PHILIP BARKER is a sports journalist who began his career with the internationally syndicated magazine programme “Trans World Sport.” He has worked as a commentator on IOC host city elections in 2005, 2009 and 2011 and the Beijing Torch Relay for Eurosport and covered the 2012 Olympic Flame for BBC News. He has also participated in Olympic-related programmes for BBC, Sky, Al Jazeera, CCTV, Monocle, Korean Broadcasting and Radio France.
He has covered every Olympic Games since 1996 and Winter Games in 2006 and 2014. He has also reported from every Youth Olympic Games so far, including the Nanjing 2014 Games, for the Olympic Broadcasting Service.
Barker is a regular contributor to the ‘Inside the Games’ website. He authored The Story of the Olympic Torch, and Lord’s Firsts, a history of the cricket ground which also staged the Olympic archery competition. He contributed a special article on the 1900 Olympic cricket match to the 2012 edition of Wisden Cricketer’s Almanack.
A torchbearer in London and historian to Team GB, he was born in sight of the 2012 Olympic Stadium.