Gary Lineker was forced to quit BBC role after worst Olympics nightmare

Gary Lineker chose to 'stick to football' after almost embarrassing himself on live television while hosting during the London 2012 Summer Olympics.

The former Match of the Day presenter had been the public face of the BBC's football output for more than 20 years, yet he seldom stepped outside the sport.

That all changed in 2012 when he agreed to anchor broadcasts of the Olympic Games. However, a tense episode in which he was required to speak with multiple medallists without a proper briefing on their identities eventually prompted Lineker to retreat.

"I did the evening show [at London 2012] and what would happen was that people would win a medal, whether silver, gold or bronze and then there'd be a good chance that they'd be in the studio," the 65-year-old said on the The Rest Is Football podcast in 2024.

"So, I'd come in very early in the morning, I'd watch every event and any time there was a medal winner, I'd do massive amounts of research on them. I'd find out what I could about their background, where they're from, what their interests are, on the off chance that they might come into the studio.

"Now, normally, there would probably be three or four interviews during the show in the evening, But I remember one day, we were starting to win so many medals, gold, silver, bronze, loads of them. We were doing so well. It was amazing."

Team GB ultimately secured 65 medals at the London Games, with 29 golds among them, placing third in the standings behind dominant forces the USA and China. "It took a while to get going," Lineker explained. "For the first three or four days, we struggled, but suddenly, it was madness, and everyone was winning."

He went on: "I remember sitting in the studio, and I was on my own. They'd keep coming back to me, and I'd have a guest with me. This one night, I had nine separate lots of guests. That might've been one individual, a pair, a four, and I think there was even a group of eight.

"At about the seventh guest, I was sitting there, and these four lads came in. They sit next to me, and I hear, 'We're coming to you in 30 seconds, Gary, we're coming to you.' Now, I've looked across at the floor manager, and I've gone, I've hid behind my hands and went, 'Who the f*** are they?'.

"I was about ten seconds away from interviewing them! I can't remember who they were, but they wore helmets, and it was impossible. I was going, 'Who are they?' and people were shouting in my ear: 'It's the so-and-so team,' and I managed to scramble my way. It was an amazing experience, but after that, I made the conscious decision to stick to football."

Lineker worked for the BBC for almost 30 years. His association with the network started in the mid-90s, not long after he hung up his boots. In 1999, he succeeded Des Lynam as presenter of Match of the Day, a position he would occupy for 26 years. In 2024, Lineker confirmed he would step aside as Match of the Day presenter at the end of the 2024/25 Premier League campaign.

Initially, he was due to continue with the BBC to lead their coverage of the 2026 World Cup, but the broadcaster cut ties with the former England striker in May 2025 after he shared a controversial post on social media concerning the Israel-Gaza conflict that featured antisemitic imagery.