It’s a tribute to Bruce McAvaney that he gets sent up at least as much as Richie Benaud. And like Richie, Bruce is the same no matter where you find him. The Bruce-isms. The reverential whispers. The booming zeal. Bruce has the secret. I mean the real secret: Love What You Do.

You want the entire rundown on anything interesting in Beijing, or anywhere else in the world of sport? Sit back and listen to Bruce, The Boss.

This is a big year for you, with Beijing coming up, back for the AFL Grand Final, and then the Spring Carnival.

It’s challenging. A bit of work goes into all three. The AFL sort of takes care of itself, because you’re doing it week in, week out. The Olympics requires a concerted preparation and effort and takes a fair bit out of you, and then you’ve got to come back and finish off the footy. The Melbourne Cup, that’s a bit different again, because it’s a four-day carnival and it’s the only time – except for one meeting in the Autumn – we do racing, so you’ve got to go in there on Darby Day up and running. I follow racing very closely, so it’s not like it’s foreign to me, but you’ve got to be on top of your game. So all three are different, challenging. But it’s doubtful I’ll have another year like this again, so I’m very fortunate. So is the Seven network.

You’d do AFL in your sleep wouldn’t you, even though you don’t go into anything without thorough research?

(Bruce gets up and pulls from his bag two A4 sheets, taped together. One side has the names and numbers of every player for tonight’s game, hand written. The other side is a pastiche of stats, newspaper clippings and trivia). You forget more than you remember. This is for tonight. But, it’s bloody…unless you do this you don’t remember it. Each match you treat with respect. I think…there’s a few things. If you’re well-prepared, you’re less nervous. You’re not intimidated. It doesn’t mean you’re going to call well, but it gives you the best chance to call well. Some nights you walk out of the box and think, ‘I wasn’t in very good form.’ Other nights, you think, ‘Hmm, that wasn’t bad.” So that’s my security blanket. Unless I do the hard work, I don’t feel like I’m going to do a good job. I’ll be using these names all through the night. I’ll be using the notes all through the night. Same when you go to an Olympic Games. You get a start sheet and you write things alongside the names. Even though you remember a lot, the absolute detail you have to get correct. But I love the preparation, I love the research. I’ve got a researcher in there who does a great job, too.  I’m just as enthusiastic now as when I started, and because of technology, there’s a lot more available. And you probably get a bit smarter as you get older. You hope you do.

You were involved in the Moscow Olympic telecasts in 1980?

Yeah. In Adelaide.

Have you done every Games along the way?

Moscow I don’t count, because I didn’t go. I’ve been to six summer and three winter Olympics. This will be my seventh Summer Olympics in a row. 1984 to 2008.

Are you as enthusiastic about them as ever?

Yeah. They’ve got bigger – not necessarily better. They’ve got more controversial. Ben Johnson in 1988 – in 1972 with the Black September movement, the Games lost a lot of their innocence. But there’s always been politics at the Olympics. There’s always an issue. 1980, the boycotts, 1984, the boycotts, Seoul in 1988 there was a lot of discussion about the safety of the Games…so…there’s always an issue with every Olympics you go to…so… I’m as enthusiastic as ever. It’s certainly got bigger. There’s a lot more sports. There’s a lot more countries. There’s a lot more gold medals. There’s a lot more media. The first Olympics I went to in 1984 Bob I felt “This is the best sport can offer.” And that’s how I still feel. I feel going into 2008 that in the wide world of sport there’s nothing better. You can argue about World Cup soccer, and it’s a good argument. But for me this is the best sport can offer. I understand that the Olympics like all big organisations has problems. They’re flawed. They always will be flawed. But when you’re sitting in the stadium the sport is exciting, inspirational, uplifting, thrilling. Doesn’t get any better. So that’s how I feel about it.

Do incidents like the Marion Jones thing disappoint you?

