The criticism that hurt Mark Taylor most about Olympic diving commentary

Former Australian cricket captain Mark Taylor has made a return to the airwaves, but not in the sport he played and commentated across multiple decades.

Instead, Taylor has been calling the diving for Channel Nine at the 2024 Paris Olympics, despite having no previous experience with the sport.

That lack of prior diving knowledge has caused some to criticise Taylor and Nine, with some describing the decision to choose the Aussie cricket great as the diving commentator ‘disrespectful’ to the sport and the athletes involved.

While Taylor was expecting some backlash after accepting the role, he couldn’t see why he would turn down such an offer with decades of experience in TV broadcasting.

He spent time prior to the Olympics with the Aussie team in training, meeting the athletes and the coaches, and also has an expert sitting alongside him in commentary - former Olympics diver Sam Fricker.

The only part of the criticism Taylor couldn’t accept was that some felt it was disrespectful, as he says he couldn’t have more respect for the Games and the sport of diving.

“I knew when I did it there would be people who straight away were going to use that (criticism),” Taylor said on SENQ Breakfast.

“It's an easy line. It's a throwaway line. But the only thing I didn't like about the criticism was the word that it was ‘disrespectful’.

“I couldn't have greater respect for all our Olympians. I certainly never got a chance to go to the Olympics in the sport that I was good at.

“It's a chance for me to immerse myself a little bit in the Olympics and see these wonderful athletes.”

Taylor says that the divers and coaches have accepted him into the fold since he was picked for the role and he’s willing to cop any extra criticism if it brings more attention to their athletic feats at the Games.

“I said to a person about three weeks ago, they (the divers) welcomed me, they were delighted I was involved,” Taylor explained.

“I’m sure that Nine is probably delighted with this little bit of criticism I've got because it's just made people more aware of the diving.

“It is great for them (the athletes) because they are great people. They're not in a professional sport where they can do it 24/7. They’ve got their uni degrees, one wants to be an F1 engineer, and another is doing a philosophy PhD.

“These people are just your average Australians who are very, very good and athletic divers, and it was an absolute pleasure for me to spend some time with them.

“As I said to say, ’It's disrespectful’, well, that's just a very bad use of a word that makes you sound sometimes more intelligent than you probably are.”

Australia has a chance to claim a diving medal at these games when World Champion Cassiel Rousseau competes in the men’s 10m platform event.