Hazel Jane Irvine (born 24 May 1965) is a Scottish

sports presenter In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present tense. There are two main types of sports broadca ...

. Principally working for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, Irvine has presented the

Summer Summer or summertime is the hottest and brightest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, daylight hours are the longest and darkness hours are the shortest, with day ...

and

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held i ...

, the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

, the Triple Crown snooker events, all major Golf events and

Ski Sunday ''Ski Sunday'' is a weekly magazine-style television show covering winter sports, broadcast on BBC Two in the United Kingdom on Sundays in a late afternoon or an early evening timeslot. It began in 1978 and is currently presented by Ed Leigh an ...

Early life

Irvine was born in

St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...

, Scotland. She has a younger brother, David William Irvine (born 1968). Educated at Hermitage Academy in

Helensburgh Helensburgh ( ; ) is a town on the north side of the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, situated at the mouth of the Gareloch. Historically in Dunbartonshire, it became part of Argyll and Bute following local government reorganisation in 1996. Histo ...

, she achieved an MA in

History of Art The history of art focuses on objects made by humans for any number of spiritual, narrative, philosophical, symbolic, conceptual, documentary, decorative, and even functional and other purposes, but with a primary emphasis on its aesthetics ...

at the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

, and competed in golf, netball and athletics at university level. In her final year she was Senior Student of Hamilton Hall.

Broadcasting career

Irvine began her broadcasting career on

Radio Clyde Radio Clyde is a group of two Independent Local Radio stations serving Glasgow and West Central Scotland. Radio Clyde is owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK, Bauer, based at studios in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire and forms part of Baue ...

in 1986, before moving to work for

Scottish Television Scottish Television (now legally known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchisee for Central Belt, Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation si ...

in 1988 as a

continuity announcer In broadcasting, continuity or presentation (or station break in the U.S. and Canada) is announcements, messages and graphics played by the broadcaster between specific programmes. It typically includes programme schedules, announcement of the ...

and latterly, as a sports reporter/presenter. This led to slots on the national

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

network co-presenting coverage of the

1988 Olympics 1988 Olympics refers to both: *The 1988 Winter Olympics, which were held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada *The 1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 () ...

alongside

Dickie Davies Richard John Davies (30 April 1928 – 19 February 2023) was a British television sports presenter who anchored '' World of Sport'' from 1968 until 1985. Early life Davies attended Oldershaw Grammar School in Wallasey after passing his el ...

, and presenting reports from the Scotland football team's training camp at the

1990 World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

. Irvine joined the

in 1990, working as presenter on

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotla ...

's ''

Sportscene ''Sportscene'' is the name of a range of Scottish sports television programmes produced by BBC Scotland. History ''Sportscenes predecessors were ''Sports Special from Scotland'' and ''Sportsreel'', which was broadcast every Saturday at around ...

'' programme and becoming the youngest-ever presenter of the BBC's flagship sports programme ''

Grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators, typically at sports stadiums and including both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium i ...

'' on 19 June 1993. She also anchored

's coverage of

Children in Need ''BBC Children in Need'' is the BBC's UK Charitable organization, charity dedicated to supporting disadvantaged children and young people across the country. Established in 1980, the organisation has raised over £1 billion by 2023 through its ...

for ten years. In 1994, Irvine co-hosted the BBC's ''

Hogmanay Live ''Hogmanay'' (formerly ''Hogmanay Live'') is a New Year's Eve television special broadcast by BBC One Scotland, covering Scotland's Hogmanay festivities for New Year's Eve. The programme in all its iterations feature a mixture of Scottish conte ...

'', and in 1995 she introduced coverage of the

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

and began reporting for ''

Football Focus ''Football Focus'' is a BBC television magazine programme launched in 1974, broadcast live on BBC One on Saturday lunchtimes during the football season. The programme, along with '' Final Score'', is a remnant from the former flagship sports show ...

''. Irvine has presented for the BBC at every

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

since Barcelona 1992, as well as five

and four

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

tournaments. In December 1996, she became the lead presenter of ''

'', initially with Julian Tutt, but then alone from 1997. She is also a regular presenter of the Triple Crown snooker tournaments (the

World Snooker Championship The World Snooker Championship, or simply known as the World Championship, is the longest-running and most prestigious tournament in professional snooker. It is also the richest event to date with a total prize money of £2,395,000, including ...

, the Masters and the

UK Championship The UK Championship is a professional ranking snooker tournament. It is one of snooker's prestigious Triple Crown events, along with the World Championship and the Masters. It is usually held at the Barbican in York, England. Ronnie O'Sull ...

) and since 2002 has lead the BBC's coverage. She has also regularly presented the sports news on major BBC evening news bulletins, as well as reporting on events such as

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

and the

London Marathon The London Marathon (also known as the TCS London Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon held in London, England. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held in April, although it moved to Oct ...

