Ed Leigh
{{Short description|British sports presenter and commentator}}
Ed Leigh (born 15 July 1975) is a British sports presenter and commentator.
Broadcasting career
Ed Leigh is part of the presenting team for the BBC2 show Ski Sunday and regularly works for Red Bull TV on a host of live events from skateboarding and BMX, through to Enduro and mountain biking. He also worked with Whisper Films as the live anchor for Sail GP's first two seasons of international coverage.{{Cite web|url=https://sailgp.com/about/|title = About | What is SailGP, How does Sail Racing Work, F50 Catamaran Specs}}
Probably best known as the BBC's voice of action and adventure sports at the Olympics, Leigh has commentated on the Winter Games since 2006 and the Summer Games since 2012. At the Turin 2006 Winter Olympics, Leigh commentated on the snowboarding events.{{Cite web |title=BBC - Press Office - Winter Olympics 2006 press pack |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2006/01_january/10/olympics.shtml |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=www.bbc.co.uk}} He returned four years later to commentate on the snowboarding and freestyle skiing at the Vancouver 2010 Games.{{Cite web |title=BBC - Press Office - Network TV Programme Information BBC Week 7 Winter Olympics 2010 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/tv/2010/wk7/olympics.shtml |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=www.bbc.co.uk |language=en-GB}} At the London 2012 Summer Olympics, Leigh commentated on the beach volleyball with Matt Chilton and the BMX cycling.{{Cite news |date=2012-05-15 |title=London 2012 Olympics: BBC presenters and commentary teams |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/18070768 |access-date=2025-05-04 |work=BBC Sport |language=en-GB}} For the Sochi 2014 Olympics, Leigh returned for the snowboarding and freestyle skiing, for the first time alongside Tim Warwood.{{Cite web |title=Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games on the BBC |url=https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/latestnews/2013/winter_olympics_2014 |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en}} They returned for the same events for the Pyeongchang 2018 Games.{{Cite web |title=Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games on the BBC |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/pyeongchang/ |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=www.bbc.co.uk |language=en}} At the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Leigh commentated on the BMX, climbing, skateboarding and surfing events.{{Cite web |title=Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games on the BBC |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/pyeongchang/ |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=www.bbc.co.uk |language=en}} For Beijing 2022, Leigh was once again alongside Warwood for the snowboarding and freestyle skiing.{{Cite web |title=Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games on the BBC |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/beijing-2022-winter-olympic-games |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=www.bbc.co.uk |language=en}} For the Paris 2024 Olympics, Warwood was again on commentary duties for the BMXing, skateboarding and climbing.{{Cite web |title=Fall in love with the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on the BBC |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/olympic-games-paris-2024-on-the-bbc |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=www.bbc.co.uk |language=en}}
Leigh got his first regular work on Channel 4's RTS award-winning series Freesports On 4 covering action sports events around the world. Leigh has built up a diverse portfolio of work ranging from Ed vs. Spencer for Sky 1 to My Life As An Animal for BBC3.
Having worked as editor of Whitelines Snowboard Magazine, Leigh's TV career started presenting Trailer Park on Turners CNX channel CNX, alongside [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5027753/ Christian Stevenson].
After doing the voice over for the Extreme Sports Channel's Gumball 3000 series in 2004, he followed the Rally as a hitch hiker/presenter for 2005 and Gumball 2006: Around the world in 8 days.
In 2007, Leigh became co-presenter of the BBC's Ski Sunday series with Graham Bell after his commentary at the 2006 Winter Olympics helped bring the snowboarding to life: his memorable exclamation "Drama! Jacobellis is down!" at the comedic climax of the Women's Snowcross Final made his name.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}} Leigh has commentated on snowboarding events at the all subsequent Winter Olympics.
Leigh presented a spin off show from Ski Sunday, High Altitude, which ran for the winter of 2009 on BBC2, with Graham Bell.
During the 2021 season in Laax, Leigh dislocated his knee cap and broke his tibia.{{Cite web |last=Martin |first=Iain |date=2022-02-05 |title=169: Ed Leigh, BBC Ski Sunday presenter – The Ski Podcast |url=https://theskipodcast.com/ski-sunday/169-ed-leigh-bbc-ski-sunday-presenter/ |access-date=2023-05-30 |language=en-US}}
Leigh now works with the Natural Selection Tour, assessing which athletes would be best suited to compete based on video submissions. https://theskipodcast.com/winter-olympics/236-ed-leigh-on-ski-sunday-mia-brookes-the-natural-selection-tour/
Other appearances
In spring 2009, Leigh appeared on My Life as an Animal on BBC Three where he lived with dogs for a week.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}
Professional career
Previous to his broadcast career, Leigh's CV included professional snowboarding, journalism, event management, cleaning mega yachts and windsurf instructing. However, in 1997, after a chance meeting in London, he centred his efforts on Laughing Gear, a commentary and cabaret company set up with friend Christian Stevenson.{{Citation needed|date=February 2014}}
Leigh started his snowboarding career working in Chalford based snowboard shop, Noahs Ark. After spending five years snowboarding in the resort of Val d'Isère a knee injury forced him to take a season off and he was offered a job as teaboy at White Lines snowboarding magazine, which he had been contributing to on a freelance basis. Six months later he was editor of the magazine which opened the doors to other media opportunities.{{cite web|url=http://www.snowsphere.com/special-features/interview-ed-leigh|publisher=SnowSphere|website=snowsphere.com|title=Interview with Ed Leigh - WHITE DREAMS|date=July 2008|access-date=December 1, 2017}}