Coleman, David (1926– )

English sports commentator and broadcaster. He joined the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 1959 and built up a reputation for high-quality coverage of sporting events. A presenter at every Olympic Games from 1960 to 2000, his reporting of the Israeli athletes hostage crisis at the 1972 Munich Olympics was a notable feat of journalism. He also covered every World Cup final 1958–1998, and hosted the television quiz A Question of Sport from 1979 to 1997. After 46 years of broadcasting, he retired in early 2001.

Coleman was born in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, England, and began his sporting life as a middle-distance runner, winning the Manchester Mile in 1949. He entered journalism soon after, working on the Stockport Express and other local newspapers, and began his broadcasting career with freelance radio work in 1953. He gave his name to the famous column in Private Eye magazine entitled Colemanballs, which celebrated on-air gaffes and verbal slips.