BBC apologises after losing track of Tokyo 2020 Olympic gymnastics coverage as viewers label it ‘below par’

BBC apologised after losing track of gymnastics coverage (Picture: Getty/BBC)

The BBC has been forced to issue an apology after the live feed of the gymnastics cut out during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics coverage on Monday.

Former Team GB gymnast Craig Heap and former The One Show host Matt Baker were commentating on the men’s gymnastics team final, with the broadcast coming live from the Ariake Centre in Tokyo. 

The BBC is striving to air as much as it can from the Olympic Games while its punditry team stays in the UK due to travel restrictions imposed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Unfortunately, Craig and Matt were hit with a slew of technical difficulties that saw the feed repeatedly cut out.

While Russia’s David Belyavskiy got off to a strong start with his routine, as the gymnast travelled down the horse Craig and Matt’s live feed was cut.

The commentators were left flustered as Matt apologised for the technical issues.

One commentator was Former Team GB gymnast Craig Heap (Picture: Getty)

‘We’ve lost our pictures, we have lost our pictures. Sorry everyone, we’re back on, we’re back on. And thankfully David Belyavskiy is still on the pommel horse,’ he said.

Craig replied: ‘Thankful for that, up into the handstand – we don’t know what happened in the middle of the routine but I presume it must’ve been good!’

The stream cut again as the commentators sought to gather their compsure in order to cover the following athlete, and Matt was forced to apologise again.

‘It’s gone again, it’s gone again! Sorry everybody, I do apologise for this,’ he said.

‘We will get our technical team. We’re not in control of the pictures that are coming back from Tokyo.

‘So we’re um…. well, it looked good!’

Matt Baker used to co-host The One Show with Alex Jones (Picture: BBC)

Viewers were also left less than impressed by the minimal video footage of Team GB’s gymnastic team.

Before any members of Team GB took to stage, Matt issued a brief statement to pre-empt any complaints.

‘Great Britain, obviously our eyes are going to be on them,’ he said.

‘We’ll keep you posted with their scores if we don’t see them, as we’re not in control of the feed here. I’ll keep you posted as they go round here.’

Many viewers took issue with the feed cutting out, as well as the limited air time Team GB received and took to Twitter to share their thoughts.

‘BBC coverage and commentary on the Olympics has been below par. Sort it out!’ one person wrote on Twitter.

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‘BBC Olympics coverage has been shockingly bad this year,’ said another.

Another viewer tweeted: ‘Just talking and showing some clips. That’s no fun. Had to switch to Eurosport’s to be able to see GB Team Live doing the gymnastics.’

Metro.co.uk has reached out to BBC for further comment.

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