Sports commentator Bob Ballard was removed from Eurosport’s Paris Olympics line-up after making a sexist joke about female athletes.
The sports broadcaster dropped Ballard after he said that Australian female swimmers who competed in the 4×100m freestyle relay were “hanging around, doing their makeup,” BBC News and The Guardian reported.
Team Australia’s Mollie O’Callaghan, Shayna Jack, Emma McKeon, and Meg Harris were celebrating their gold medal on Saturday when Ballard made the comment.
“Well, the women just finishing up. You know what women are like … hanging around, doing their makeup,” Ballard said in a clip that has been shared online.
“Outrageous, Bob,” fellow commentator Lizzie Simmonds responded.
“Some of the men are doing that as well,” she added, to which Ballard laughed.
In a statement to The Guardian, a Eurosport spokesperson said Ballard’s comment was “inappropriate,” adding that he had “been removed from our commentary roster with immediate effect.”
At the time of writing on Monday, Ballard has not publicly commented.
He also faced criticism from Future Women, an Australian organization that champions gender equity.
“Most of our Olympic posts will be positive, as they should be. But we must call out the bad, too. Things like this remark about Australia’s relay team who had JUST WON GOLD,” a spokesperson for the organization wrote on X.
Ballard’s broadcasting career spans four decades, the Daily Mail reported. He has experience commented on swimming, diving, and water polo, the outlet said.
His comments jar with the Paris Olympics’ branding as the “#GenderEqualOlympics.” In an online press release, this year’s organizers said this year marks “the first Olympic Games in history with full gender parity on the field of play.”
Ballard and Eurosport did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
