David Robert Coleman (26 April 1926 – 21 December 2013) was a British sports commentator and television presenter who worked for the BBC for 46 years. He covered eleven Summer Olympic Games from 1960 to 2000 and six FIFA World Cups from 1962 to 1982.
Coleman presented some of the BBC's leading sporting programmes, including Grandstand and Sportsnight (originally titled Sportsnight with Coleman until 1972), and was the host of A Question of Sport for 18 years. He retired from the BBC in 2000. Later that year he became the first broadcaster to receive the Olympic Order award, in recognition of his contribution to the Olympic movement.
Early life
Born in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, of Irish heritage (his immediate family hailed from County Cork), Coleman competed as a schoolboy middle-distance runner. In 1949, he won the Manchester Mile as a member of Stockport Harriers, the only non-international runner to do so. He competed in the English National Cross-Country Championships for Manchester Athletic Club in 1952 (116th, 3rd team) and 1953 (118). He ran 440 yards (¼ mile) for Staffordshire. Injury eventually caused him to give up competitive running, and he later became president of the Wolverhampton & Bilston Athletics Club. He served in the Royal Corps of Signals and worked for the British Army Newspaper Unit.
Retirement
Coleman retired from broadcasting after the 2000 Summer Olympics. In December 2000, he was presented with the Olympic Order by then-IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch in recognition of his services to the Olympic ideals. He retired, requesting no fanfare or recognition by the BBC, despite working for the corporation for over 40 years.
The BBC later broadcast a programme entitled The Quite Remarkable David Coleman to celebrate Coleman's life, which was aired just after his 85th birthday in May 2011.
Personal life, illness and death
Coleman married Barbara Manning in 1952 in north-east Cheshire. They had six children. His daughter Anne (born 1954) was a British ladies' show jumping champion. He was also given the Judges' Award For Sport in the 1996 Royal Television Society Awards. In 2000, he became the first journalist or broadcaster to be awarded the Olympic Order.