The Olympics is back taking over Paris this year and all spectators will be entertained as our screens are graced by amazing athletic feats for the next two weeks. Taking us through all the excitement will be the familiar face of BBC presenter Clare Balding, launching with coverage of the Opening Ceremony on Friday (July 26) on BBC One from 5.45pm.
Clare, 53, has been the face of many different sports coverage over the years including the Olympic Games, Winter Olympics, Commonwealth Games, the Paralympics, Wimbledon, Rugby League and the Sports Personality Of The Year Awards. Starting her broadcasting career as a trainee with BBC National Radio in 1994, Clare worked her way up to the position she is in now as one of the main female sports anchors on TV.
Away from the TV, Clare is married to an ex-BBC newsreader and eagle-eyed viewers may have noticed she is not always seen with her wedding ring when on TV.
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Clare’s career went from radio to TV relatively soon as she became the BBC’s lead horse racing presenter in 1997. Clare had grown up around horses as the daughter of Ian Balding, a now retired horse trainer, whilst many of her family are trainers too.
Two years later, in 1999, is when Clare met her future wife Alice Arnold. They met when both worked at BBC with the women becoming friends before becoming romantically involved. They were in a civil partnership from 2006 before they were married in 2015 in a private ceremony.
Whilst presenting back at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in Brazil in 2016, Clare was spotted without her wedding ring while presenting. Fans were left confused about the status of the TV star’s relationship.
The answer was simple though as her wife Alice wrote on her Twitter account: “I’m amazed how many have noticed Clare Balding is not wearing her wedding ring.. Don’t worry. It’s safely at home with me.W
Yep, Clare was simply advised not to travel with her ring abroad in case it got lost. Her and Alice both felt that it was “unwise” to wear “irreplaceable” jewellery to the event so left it safely at home.
Alice is now a Radio presenter on Mellow Magic and the pair live in London with their two cats. Clare is also a bestselling author writing an autobiography entitled My Animals and Other Family. It reached Number One in The Sunday Times Bestseller list and has been translated into Italian, Mandarin and Hungarian. Her most recent writing was called Heroic Animals and she has also released four children’s books.
The Paris Olympics run from Friday, July 26 to Sunday, August 11. You can watch coverage on the BBC or on Discovery+.
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