July 28, 2025 (Updated )
It would be impossible to truly understand every sport. At the last count, the World Sports Encyclopedia estimated there were some 8,000 distinct games, with new entries added daily. But, as a sports journalist, just how many should you know intimately?
“It’s on the next wave of sports journalists to make an effort to share the lesser-known sports,” says Leon Taylor, Olympic diving silver medalist and BBC commentator. “It frustrates the hell out of me that diving isn’t on the TV more because so many people get into it, as we all did over the Olympic Games in Paris.”
Events like the Olympic and Paralympic games are prime examples of opportunities to attract new audiences to sports they may never have taken an interest in otherwise — and for sports journalists to test their nouse across disciplines.
But is it realistic for early-career sports journalists to carve out a specialism or build careers reporting on lesser-known sports? Or is it more valuable to be able to recite the rules and trivia of the nation’s most popular sports?
Gary Taphouse solely covers football for Sky Sports, but points to former BBC commentator Barry Davies as a pioneer for gathering the knowledge to cover many sports. “He spent days and days watching endless VHS tapes and had to put his other sports to one side; [but] he wasn’t doing Match of the Day while that was happening,” says Gary, reflecting on when Barry was asked to cover the ice skating at the last minute.
In an interview with The Guardian, Barry explains in his own words: “The commentator, Alan Weeks, had a minor heart attack in the autumn before the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, so I was asked to take his place. Alan came back, as expected, for several more years, but I went on to become the commentator for ice skating alongside Robin Cousins.”
Being able to go from one sport to another is something that requires skill, time, and dedication, which Gary argues very few can do. “It’s tricky to pop from sport to sport each day. I’m not saying it can’t happen because there are gifted broadcasters out there, but I certainly couldn’t do it,” he explains.
While it might require effort to understand smaller sports such as figure skating, it can pay dividends when looking for stories, especially in an era with more opportunities for content creation than ever before.
Laura Howard is an award-winning freelance sports journalist, who focuses on hockey and the intersection of sport and politics, with a particular focus on disability and women’s sport. Her podcast, The Kids Were Alright, is the only podcast series dedicated to the history of women’s football.
“I find it great tapping into an area where there hasn’t been much coverage yet,” explains Laura. “It requires a lot of research, but it’s been really interesting to be able to uncover those stories in a way that I don’t think has been done before.”
Particularly in hockey, she’s been able to find more exclusives: “I did a monthly column with Sam Ward, one of the top GB players. I could probably pitch any story to a player knowing they would speak to me.”
Laura thinks ongoing social issues is a key reason for this: “I think this happens in women’s football too, the fact they have to fight for that attention. I did a hockey story with Tess Howard, a GB player, and we spoke about inclusive sportswear and how players should be allowed to choose between wearing a skort or shorts. They’re more willing to speak on other social issues, and as a result of that, better stories are produced.”
NBC sports reporter Todd Harris’s first Olympics was Barcelona 1992 — he’s since covered nine games and numerous sports — but the pace of change is picking up. At Paris 2024, there were nearly double the number of sports compared to 50 years ago, with Todd working on skateboarding, BMX, and kayaking.
Explaining the process behind covering many different — and often more niche — sports, he says: “You always have to start with the basics: The rules, time duration, score, people involved, and the biographical information. I like to think I’m the air traffic controller in this situation: get the plane up in the air, get it flying, and when it comes down, praise them for landing cleanly.”
Learning a new sport can be tricky, but 90 per cent of the 20 working sports journalists we surveyed believe it’s important to have in-depth knowledge about more than one sport.
Todd credits the help of experts around him when learning about sports at the Olympics, leaning on the professionals for additional information. “I have an expert sitting next to me, usually an Olympic gold medallist, and I ask them questions. And then I let them open up their repertoire of knowledge about that sport,” he explains.
He’s talking about experts like Leon Taylor, who’s commentated on Olympic diving for the BBC since 2008, alongside sports presenter Katherine Downes. He explains: “Kat is a wonderful journalist and broadcaster, but she’s never dived. Her role is to set the scene, and I’m the expert, so my role is to talk about all things specific around the performance.”
“In some ways, it’s like a dance between us. Within the dance, we each have very clear roles and responsibilities. Kat can have an opinion on a dive and ask for my clarity, but I can also say what the atmosphere is like. So we’re allowed to blend, but there are very clear roles, which allow us to perform in the commentary box at our very best.”
Diver-turned-commentator Leon Taylor (L) and sports journalist Laura Howard (R).
Such expert analysis can also provide audiences with a closer and more intimate insight into the lives of professional athletes. Leon is good friends with Tom Daley, having mentored the five-time Olympic medallist since he was ten. Leon’s commentary on Tom Daley and Matty Lee’s gold medal dive in 2021 went viral, encapsulating the emotive power sports coverage can have.
“Emotionally, I’ve got completely lost in the excitement, right?” Leon reflects. “I’m pretty much screaming into the microphone. I’m letting my emotions run, but it isn’t just that. I’ve got to be able to switch it in a click of a finger to explain my reaction.” He adds: “Being able to bring that together and add colour to those pictures is a real honour for me, and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else than in the venue.”
So, what should sports journalists looking for a job take from all this? John Lyons is an editor working mainly for the Non-League Paper, a football publication covering the non-league football pyramid. Explaining his thought process when looking at CVs and applications, he says the pressure to know about every sport is not as important as it maybe once was.
He explains: “For me, I don’t think it’s that important to know every other sport. When I was working on local newspapers 25/30 years ago, it was common to have a sports editor who covered all the sports in that area. You didn’t need to have an exhaustive knowledge of those sports, but you had to have a little bit of working knowledge because you were going to need to write about different sports.”
So, in short, knowing all 8,000 sports certainly isn’t a necessity, but honing in on lesser-covered disciplines can be a win-win for both athletes and journalists. “It will give athletes a chance to shine in the spotlight,” explains Leon, “because they don’t go away and hibernate for four years. They’re training day in, day out.”
Attention often peaks at the Olympics and Paralympics and good coverage helps sustain it. For journalists, it helps them tell better stories, build up a portfolio of work, and even play a part in the legacy of the games.
