 71-year-old has been called out of Olympic retirement, snapped up by the ABC for the public broadcaster’s radio coverage — extending his Olympic broadcasting career to 40 years.

Bruce McAvaney will be commentating the Paris Olympics. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

“I’ve always thought the Olympics is the ultimate event for an Australian sports broadcaster and to be given this opportunity by the ABC means a great deal to me,’’ McAvaney said.

“These games will be as exciting as any. We have a 75-strong athletics team — our biggest we’ve ever sent overseas — and I’m very optimistic they’re ready to achieve great things.”

McAvaney and the ABC team will call the action from studios in Sydney, striking a deal with Nine to broadcast to metro areas of Adelaide, Hobart, Canberra, Darwin and the Gold Coast, as well as regional markets around Australia.

Bruce’s dulcet tones have called every Olympics since 1980. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)

ABC Radio’s team for the Olympics also features broadcasters Quentin Hull, Corbin Middlemas, Clint Wheeldon, Ben Cameron, Ned Hall, Declan Byrne, Lauren Bordin and Robin Chipperfield.

The ABC’s experts include Melinda Gainsford-Taylor (athletics) Sarah Ryan (swimming), Simon Orchard (hockey), and Brad McGee (cycling), John Alexander (tennis) and Amy Harrison (football).

While listeners in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth won’t get to hear McAvaney’s dulcet tones, the ABC has announced popular duo Roy & HG will be doing an hour-long show each day at 11am called Roy & HG: People, Medals and Cheese.

The ABC’s Adelaide breakfast show, hosted by Jules Schiller and Sonya Feldhoff, will broadcast from Paris for the duration of the Games.

McAvaney is a legend of Australian Olympic commentary. Photo: Channel 7.

Bruce McAvaney at the Beijing Olympics.

When Nine last had the rights for the Olympics in London 2012, McAvaney commentated the swimming events for the world feed.

SEN and Fox Footy have allowed Gerard Whateley to call the athletics for Channel 9 in Paris, while Mat Thompson will call the swimming at the Olympics.

In recognition of his glittering career, McAvaney was inducted into the TV Logies Hall of Fame in 2022 and the Australian football Hall of Fame last year.

The Aussie broadcasting icon revealed in 2017 he was battling leukaemia, which prompted him to slowly ease his workload while continuing to call athletics and horse racing for Seven.

Channel 9 will be the only place to watch the Paris Olympics in Australia, along with its streaming partners 9Now and StanSport.

Stan Sports’ Olympic experts include Grant Hackett, Steph Rice, Nova Peris, Ash Barty and Shane Heal.

Middle distance runner Jessica Hull looms as Australia’s best medal chance on the track after smashing her own national 1500m record.

Javelin thrower Mackenzie Little, pole vaulter Nina Kennedy and high jumpers Eleanor Patterson Nicola Olyslagers are also medal chances in field events.