When it’s a few years after, it’s a bit hard, because you called the race. You’ve revelled in the moment, in her success. You feel a bit cheated, but it hasn’t taken the moment away. Give you an example. In 1988, Ben Johnson beat Carl Lewis and broke the world record in the 100m in Seoul. That was the Saturday. On the Tuesday everything hits the fan. He’s stripped of his gold medal. It’s a bit disheartening. You feel a bit flat. Then the next day, you go to the stadium, and there was drama at nine o’clock in the morning – one of the decathletes broke and was out of the event. And then Debbie Flintoff-King comes along or Flo-Jo…look, it doesn’t take the moment away. This is the strangest thing to say. One of the best bits of sport I saw was Ben Johnson’s win. It doesn’t get any better or bigger than that. One of them was found out to be a cheat, and yet…I’m so pleased I was there. It was unbelievable to see these two guys go head to head. The build-up through the whole year, the year before, then the semi-finals that afternoon and then the final, was…you know? One of them was seen to be the biggest cheat in Olympic history basically, and yet I wouldn’t change one thing. It was just sport at its very best. So, in answer to your question, you do get a bit disheartened. You do get cynical. But when they line up on the blocks, they’re wide-eyed an innocent and looking forward to a great event, and you keep getting that. It’s only afterwards, down the track, that disappointment might set in, but it doesn’t take the moment away. So maybe I’m being a bit too generous, maybe I’m not being pragmatic enough, but that’s the way I see it anyway.

What do you think it will take to bring the romance back to track and field? 

It’s there for me Bob. Nothing’s changed. I look at Beijing and I can’t wait. I look at all the clashes that are coming up. My feeling is that track and field is one of many sports that has been stained with drugs. Weightlifting. Tour de France. For all the drug problems, people still watch it. I’m still as keen on track and field as ever. The men’s 100m will be arguably one of the great races of all time. Three spectacular athletes, all at their peak. Bolt, Powell and Gay. The women’s marathon could be anything…so, if I went through every event, there are superstars in every event, and great clashes. The romance is still there for me. If I had one wish, I’d wish there were more Australians up there in track and field, but it’s a pretty big sport and it’s hard to win.

Did you see the aptly-named Bolt coming?

No. What happened, he was the world’s youngest ever world junior champion at 15, for the 200. He never ran 100m. He talked his coach into it last year and ran 10.03. That’s a quick time. This year, his first run, 9.76. I didn’t see him coming. He was second last year in the 200, he always looked a phenomenal talent, but not as a 100m runner. They’re all specialists. After Athens, we thought we were going to have this great rivalry between Gatlin and Powell. But Gatlin fell away because of drugs…but this is how sport rejuvenates itself. Powell still hasn’t won a big gold medal. He still hasn’t proven himself. Tyson Gay came along last year and wins the 100 and 200 in the worlds. So you’ve got a two-horse war. Great rivals. Then suddenly another Jamaican comes along. So we’ve got this three-way go. Very rare to get that. Usually, you’ve got one outstanding champion like Maurice Green at Sydney, or a two-horse war like Lewis and Johnson. Could be one of the great races of all time. A landmark in Olympic history. So that’s something to look forward to. But look…Sydney is the only Games without a world record in track and field. But it was a very successful…and I had one of the great nights of all time with Freeman running. But the world records are a bonus sometimes. It’s the competition, Bob, it’s the competition for a gold medal that is so important, and the world records put a bit of icing on the cake.

Any other tips for track and field?

I think probably the biggest – she’s still got to get through the American trials – stars will be Allyson Felix. She’ll be in the 200 metres, and she’s attempting to run in the 100 and also the 4X100 and the 4X400. She’s a rare talent. A long, statuesque American, who looks very clean. She’s slim and looks like there’s more development to come. There’s a woman from Kenya, Pamela Jelino – never heard of her a few months ago – she was a four hundred metre runner. A good one. But not great. This year, she’s won the African 800 metres championship. She’s broken the world junior 800m record twice. She’s run the fastest time inn the world for about eleven years. She’s run 1:54 for 800. She’s phenomenal. She’s just come from nowhere. They’re two big stars, and fresh stars. There’s a young Sudanese male 800m runner and a young Kenyan who are going to have this big clash. In the men’s 400, you’ve got Wariner versus Merrett. Now, Merrett’s beaten Wariner this year. Wariner’s had 44 starts for 39 wins, so he rarely gets beaten. You’ve got Gebrselassie running in the 10,000 against Bikele, who wants to take over his throne. There’s a million great stories. The women’s marathon, if Paula Radcliffe gets to start, against a great Kenyan and a great Japanese runner, who’s trying to win the marathon for the second time and no woman’s ever done that. But the biggest gold medal is going to be the 110m hurdles. Liu Xiang. He’s their Cathy. He’s carrying a billion people on his back. He’s the Olympic champ. He’s the world champ. He just lost his world record. He’s not going to have another run until the Olympics. He’s come in with patchy preparation. He’s going to have the most pressure of anyone. I’m rattling, raving, carrying on, but there’s a lot to look forward to…

