The Welsh TV presenter has stepped away from the programme while he starts a new role
The Welsh TV presenter has stepped away from the programme while he starts a new role
Gethin Jones has been supported by Morning Live bosses as he has started a new role away from the BBC programme. The Welsh TV presenter usually co-hosts the weekday show alongside Helen Skelton, but has been absent from screens over the last week. Gethin has been in Glasgow for his new role.
The 48-year-old has taken on the role of Team Wales’ chef de mission for this summer’s Commonwealth Games. This meant that Helen Skelton fronted Morning Live alongside Rav Wilding earlier this week, with Holly Hamilton, Gordon Smart and former Olympian track and field star Greg Rutherford also taking up hosting duties, reports Wales Online.
Gethin was appointed to the role last year which will see him act as the figurehead for the Welsh team at the Games, leading and motivating athletes and support staff, while also representing Wales at official functions and acting as a spokesperson for the team.
He travelled to Scotland at the start of the week alongside his fellow chef de missions from all 74 nations and territories of the Commonwealth for a week of seminars, presentations and workshops.
He told Wales Online it had been “absolutely fascinating” and his Morning Live bosses were “incredibly supportive”.
He said: “I’m off this week and my boss is incredibly supportive of it. I think we’re off air at the end of July, so it works out unbelievably well, but after this we’ll be looking at the King’s Baton Relay and the kit launch as well, which is so exciting.
“It’s a real opportunity to see athletes after selection, which is on June 19. We’ll really know the team then and that’s when my job will really be important, how do we make sure they all come under the umbrella of Team Wales?
“I’m not on the organisational side of things, my role as chef is more ambassadorial, but it’s been great to be here to see how it all works and the intricacies.
“The detail is just phenomenal. Everything is geared towards the athletes being in the best environment to succeed when they come here in the summer and every day, every hour there’s something to consider.
“Somebody said to me the other day, ‘How do you get a pole vault to location? How does that get here, where do you keep it?’ And when you’re watching it on telly or you’re here live, you don’t think about those things. But the team behind the team make all of it happen to make sure there’s no stress at all for the athletes.”
Gethin went back to university to study for a Master’s degree in sports directorship and expand his skillset for the role, and said he was “emotional” and “really chuffed” when his hard work paid off and he was offered the job.
He also leant on his sporting friends – including Olympic cyclists Becky James and Sir Chris Hoy – during his research process and gained valuable advice to take into his new role.
He said: “I spoke to so many athletes to try to understand what it’s like for someone to wear the red of Wales in a multi-sporting global event, but it’s different to being in the Olympics.
“There’s definitely a different kind of emotion to that. I think that is what I was thinking about when I got that call, how amazing it is to be part of Team Wales for such a huge event.
“I talked a lot to Becky about it and Chris and Glasgow are synonymous. I was at his velodrome yesterday. We’ll have the cycling there and the arena will also host the gymnastics. I think he’s chuffed, he’s probably had enough of me asking questions now, but they’ll continue to come!”
Revealing the most important piece of advice he learnt from Sir Chris, Gethin said: “You’ve got to know everything, and he’s absolutely right. We had 214 athletes go to the Gold Coast and I made sure I knew something about every single one of them.
“Not because of media or anything, but just for bumping into them in the village and being able to say: ‘How is your injury?’ or ‘How’s your mum doing?’ or ‘How are you going to get on on Tuesday?'”
“It’s that little bit of information. Every athlete likes to be seen and our job as the team behind the team is that we do see the work that goes into it and we appreciate it and give them the best chance to do their best on the day.”
