BBC Commonwealth Games presenters: A who's who guide of the hosts and expert panel

A complete guide to the Commonwealth Games presenters, experts and guests who will be bringing audiences all the action from Birmingham 2022.

The long-anticipated Commonwealth Games have now begun, and all eyes are on Birmingham as talented athletes from all over the world arrive in the city to compete for the title of Commonwealth champion. 

With 280 different events taking place, you might be wondering where you can watch the Commonwealth Games or how long are the Commonwealth Games, while those who have been keeping up with the sporting world will be wondering why England's Dina Asher-Smith isn't running. Well, there's one group of people who will be answering all your questions, and that's the BBC Commonwealth Games presenters. Here's a who's who of this year's pundits.

Who are the BBC Commonwealth Games presenters?

The Commonwealth Games coverage will be led by eight presenters, made up of several big names and some newer faces. These are: Holly Hamilton, Jason Mohammad, Clare Balding, Hazel Irvine, Gabby Logan, Ayo Akinwolere, Isa Guha and JJ Chalmers.

Holly Hamilton and Jason Mohammad will be kicking off the coverage each day, bringing the morning events to viewers, before handing over to Hazel Irvine, who will be in the main studio in Birmingham's Centenary Square for daytime coverage. Clare Balding is taking on late afternoon prime-time coverage on the main BBC channels, while Gabby Logan will be covering athletics - including the much-anticipated performance of Katarina Johnson-Thompson - from the Alexander Stadium, which will also host the opening and closing ceremonies. Ayo Akinwolere will be presenting the coverage on BBC Three. 

In addition, every night on BBC One there will be a highlights show, called Tonight at the Games, presented by Isa Guha and JJ Chalmers.

The team will also be joined by a range of guests and experts over the 11 days, including well-known sports personalities and Olympic medallists.

Holly Hamilton

Holly Hamilton, 36, is a Northern Irish journalist and seasoned BBC presenter, having appeared on BBC Breakfast, BBC Sport and Victoria Derbyshire. She is often at the forefront of sports news bulletins across BBC Breakfast and the BBC News Channel, and will be co-presenting the morning session with Jason Mohammad.

Jason Mohammad

Jason Mohammad, 48, is best known for presenting the BBC's Final Score football show. He previously worked for BBC Wales, as one of the presenters of Wales Today, Wales On Saturday, and the Scrum V Six Nations TV specials. 

In addition, he has previously presented coverage from the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, the Ryder Cup and numerous FA cup finals and is part of the regular BBC One presenting line-up for the rugby Six Nations. 

During the London 2012 Olympic Games he was trackside, interviewing some of the world's most impressive athletes.

Clare Balding

It wouldn't be a major sporting even without Clare Balding, 51, known to many as the face of BBC Sport. She has been presenting major events on TV and radio since taking on the BBC’s horse racing output in 1998, and has worked as a presenter on six Olympic Games, five Paralympic Games and five Winter Olympic Games as well as Wimbledon since 1995 and several major Royal events.

In 2013, she won the BAFTA Special Award and RTS Presenter of the Year Award for her expert coverage of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

She is an ardent campaigner for better coverage of women’s sport.

Hazel Irvine

57-year-old Hazel Irvine is a regular anchor on BBC athletics coverage, having made her name when she covered the Olympics in Seoul in 1988. 

Since then, she has hosted coverage of 15 Winter and Summer Olympics, been at the forefront of golf coverage for 25 years, snooker for 18 years and has worked on four World Cup finals, the London Marathon, Grandstand, the Boat Race, Wimbledon and Final Score.

She was one of the first female sports presenters in the country and won the RTS Regional Sports Presenter award in 1999.

Gabby Logan

Another of sports coverage's best-known faces, Gabby Logan, 49, has presented a wide variety of sporting events including rugby, athletics, and the London Marathon. 

She joined Sky Sports in 1996 where she quickly established herself as a key presenter, before joining ITV in 1998. During her time at the channel Gabby presented various fixtures including The World Cup and Champions League.

In 2004 she hosted Sport Relief for the BBC before joining the corporation in 2007, where she has presented Final Score, Inside Sport, the Invictus Games, The World Swimming Championships and Women’s Football, and was a key member of the presenting team for the London 2012 Olympic Games and the 2014 Brazil World Cup.

She is also a former gymnast and competed in the 1990 Commonwealth Games.

Ayo Akinwolere

Ayo Akinwolere, 39, is a former Blue Peter presenter between the years of 2006 and 2011, before going on to present BBC West Midland’s magazine show Inside Out. He has interviewed a number of famous sporting stars, including Usain Bolt and Lewis Hamilton, and has also appeared on Match of the Day and Football Focus. 

Previously, he fronted Channel 4's coverage of the European Rugby Champions Cup.

Isa Guha

A former England cricket star, Isa Guha, 37, played in the 2005 World Cup and was part of the squad that won the World Cup in 2009. She is also a three time Ashes winner and became the ICC Ranked No.1 bowler in 2008. 

On her debut in 2002, Isa became the first female British Asian to represent England in any sport.

She retired in 2012 and established herself as a sports broadcaster. Most recently, she presented tennis coverage during Wimbledon 2022.

