Clare Balding
One of the BBCs main sports presenters Clare fronts all its live racing coverage including the Grand National – Royal Ascot – the Derby and lArc de Triomphe.
A presenter of both the Olympic and Paralympic Games from Beijing in 2008 and Athens in 2004 and Sydney in 2000 Clare has been part of BAFTA award winning coverage for a decade. She can turn her hand to Winter Olympics – Commonwealth Games – Rugby League – Three-day-eventing – Show-jumping – Swimming – Golf – Tennis – Bowls and Darts. In 2002 and 2004 she was one of the presenters of Sport Relief.
A regular presenter on Radio 4 she has fronted Saturday Live – Womans Hour – Pick of the Week – Broadcasting House and the walking series Ramblings.
On 5 live Clare is part of the team that presents the National Hunt Festival from Cheltenham and co-presents its Wimbledon coverage and last year became the first woman to commentate on a Wimbledon final. She also works on the golf coverage at the Open.
She has made guest appearances on numerous TV shows including Have I Got News For You – A Question Of Sport – They Think It’s All Over – Countdown – Call My Bluff – Test The Nation – University Challenge – Weakest Link and Mastermind.
In 2003 Clare started to branch out of sport presenting a new series – Housecall In The Country which is a live weekday magazine programme covering a variety of lifestyle topics.
She has also worked on The Lord Mayors Show since 2003 Trooping The Colour and in 2006 was the first voice on BBC One as she welcomed in the New Year live from the Embankment.
Clare has three times hosted BBC Twos coverage of Crufts and presented a 10-part series also on BBC Two called Race Country.
Clare was honoured with the Horse Writers and Photographers Association Racing Journalist of the Year Award in 2003 and in 2004 she won both the HWPA Sir Peter O’Sullevan Broadcaster of the Year award and the prestigious Royal Television Society Sports Presenter of the Year award.
In 2009 she was praised for perfect presentation by the judges of the Broadcast Awards who named the Grand National 2008 as their sports programme of the year.