John Hunt

John Hunt (born 1965) is a British sports commentator. Most often providing racing commentary, Hunt is also the regular commentary provider for the BBC's coverage of the Winter Olympic Games' opening ceremonies and sliding events, as well as for swimming at the Summer Olympic Games.

Career Racecourse commentary Hunt gained an interesting in horse racing through seeing how emotional the sport made his father and, after this, travelling with his father to various racecourses to spectate. He has said without his father's interest, he would have stuck to spectating West Ham instead of watching the races. When Hunt was about 21 or 22 years old, his later-wife, Carol, saw an advertisement in the Harrow Observer for trainee commentators for Ladbrokes' in-house team. Hunt spoke to his chief inspector, who said he could take the trainee job and return to the police if it didn't work out. Ladbrokes initially trained Hunt to commentate with dog racing. He then took a job at Sports Information Services in the early 1990s, where he had a full year for training on the job, which Hunt found very supportive. The first race he commentated alone after training was at Salisbury Racecourse in May 1992. One of his "first big days" at Five Live came in 2004, commentating on the Grand National at the same time coverage of the FA Cup Final and England cricket was being broadcast. It was with the radio station he became a swimming commentator. In 2013, he commentated from the 2013 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona. Great Britain did not win many medals at the event, and Hunt feared he would lose the job over lack of interest, before swimmer Adam Peaty started competing in 2014 and raised the success and profile. Having already commentated the equestrian at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Hunt was sent to the Commonwealth and Summer Olympic Games as a BBC swimming commentator after this.

He described joining the BBC coverage of the Winter Olympic Games as "a bolt from the blue"; they asked commentators if they would be happy to travel in person to Pyeongchang for the 2018 Winter Olympics, with only a small team sent out there. Hunt said that new experiences were getting harder to come by as he got older, so he asked to commentate on the bobsleigh and skeleton, which went well, although he nearly missed being able to commentate on the luge when Latvian diplomats joined the Latvian commentary team in the boxes and their security tried preventing other people from entering. and closing ceremonies. His commentary for the opening ceremony was described in The Telegraph as being "as solid-but-bland as his name", filling some airtime with scripted facts but making "the odd amusing quip". and by John Jackson commentating on the sliding events.

Hunt pulled out from commentating at the 2024 Summer Olympics in July and August 2024. At the 2026 Winter Olympics, Hunt and Hazel Irvine provided commentary for the opening ceremony, with Hunt's appearance praised. He commentated the sliding events again, and the closing ceremony, which he "conveyed with his customary authority and poise" despite being upset by a melancholy part of a remembrance tribute to the point of crying in the dress rehearsal. He acknowledged this was not a bad thing, knowing that the moment would resonate with people experiencing grief.

Early and personal life Before becoming a commentator, Hunt worked in a newsagents', trained as a nurse – which he "absolutely loved" but left in order to move back to the London area – and then became a police officer in Kilburn.