France’s strict employment laws will mean that the BBC’s Gabby Logan will be unable to present morning and evening athletics sessions during the Olympic Games.
The French working time directive states that employees must have a minimum of 11 hours between shifts and, with athletics events starting at 9am locally and the BBC’s live coverage not then finishing until late into the evening, it has been deemed impossible to meet those laws with one presenter. There is concern that broadcasters found to be visibly flouting the rules could literally be stopped from working.
“Because of the French working directive, we are not allowed to do the morning session and the evening session,” said Logan. “They are really strict about it apparently. It’s not just a kind of box-ticking exercise. It’s quite a change for all of us because we are used to these really early sessions in the morning.”
At the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, for example, Logan and the BBC would be arriving at the venue at 7.30am in preparation for the morning events and they would not clock off until 11pm that night.
The track and field mornings are used for heats and every athletics final - except for the two marathons and 20km walks - are scheduled to take place in the evening when Logan and BBC pundits that include Jessica Ennis-Hill, Michael Johnson and Denise Lewis will broadcast live from a studio inside the Stade de France.
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