It's been a tremendous summer of sport already, but now it's almost time for the biggest event of all to get underway: Olympics 2020.

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The games, which are taking place in Tokyo, were meant to take place last year but were delayed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic – and all the action will be available to watch on the BBC.

As ever, the broadcaster has been able to rely on a strong list of accomplished presenters to lead its coverage, while some big names from Olympics past will also be offering their invaluable insight into a wide variety of sports and disciplines, with gold medal winners including Chris Hoy, Jessica Ennis-Hill and Victoria Pendleton among those to have their say.

Read on for the main presenting and punditry line-up for the BBC, which also includes the likes of Gabby Logan, Clare Balding and Alex Scott.

Presenters

Gabby Logan

Former gymnast Logan is a well-known face in sports broadcasting, often appearing as a stand-in presenter for Match of the Day, as well as leading coverage on the BBC for the World Athletics Championships. She was recently part of the BBC's presenting team for Euro 2020.

Clare Balding

Another familiar face, Balding has presented a huge variety of sports on the BBC, including six previous Olympic Games. She has also previously led the BBC's rugby league coverage, provided extensive coverage of horse racing, serves as one of the presenters of BBC Sports Personality of the Year and frequently appears during the BBC's coverage of Wimbledon.

Hazel Irvine

Irvine first covered the Olympics for ITV all the way back in 1988 and has presented for the BBC at every games since. Throughout her career she has also presented on a wide variety of sports, including a stint at Football Focus, a period as the lead presenter of Ski Sunday and frequently presenting coverage of the Triple Crown snooker tournaments.

Dan Walker

BBC Breakfast presenter Walker was the host of Football Focus from 2009 until he stepped down earlier this year and has also presented Sportsday on the BBC News Channel, in addition to regularly reporting for Final Score and Match of the Day. He is the current host of The NFL Show and was previously part of the BBC's team for the 2016 Olympics.

Jason Mohammad

Mohammed is the host of Final Score and has extensively covered football for the BBC, in addition to having hosted some of the BBC's live coverage of the Six Nations.

Alex Scott

Former footballer Scott made 140 appearances for the England national team and has since made a successful move into punditry. Scott was part of the BBC's team of experts at Euro 2020 will also be the new face of Football Focus next season, having replaced Dan Walker.

JJ Chalmers

Chalmers is an Invictus Games medallist having captained the trike team to a gold medal in 2014, and has since embarked on a media career, including presenting National Paralympic Day for Channel 4 and covering a wide range of events for the BBC including the Great Manchester Run, the London Marathon, the 2018 Winter Paralympics, the 2018 Commonwealth Games, the 2018 Invictus Games and the 2019 UCI Road World Championships.

Sam Quek

Quek is a former Olympic Gold Medalist, having been part of the successful Team GB hockey squad at the 2016 Olympics and has lots of experience of sports presenting, having previously featured on the BBC's American Football coverage ,as well as covering rugby for Channel 5, hockey for BT Sport, and football for Channel 4.

Jeanette Kwakye

Kwakye is a former sprinter who represented Team GB at the 2008 Olympics, making the 100m final and finishing in sixth place. Her broadcasting career has seen her cover The Youth Olympic Games, World Swimming Championships 2019, World Athletics Championships 2019 and The Women’s Football Show while she now serves as the BBC's athletics trackside reporter and Channel 5’s lead presenter for their boxing coverage.

Nihal Arthanayake

Arthanayake is a radio and TV presenter who normally broadcasts on BBC Radio 5 Live, usually covering music, arts and culture.

Pundits

Michael Johnson

American sprinter Johnson is a four-time Olympic gold medalist, and previously held the world and Olympic records in the 200m and 400m, as well as the world record in the indoor 400m. He competed at the Olympics in 1996 and 2000 and has previously worked for the BBC during the last three games.

Chris Hoy

One of the UK's most decorated Olympians of all time, Scotsman Hoy won six gold medals and a silver at the games across various indoor cycling disciplines, meaning he has more total medals than any Brit except fellow cyclist Sir Bradley Wiggins. He retired in 2013 and embarked on a career in motorsport.

Jessica Ennis-Hill

One of the heroes of Super Saturday during the 2012 Olympics in London, Ennis-Hill won a gold medal in the heptathlon event and is a former British record holder in the 100 metres hurdles, the high jump and the indoor pentathlon. She also won the silver medal at the 2016 Olympics before retiring later that year.

Katherine Grainger

The current chair of UK Sport, former rower Grainger is Great Britain's joint most decorated female Olympian, with five medals to her name, including a gold medal in the double sculls event during London 2012, which saw her and partner Anna Watkins break the Olympic record in their heat.

Nicola Adams

Boxer Adams was the first female boxer to become an Olympic champion after winning gold at London 2012, before winning another gold medal in Rio 2016. During her career she also won the Commonwealth and European Games' titles, and the World, European and European Union championships.

Rebecca Adlington

Adlington rose to fame during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing when she won two swimming gold medals at the age of just 19, breaking the 800-metre freestyle world record in the process. Four years later, she won bronze medals in both the women's 400-metre and 800-metre freestyle. She retired in 2013 and was part of the BBC's coverage of the 2016 Olympics.

Mark Foster

Retried swimmer Foster represented Team GB at the 2008 Olympics, although he failed to qualify for the semi-finals. His impressive career saw him win six World Championship titles, two Commonwealth titles and eleven European titles, as well as breaking the World Short Course freestyle record on four occasions.

Victoria Pendleton

Former track cyclist Pendleton competed at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, winning two gold medals and a silver, while her career also saw her win nine world titles, including a record six in the individual sprint. After retiring from cycling she moved into horse racing, finishing fifth in the 2016 Foxhunter Chase.

Colin Jackson

Jackson is a former sprinter and hurdler, who won the Olympic silver medal in the 110m hurdles at the 1988 games and was world champion twice during his career. He has helped the BBC cover the Olympics at every games since Athens 2004.

Paula Radcliffe

Long-distance runner Radcliffe won three London marathons during her impressive career, in addition to representing Great Britain at the Olympics on four separate occasions, although sadly she never won a medal.

Beth Tweddle

Tweddle represented Great Britain in gymnastics at three Olympic Games, winning the bronze medal on uneven bars during London 2012. Her career also saw her become the 2006 and 2010 World Champion on the uneven bars and the 2009 World Champion on floor exercise.

Chris Mears

Mears became the joint first British diver to win a gold medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, winning the synchronised 3m springboard event with Jack Laugher as well as winning gold in the same category at both the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Molly Thompson-Smith

Climber Thompson-Smith had hoped to represent Team GB at these Olympics but narrowly missed out on qualifying for the games.

Lutalo Muhammad

Taekwondo star Muhammad won a silver medal at the 2016 Olympics, following up on the bronze he had won at the London Olympics in 2012. He also has a gold medal to his name at the 2012 European Taekwondo Championships and boasts the record of being the most successful male in British taekwondo history.

Read more: How to watch Olympics 2020 Opening Ceremony

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Authors

Patrick Cremona, RadioTimes.com's senior film writer looking at the camera and smiling
Patrick CremonaSenior Film Writer

Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.

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