Clare Balding, BBC Win Awards For Coverage Of London Summer Olympic Games

Britain's golden summer of sport "helped the BBC run away with the plaudits at this year's Royal Television Society programme awards, including a win in the best presenter category" for CLARE BALDING, according to Josh Halliday of the London GUARDIAN. The corporation "swept the board with 18 of the 28 awards, including best live event for its coverage of the London Olympics." Balding, the face of the London Games, "took to the stage to a rare standing ovation" from a packed room of TV execs at the Grosvenor hotel in London on Tuesday night. Balding said, "I'm particularly proud as a sports presenter to be nominated alongside an artists and an arts broadcaster because I think it's easy to think of sports being just about sweaty jockstraps and balls. Sport is about so much more than that. It is art, it is history, it is science, it is finance, it is news, it is drama and above all it is entertainment." The prestigious judges' awards went to DANNY BOYLE for his fearless Olympic Opening Ceremony and Channel 4 for its Paralympics coverage. DAVE GORDON, the BBC's behind-the-scenes matermind of London 2012, "was given the lifetime achievement award" (BBC, 3/19).