BBC legend presenting at Olympics 2024 was secretly a gymnastics champion

A BBC presenter commentating the gymnastics at the 2024 Paris Olympics was once a star of the sport himself.

Matt Baker is best known for presenting Blue Peter from 1999 until 2006, BBC One’s Countryfile since 2009 and The One Show from 2011 to 2020.

The 46-year-old has also played a part in the national broadcaster’s coverage of gymnastics since the 2008 Beijing Olympics, doing so again at Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and this year’s event too.

However, for those unsure why Matt was part of the commentating team, he once explained his connection to the sport.

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‘For all those asking… here’s some clippings from my old scrap book!’ he posted on Instagram in 2021 along with a photo of newspaper clippings showing his past achievements.

One of the headlines read ‘Gymnast reaches perfection’, with the article explaining how he’d been awarded a 10 for one of his routines as a 12-year-old and was believed to be the only competitor from the region to gain that mark.

He added: ‘As a lad gymnastics was my life…it taught me the simple recipe if you work hard, you get a result. Without my sport I would never be where I am today … #gymnastics #workhard.’

Born and raised in Easington in County Durham where his father ran a newsagent’s shop, Matt began competing as a gymnast whilst at school.

However, aged 14, he was forced to give it up after being diagnosed with anaemia.

He later studied drama and was then cast in Blue Peter, a role that saw him win two Baftas for Best Children’s Presenter two years in a row and a Royal Television Society award.

He later competed on Strictly Come Dancing in 2010.

Ahead of the Olympics Matt spoke about his past experience after some questioned his expertise.

‘It makes me laugh when people ask, “Why is the guy from Countryfile commentating on gymnastics?” But yes, I love the eclectic mix of things that I do and have done,’ he told TV Times.

Matt, who started gymnastics when he was five, once told the BBC the sport was ‘kind of a natural fit’.

‘I used to bounce around all over the place. I’d be climbing trees and grappling up anything. It just clicked with me. It was something that I loved, and I didn’t have to think about whether or not I wanted to go,’ he said.

‘It wasn’t like my parents were pushing me into it. For me, to be able to express myself through movement is something that I thought, “I’ve found it, and I want to do it for the rest of my life”.’

However, he said that after his anaemia diagnosis he made the ‘really tough decision’ to stop the sport.

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