Bruce McAvaney prepares for another game changer at the Tokyo Olympics

Channel 7 sport commentating legend Bruce McAvaney is calling his 11th Olympic Games.

Bruce McAvaney.

The clash between Ariarne Titmus and Katie Ledecky had been billed as one of the clashes of the Games — so it was fitting, as the nation prepared to watch the 400m freestyle Olympic qualifying heats on Sunday night that would set up the now legendary final, Channel 7 Tokyo studio host Hamish McLachlan introduced veteran commentator Bruce McAvaney as “like a kid in a candy store”.

Indeed, McAvaney, who then confessed to sleeping very little since the Olympics started, was delighted at the impending showdown.

McAvaney knows better than anyone that every Games throws up its own tales of the unexpected. Fortunately, the Ledecky-Titmus contest ended as it should, with the Australian outduelling the American. But what of the wider story of the Games itself?

Speaking on the eve of his 11th Games, McAvaney, contemplating the spectre of Covid, confirmed this would truly be a Games like no other.

“One of the things I’ve always noticed is there’s a great deal of conjecture … prior to the Olympics and generally, all of those fade away once the Games start,” McAvaney tells The Australian. “But this will be a different one, because Covid isn’t going to fade away.

“There aren’t going to be crowds and the athletes themselves are not going to be able to watch their teammates like they did in the past.”

For broadcasters and athletes the energy surge and roar of packed stadiums as records tumble and great battles reach their climax will be replaced by canned crowd noise. Sound effects notwithstanding, McAvaney says the feeling that comes with calling could never be faked. “It doesn’t take away the core of what you’re doing,” he stresses. “It’s not going to make much difference to me, if any at all, in terms of my excitement and my passion.”

After four and a half decades of broadcasting, 2020 was a challenge for McAvaney. He and his wife, Annie, were working in Sydney when the Covid pandemic cast an ominous shadow across sport in Australia. Having beaten cancer and making the decision to step away from AFL commentary earlier this year, the Olympics remained his enduring passion, a seed sown 37 years ago when he witnessed the great US sprinter and long jumper Carl Lewis at his first Games in 1984.

Bruce McAvaney. Picture: The Australian

This enthusiasm earned McAvaney the title of Mr Olympics, throughout decades calling events that are now part of national folklore, such as Cathy Freeman’s 400m gold at the Sydney 2000 Olympics or Debbie Flintoff-King’s triumph in the women’s 400m hurdles event back at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Now approaching 70, has he found it hard to sustain the energy? “I certainly haven’t lost that curiosity, or the passion, or the emotion,” he says. “We spend a fair bit of time preparing for the Olympics. The more you know about something, the more interesting it becomes. I think that’s a really big part of it for me.”

Indeed, it’s the prospect of a great contest between fierce Olympic rivals that puts McAvaney in his element. He lights up as he ponders the emerging stars, the clashes and the teams we will see, and it somehow alleviates any concern about how exciting a Games can be without crowds.

McAvaney in 1989.

Australia, he remarks, has assembled a team that brings together stars from every corner of the sports universe who share the “remarkable commitment of flying the Australian flag and wearing the stunning colour” — no matter how their Olympic run goes.

“Did (surfer) Stephanie Gilmore ever think she would be on the same team as Ash Barty? That’s the wonderful thing about the Olympics, bringing together sporting champions. That to me is pretty remarkable,” the 68-year-old says.

And then there’s the competition - the new champions that emerge from nowhere, the stars that defy their years and those that stumble.

“That’s one of the joys of the Olympics and in any sporting contest. It’s what has always kept me on the edge of my seat. You don’t want to predict too much in your head. It’s about expecting the unexpected,” he says. “There aren’t going to be crowds and the athletes themselves are … not going to be able to watch their teammates like they did in the past. But I do believe that it will be just as exciting in terms of the sporting competition, as all the others I’ve been to in the past.”

For team sports, McAvaney can’t look past the Boomers. “There’s something about the Boomers and Patty Mills … I feel like this team is on a mission,” he says. “They’ve got a date with destiny and we’re going to be following every one of their matches with absolute interest.”

The competition will see the nation’s athletes go to places “no other Australian has ever gone before”. And outside of the Australian team McAvaney is quick to remind us of an Olympic truism - new stars will emerge. “Somebody is going to do something pretty remarkable, we’re going to see a new Colossus of sport,’ he says. “I know, areas will be broken here, there’ll be a country, there’ll be a breakthrough somewhere else. Expect the unexpected, and that’s certainly keeping me on my toes and absolutely absorbed.”