JJ Chalmers

JJ Chalmers, 35, is an Invictus Games medallist and previously a Royal Marine, during which he was injured in a bomb blast in Afghanistan. He was a presenter for Channel 4 during the 2016 Paralympics in Rio, and also presented the documentary 'Dunkirk: Mission Impossible', as well as a TV show recounting how his faith and support of his family and friends helped him to overcome his injuries.

BBC Commonwealth Games: Expert panel joining presenters 

• Denise Lewis - The 49-year-old is a former Team GB track and field athlete, who specialised in the heptathlon. She won gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, has twice been crowned Commonwealth Games champion and won World Championships silver medals in 1997 and 1999.  
• Michael Johnson - 54-year-old Johnson is a retired American sprinter, who made history when he broke the Olympic world records for the 200m and 400m sprints in 1996. He also won four Olympic golds in total and eight gold medals at the World Championships.
• Jess Ennis-Hill - Ennis-Hill, 36, in a Team GB heptathlete who won gold at the London 2012 Olympics. She also won the gold medal in the World Championships in 2009 and in the European Championships in 2010. In the Rio Olympics she won silver, before retiring in 2016.
• Colin Jackson - Former hurdler and sprinter Colin Jackson, 55, previously held the world record for the 110m hurdles and was twice world champion, four times European champion and twice Commonwealth Games champion. He also won silver in the 1988 Olympics.
• Steve Cram - Cram, 61, is a retired track and field athlete who specialised in middle-distance running. He won gold at the Commonwealth Games three times and at the European Championships twice, and has been crowned world champion once in 1983. In 1984, he won silver at the Olympics for Team GB.
• Tanni Grey-Thompson - The 53-year-old wheelchair racer is known as one of Britain's greatest Paralympic athletes, having amassed a medal haul of 11 gold, four silver and one bronze across five Paralympic Games.
• Steve Backley - Backley, 53, was European Javelin Champion four times and has won gold at the Commonwealth Games three times. He has also won three Olympic medals, silver in 1996 and 2000, and bronze in 1992.
• Paula Radcliffe - Former British long-distance runner Paula Radcliffe, 48, has won the London Marathon three times. She also won gold in the marathon at the World Championships in 2005, in the 5000m at the Commonwealth Games in 2002, and has won gold at the World Half Marathon Championships three times.
• Sir Chris Hoy  - Hoy, 46, is a former track cyclist who has won six Olympic gold medals, making him Britain's most decorated Olympian. His first Olympic gold was in Athens in 2004 in the 1,000m time trial. At the London 2012 Olympics, he won his most recent two Olympic golds, in the keirin and the team sprint.
• Rebecca Adlington  - Former swimmer Rebecca Adlington, 33, was a double Olympic gold medallist in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, for the 800m freestyle and the 400m freestyle. In 2010, she won gold for the same events in the Commonwealth Games, and has been crowned world champion twice.
• Ellie Simmonds - Ellie Simmonds was the second youngest Paralympian in British history to win a medal when she competed at the 2008 Paralympics at 13 years old. Now 27, she has 26 international gold medals to her name, five of which she won at Paralympic Games.
• Mark Foster - 52-year-old Foster is a former Team GB swimmer and has held eight world records, 51 international medals and has competed at five Olympic Games. He is also six-time World Champion and 11-time European Champion.
• Ama Agbeze  - 39-year-old Agbeze is a former international netball player for England. In 2006, Ama competed for Team England at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games where she won a bronze medal. In 2018, she captained Team England's netballers to their historic Commonwealth gold medal. She is local to this year's host city, Birmingham, having been born in Selly Oak.
• Max Whitlock - Max Whitlock, 29, is a six-time Olympic medallist, having won two golds in the men's gymnastics in Rio in 2016, and most recently a gold medal on the pommel horse in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. He has also won three World Championship titles, four European Championship titles and has won four Commonwealth Games golds.
• Beth Tweddle - Retired gymnast Tweddle, 37, is a triple World Champion, a six-time European Champion, a Commonwealth Champion and seven-times consecutive National Champion. She has competed in three Olympic Games and won bronze at London 2012 in the uneven bars.
• Matt Baker - Perhaps best-known for his time on Blue Peter, Matt Baker, 44, is a seasoned BBC presenter, having also appeared on Countryfile and The One Show. As part of the celebration for London's winning bid to host the 2012 Olympics, Baker co-hosted the London 2012 party with Claudia Winkleman, and has commentated on gymnastics at the previous four Olympic Games.
• Craig Heap - 49-year-old Heap is a retired Team GB gymnast who made history at the 1998 Commonwealth Games by captaining the English men’s team to their first ever Commonwealth Games Gold medal, and again four years later at the Manchester 2002 games.
• Christine Still - Still is a long-time BBC commentator and gymnastic coach. She was honoured at the British Gymnastics National Awards in 2019 for her outstanding contribution to the sport and has also received the Frank Edmonds trophy for her commitment to gymnastics.

BBC Commonwealth Games coverage - what channels is it on? 

Over 200 hours of live coverage with be broadcast on BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Three, with additional coverage on the red button and up to 11 live streams on the BBC Sport website and BBC iPlayer.

Coverage will typically begin at around 9am each day and continue until night time.

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