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Louise Thomas
Editor
Gabby Logan has reacted to a quirk in French labour laws which will limit her presenting at the Olympics.
The veteran BBC host is unable to present both the morning and evening programmes for the world tournament, as she usually does, due to France’s working time directive which requires employees to have an 11-hour break in between shifts.
The rules will also apply to Logan’s fellow lead presenter, Clare Balding.
“It’s quite a change for all of us because we are used to these really early sessions in the morning,” Logan told The Telegraph. “We are all working to those rules within the BBC.”
At the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, the presenters began their shifts at 7.30am and worked through the day until 11pm at night. But their shifts in Paris will be very different.
Commenting on the French work culture, Logan added: “We know the French work to live.”
The changes mean that the BBC Sport presenter will host the evening athletics events from a studio inside the Stade de France. She will be joined by pundits including former Olympic gold-medalists Jessica Ennis-Hill and Michael Johnson, and sports commentator Denise Lewis.
Balding will host the evening swimming finals with former Olympic sprinter Jeanette Kwakye presenting the morning coverage, from the La Defence Arena.
JJ Chalmers and Hazel Irvine will also take over morning presenting alongside Kwakye.
However, Logan said the team had adapted to the changes, “It just means we split the day up slightly differently.”
She added, “It means I will be able to keep my eye across more sports during the day which is exciting.”
The French legislation won’t just apply to anchors, but all staff working across the games which are set to start in Paris next Friday (26 July), before finishing on 11 August.
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“Because of the French working directive, we are not allowed to do the morning session and the evening session,” Logan explained.
“They are really strict about it apparently. It’s not just a kind of box-ticking exercise. It’s quite a change for all of us because we are used to these really early sessions in the morning.”
The Games will start with an opening ceremony through the centre of France‘s capital city along the River Seine - the first opening ceremony in the history of the Summer Games to not take place in a stadium.
