John Goodbody covered the London Olympics for the Sunday Times—his twelfth successive Summer Games. He was sports news correspondent for the London Times for nearly twenty-two years, winning journalistic awards in every decade with the paper, most recently being voted Sports Reporter of the Year in 2001 and getting the prize in 2002 for the Sports Story of the Year. He covered his first Olympics in
1968, alongside Barry Davies, and has subsequently written several books on the event, including The Olympic Movement
for the International Olympic Committee. Since November 2010, he has been editor of The Olympian, the newsletter for former British competitors at the games. As a competitor, he broke British junior weightlifting records, was a member of the national judo squad in 1970, was Cambridge University’s number one shot-putter, and in 1991,
aged forty-eight, he became the oldest Briton for eighteen years to swim the
English Channel.
Barry Davies
began broadcasting with British Forces Broadcasting Services as a National
Services officer in the Royal Army Service Corps. On leaving the army he worked for BBC radio (where he met his future wife, Penny) and then at the London Timesbefore being chosen by ITV for the 1966 World Cup held in, and won by, England. His first football commentary was Chelsea against AC
Milan in February 1966. He covered his first Olympic Games with ITV in Mexico
City in 1968 and joined BBC TV a year later. He has covered ten World Cups, ten
Olympic Summer Games, seven Olympic Winter Games, and seven Commonwealth Games.
He has commentated on many sports and events over the last forty years: from football to Olympic opening ceremonies; hockey to rowing; figure skating and ice hockey to gymnastics; Wimbledon to the Boat Race; the Lord Mayor’s Show and the last Royal Tournament. He lives happily in Datchet in Berkshire with Penny.
Barry was awarded the MBE in 2005.
