BBC Will Send 765 Staff To Handle Its Olympics Coverage

The BBC will send 765 staff to cover the Olympic Games, up from the staff of 493 sent to cover the 2008 Beijing Games, according to Josh Halliday of the London GUARDIAN. The broadcaster will produce 2,500 hours of live coverage, and "celebrity pundits" such as Gary Lineker will be on hand. The BBC has "aimed to position itself as the official broadcaster of the Olympics" and has lined up presenters including Lineker, Sue Barker and Clare Balding to "front its wall-to-wall coverage" of the Games. BBC Sport Head of Major Events Dave Gordon defended the staff numbers in an interview with Radio Times. Gordon: "Don't forget, NBC is flying 2,700 over from the USA. So we're pretty lean and mean. I look on it as a reminder of how passionately the audience cares what the BBC does and the way we do it. We've a hard-earned reputation for doing the Olympics well" (GUARDIAN, 7/17).