. At the

Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

, Irvine fronted overnight action for the BBC. For the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympics, Irvine was a lead presenter for the BBC's coverage. At the Athens 2004 Games, Irvine hosted ''Olympics Grandstand'' with

Steve Cram Stephen Cram, (born 14 October 1960) is a British retired track and field athlete. Along with fellow Britons Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett, he was one of the world's dominant middle-distance runners during the 1980s. Nicknamed "The Jarrow Arro ...

, the BBC's morning coverage of the games. In

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

in 2006, she was one of three lead presenters of coverage alongside

Sue Barker Susan Barker (born 19 April 1956) is a British former television presenter and professional tennis player. During her playing career, Barker won 15 WTA Tour-level singles titles, including a major at the 1976 French Open. She reached a career- ...

and

Clare Balding Clare Victoria Balding (born 29 January 1971) is an English broadcast journalist and author. She currently presents programmes for BBC Sport and Channel 4, and previously for BT Sport. She also formerly presented ''Good Morning Sunday'' on BBC ...

. In August 2008, Irvine presented ''Olympic Breakfast'' with

Adrian Chiles Adrian Chiles (born 21 March 1967) is a British writer and television and radio presenter. He has co-presented both '' The One Show'' (2007–2010) and '' Daybreak'' (2010–2011) with Christine Lampard. He was also the chief presenter for fo ...

as well as being one of the commentators for the opening and closing ceremonies of the

2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. She reprised these roles for the 2012 Games in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, this time presenting ''Olympic Breakfast'' with

Bill Turnbull William Robert Jolyon Turnbull (25 January 1956 – 31 August 2022) was a British television and radio presenter and journalist whose broadcasting career spanned over 4 decades. He began his career working for some radio stations including Radi ...

, as well as leading further coverage throughout the morning and afternoon. Irvine once again lead coverage of the Sochi 2014 Winter Games. At the Rio 2016 Games, Irvine once again provided commentary for the Opening and Closing ceremonies, as well as anchoring coverage of the early action of the day, broadcasting in the afternoons. In 2018, Irvine once again lead coverage from

Pyeongchang Pyeongchang ( , ; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seo ...

. For the delayed Tokyo 2020 Games, Irvine again commentated on the Ceremonies, as well as leading coverage with

Gabby Logan Gabrielle Nicole Logan (''née'' Yorath; born 24 April 1973) is a Welsh television and radio presenter, and a former rhythmic gymnast who represented Wales and Great Britain. She hosted '' Final Score'' for BBC Sport from 2009 until 2013. She h ...

of the day's later action, broadcasting through the morning and afternoon. At the Beijing 2022 Games, Irvine anchored coverage of the evening action, broadcasting through the morning. For Paris 2024, Irvine presented coverage of the afternoon action live from Paris. Irvine presented coverage of the

Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August ...

for the BBC. For the Melbourne 2006 Games, Irvine was a main presenter of the BBC's coverage once again. This was a role she returned to for the Delhi 2010 Games. For the Glasgow 2014 Games, Irvine once again lead coverage, as well as commentating on the Opening Ceremony. For the Gold Coast 2018 Games, Irvine was one of two BBC presenters anchoring coverage live from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. At the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, Irvine fronted the afternoon coverage of events. Irvine covered

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

for the BBC as a reporter and presenter for 25 years, finishing with the Masters in April 2017. Irvine also presented the

2019 Netball World Cup The 2019 Netball World Cup (also known as the 2019 Vitality Netball World Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th edition of the INF Netball World Cup. It was held from 12–21 July 2019 at the Liverpool Arena in Liverpool, England with matches ...

from

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

for the BBC. She was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

2024 New Year Honours The 2024 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Hono ...

for services to sport and charity.

Other interests

Irvine also works as a media-trainer and

after-dinner speaker Public speaking, is the practice of delivering speeches to a live audience. Throughout history, public speaking has held significant cultural, religious, and political importance, emphasizing the necessity of effective rhetorical skills. It all ...

Personal life

Irvine claims to have married her long-term boyfriend at a private ceremony in Scotland in 2008. The couple live in London with their daughter, who was born in 2008.

References

External links

Olympic impressions – Hazel Irvine
BBC Press Office, 19 June 2008
Hazel Irvine profile
BBC Sport, 19 November 2008
Irvine part of record Sochi torch relay
BBC Sport, 8 October 2013 {{DEFAULTSORT:Irvine, Hazel 1965 births Alumni of the University of St Andrews Living people People from St Andrews Scottish television presenters Scottish women television presenters British sports broadcasters BBC sports presenters and reporters Tennis commentators Olympic Games broadcasters British golf commentators People educated at Hermitage Academy Members of the Order of the British Empire