Rio 2016: John Inverdale will continue presenting Olympics amid Andy Murray 'sexism' row, says BBC

The reporter will present the boxing coverage later this week

(Getty)

The BBC has said John Inverdale will continue to present Olympic coverage despite a blunder which saw him accused of sexism.

After Andy Murray’s Olympic win over Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro in a nail-biting final, the tennis champion was interviewed by Inverdale who proclaimed Murray to be “the first person ever to win two Olympic tennis gold medals”.

Murray immediately corrected Inverdale’s mistake: “To defend the singles title. I think Venus and Serena have won about four each.”

The response sparked a sexism row, with the Olympian being hailed as a feminist hero while Inverdale was condemned for "forgetting" the achievements of the two women.

When asked if the 58-year-old will continue presenting for the broadcaster in light of the incident, a BBC spokesperson said: “John will still be fronting the Olympics boxing this week.”

The latest incident follows several other gaffes from the sports broadcaster. In 2015 Inverdale, who started working for the BBC in the 1980s, was famously replaced by Clare Balding as host of the channel’s Wimbledon coverage following a series of blunders, the most famous being when he said the newly crowned 2013 champion french tennis player Marion Bartoli was “never going to be a looker”.

“I wonder if her dad, because he has obviously been the most influential person in her life, did say to her when she was 12, 13, 14 maybe, ‘listen you are never going to be a looker’, he said. “You are never going to be somebody like a Sharapova, you’re never going to be 5ft 11, you’re never going to be somebody with long legs so you have to compensate for that."

The comment sparked a flurry of complaints and Inverdale later sent Bartoli a personal apology.

Two years later, he was forced to apologise again after accidentally saying the c-word live on air during coverage of the Cheltenham races, blaming a “slip of the tongue”.

Olympic viewers have also questioned his presenting of the games after rumours of a rift between himself and the ever popular five-time Olympic champion Sir Steve Redgrave. The BBC were forced to dismiss rumours of an issue between the pair as “simply untrue” after viewers noticed Redgrave walking off set and rolling his eyes.

Another tense incident occurred when Redgrave interrupted Inverdale attempting to interview New Zealand rower Mahe Drysdale after he won the single sculls, arguing that it was only right the New Zealand broadcasters interviewed him first.