And in the pool? Can Hackett make history by winning the 1500m three times in a row?

He’s not the favourite, to be honest, there’s a group of Europeans, and an American, and a Brit, and perhaps an Asian, but you know, some of the best wins are when you least expect it. When Perkins won in 1992, it was great, because we hadn’t had one for a while, but 1996 was even better because we didn’t think he was going to win. And when Hackett was unbeaten for six or seven years, you take it for granted, and then when he gets beaten, suddenly it becomes even better. So Grant – singularly, that’s the biggest medal for Australia. You could argue about that, whether James Tomkins wins a fourth in the rowing or Andrew Hoy gets there and wins a fourth in the equestrian, but I reckon Hackett’s 1500 is singularly the biggest event. Australia’s won the event eight times. We’ve won it the last four times. It’s a signature event to us. And no male has ever won an event three times. Two females have, Dawn and the Hungarian, so it’s going to be the big one in terms of his legacy. It takes him maybe even ahead of Thorpe, Cuthbert, Fraser, Rose, Tomkins, Hoy. He certainly goes into the pantheon anyway. He certainly goes from great champion to icon. This will determine where he sits in the halls of Australian sport. It’s very exciting.

Our most successful Games was Melbourne, we got eight gold medals. We got seven in Athens. We’ve got a deep team. The women are very strong. Liesel Jones is probably our – if you said, “Give me a certain gold medal in all sports”, you’d say Liesel in the 100 and 200 breaststroke. Our shortest-priced favourite. I think we’re capable of winning up to ten gold medals in swimming. We’ve got Sullivan, we’ve got Rice – that’s a lovely story, the Sullivan-Rice story. You’ve got Jones, Trickett, Hackett and a whole range of young ones like Seebohm and Campbell. So, I think the Australian team is a big story. Australia versus USA is a big story. And, then, internationally, you’ve got Phelps. Six gold medals in Athens. He’s entered for nine events at the American trials. If he could equal Spitz, who won seven in Munich, if Phelps gets, say, six again, or seven, there’s a strong argument to say he’s…the greatest Olympian of all. You can argue Parvo Nurmi, Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis…there’s a long list. This guy will catapult himself into that argument. So, he’s the big story in swimming, internationally. See, we won seventeen gold medals in Athens, but we won thirteen in two sports, swimming and cycling. So we’re going to be depending heavily on swimming. Historically, swimming has won 38% of our gold medals. 52 swimming gold medals out of 121. We do well in swimming, we’re going to do well. So, a lot depends on this team.

This controversy about the swim suits…do you think they detract from the aesthetics of the sport?  

Not for me. I think they look just as good in those as they do in the speedos or their one-piece. Certainly, there’s no question they’ve helped times. The one thing about the suits is that as long as everyone has the opportunity to wear them, it’s ok. You’d hate the Americans and the Australians to have them only, or eight countries to have them and the rest not to have them. But I think they look fine. Once we get through Beijing they will just be common practice. They’re really just an improvement on what Thorpe started to wear a few years ago. I just see them as part of the evolution of sport. Look at the bikes they have now on the track and the road. Let’s not get too carried away. Let’s just enjoy it.

You call the footy, you love the races. What’s your calling dream?

