Gabby Logan made a mistake that every journalist fears making during one of the most watched sporting events.
As one of the most esteemed broadcasters in the industry, Logan has graced the coverage of premier sporting events including the Six Nations and the Olympic Games.
GettyLogan’s error would haunt anyone[/caption]
Next season, she will step into perhaps her biggest role to date as one of three new hosts for Match of the Day, taking over from Gary Lineker.
Logan is recognised not only for her profound knowledge of various sports but also for her calm and composed presenting style.
Yet, as she learned, even the most accomplished among us can stumble from time to time.
On Chris Hoy‘s Sporting Misadventures podcast, the 51-year-old was asked about any missteps during her time on camera and revealed a particularly haunting incident from the London 2012 Olympics that stands out for all the wrong reasons.
Having worked on the BBC‘s Olympic highlights show throughout the Games, her final night— accompanied by an impressive roster of A-list athletes — turned into a nightmare.
“I had a terrible one in London in 2012 when I was doing this amazing show, the highlights of the Games,” Logan told Hoy and his co-host Matt Majendie.
“It had gone so brilliantly for 18 nights and on the final night I had this amazing guest list.
“Katherine Grainger was on and she’d won her first rowing gold after having won three silvers before, Ben Ainslie was on having just won his fifth sailing gold, Tom Daley was on having that night won a bronze, Michael Johnson was on and then next to me was David Beckham, who was kind of the unofficial cheerleader of Team GB.
“He came on and it was the final day of the Olympics, so you kind of lose track of everything that’s going on,” she explained.
“We had a bit of boxing on and we were watching this VT when I said to David: ‘It’s tragic, this boxer, his mum and sister died this year in a car accident.’
“We were going to move on and not talk about boxing at all because we had no boxing guest – but David decided to bring that news to the public.”
Indeed, live on the BBC, Logan said: “Luke Campbell, Olympic champion. Very emotional actually because the story behind Luke, he lost his mum and his baby sister six years ago and he went into a boxing club at a very young age and stuck with the sport.”
Beckham then replied: “He has been through a tough time in his life, and boxing was something that he wanted to go into and wanted to kind of prove to people how strong he is, mentally and physically.
“He’s performed at the highest level and won us another gold, and his mum and his sister will be smiling down. We are all so proud of what he has achieved.”
The blunder seemed to slip by unnoticed as the show continued. However, Logan was soon called back into the studio for a startling update.
“It’s fine, we move on, and we get to the end of the show and we had these giant medals outside. We were about to say goodbye for the final time when the producer told me to go back into the studio,” Logan added.
“I honestly thought they’d got a cake or something for us as it was the final day of the Olympics, so I was thinking, ‘Oh, champagne, brilliant!’. We go back into the studio and the Olympic flame is still going and we’re still on the air – and they said in my ear, ‘Luke Campbell’s mum and sister didn’t die in a car accident.’
“So I’m sitting on the sofa, out of vision, thinking, ‘Oh my god.’ Then somebody starts shouting ‘It’s Anthony Ogogo, no it’s Anthony Joshua’ and they’re shouting all the British boxers’ names in the gallery, from the head of sport to the head of Olympic sport.
“I decided the best way to finish was to say, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, some incorrect information made it to air tonight and Luke Campbell’s mother and sister are alive and well, goodnight.’”
After going off-air, Logan took to social media to express her regret, while also reaching out directly to Campbell’s mother to apologize.
Amid light-hearted jabs from former boxing stars like Amir Khan and Audley Harrison, she admitted to a sleepless night that followed the show, consumed by worry that she might have ruined her hard work over the summer in a single moment.
“David Beckham was walking down the corridor, saying, ‘Did anybody die, who died?’,” she laughed.
“I ended up calling Luke Campbell’s mum the next morning to apologise. She was just so brilliant about it all.
“It was my fault, I told David. But that took me a while to get over. That night I couldn’t sleep. I had just ruined 18 days of the Olympics, and you blow it up in your head, don’t you? Amir Khan even tweeted, just minutes later, ‘Gabby Logan just killed off the Campbell family LOL.’”
As for how the mistake was made, it later came to light that Logan had mistakenly confused Campbell with another Team GB boxer, the talented Welshman Fred Evans, who tragically lost his mother, Tracy, and sister, Scarlett, in a heartbreaking car accident back in 2006.
“I think this is what happens after 18 days of the Olympics,” said the presenter as she explained what had happened.
“We had this amazing office with banks and banks of monitors, and we were live-streaming all sports at once; there was so much sport going on.
“I was typing up and looking at my screen, and I was watching Luke Campbell. But one of the stats guys was sitting behind watching a different monitor and saying, ‘Oh my god, this guy’s amazing – his mum and sister died in a car accident.’ But he was watching someone completely different.”
Thankfully for Logan her career is as strong as ever as she prepares for her Match of the Day presenting duties, a role she’ll share alongside Kelly Cates and Mark Chapman.
Campbell turned pro a year after claiming gold, winning 20 of his 24 pro fights. He was knocked out by Vasiliy Lomachenko in a lightweight title fight.
Since retiring in 2021, Campbell has turned to politics where he’s currently standing to be the mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire for Reform UK.
