Professor Pragya Agarwal, a behavioural and data scientist, was among those to previously express dismay over his comments, posting: “When will these people ever learn? Why aren’t they being given some training?”
After the clip was shared widely, Eurosport moved quickly to remove Ballard from all remaining events at the Olympics.
“During a segment of Eurosport’s coverage last night, commentator Bob Ballard made an inappropriate comment,” a statement from the broadcaster said. “To that end, he has been removed from our commentary roster with immediate effect.”
Ballard will be a familiar name to BBC 5Live and talkSPORT listeners, having previously reported for both radio channels. He covered swimming events across the opening day in Paris for Discovery+ and announced on social media that he would be poolside once again on Sunday, before being stood down.
Paris organisers had promoted the event as “The Equal Games”, and are said to have urged the broadcasters to avoid footage which might be perceived as objectifying women athletes. The IOC had celebrated the fact that women now make up 50 per cent of its participants.