As a little kid, I listened to Bill Collins. I thought, “Gee, I want to be like that bloke. How good’s he?” I’m a little kid listening in Adelaide on the transistor, my parents were involved, they loved horses, and Bill Collins would give me goose bumps. It was my dream to call the Melbourne Cup. Look, I’ve been very fortunate. For me, the three cornerstones have been the Melbourne Cup, to do the Olympics and to do the AFL on a regular basis. AFL, there’s the continuity and it’s such an exciting sport. To call those Melbourne Cups in the 1980s and now to host the Cup, it’s probably my favourite single day of the sporting year. And to call the Olympics, and to call the track and field within the Olympics, that’s my favourite Olympic sport. One I’ve never done is World Cup soccer. Now, I won’t ever do it. I don’t know enough about soccer. But the stage is so grand. You’ve got to have something else out there that you wouldn’t mind doing.

You did the Melbourne Cup in 1985, ’86, ’87 and ’88. Would you call it again? 

No. I could have called this year. Channel Seven would like me to. I don’t want to. It’s too hard. It’s the most difficult job in the world. I’d have to go back and call for six months every Saturday. I’m too old to do it now. Age is a factor when you haven’t done it for twenty years. Age is not a factor when you’ve been doing it continuously. I could call the Cox Plate with a month’s practice. Twelve, fourteen horses, small track. I’d need six solid months for a Melbourne Cup and even then I’d be struggling.  When I go to the Olympics –I haven’t called the athletics, or swimming, for four years. You go there, and the rhythm’s different.

When I was a kid, I listened to the commentators, and the way they brought me the spectacle mattered, but I’d listen through them to the spectacle. For you to notice so much about what they did, you must have been a fairly auditory kid. Did you pick up other things though hearing? Were you into music for instance? Did you retain what teachers said?

All those things – no. I’ve got a terrible ear for music. Accents, nothing. Sportscasting I loved. McGilvray at the cricket. But particularly this guy, Bill Coillins. The way he called the 1965 Melbourne Cup. (Here, Bruce draws a quick breath and breaks into a surprising, stentorian voice I didn’t know he had). “LIGHT FINGERS, ZIEMA, STRIDE FOR STRIDE. DEAD HEAT! DEAD HEAT IN THE MELBOURNE CUP!” (He thumps the table with a Dictaphone-rattling fist). He turned me on, you know? How good’s this? Light Fingers, Ziema. Stride for stride. Dead heat. Wow. I wanted to be just like him. I loved his tone. What he did, he made it sound exciting. And he made you feel special. And he made you feel this was a great event. And he had such a great voice. The rhythm and the timing. I loved it. It’s all tempo. You think of the 100 metres and compare that to the 1500 metres. The 1500’s more talking it, setting it up, calling it home. A 100 is really just a flash. As fast as you can. The 1500 you’re telling more of a tale, weaving stories together. Marathon, you’re describing a story unfolding for two-and-a-half hours, someone will collapse and dramas unfold. So in the Olympics itself, you’re using a lot of different techniques.

You’re very aware of yourself as a storyteller.

You’ve got to entertain people and give them information too. If Hackett wins, and you don’t say somewhere in that call, “This is the first time this has ever happened. Isn’t this something to behold?” then you’re not doing your job. And if a Kenyan wins the marathon, no Kenyan man’s ever won the marathon. People think they win all the time. You must have some facts and context to go with the excitement, and to bring it, so a good caller will get the hair to stand up on their head and make them think at the same time. Bill was great, Martin Tyler is a great soccer caller. It’s what I try to do.

You must feel a lot of weight on your shoulders with some of those calls. I mean, Cathy Freeman did, but you had to call it and we were all listening.

She carried the 20 million and I was one of them. But I was nervous that night. I was nervous when I woke up that morning. I don’t know why…well. I do know why. I wanted her to win like everyone else. I knew her quite well. Anyway, five minutes before the race, my mouth’s really dry, they’re warming up, I’m on air, and this is the first time in my life this has happened, I said to myself, “Relax. You know what you’re doing. You’ve done the hard work. Enjoy it.” And I calmed myself down. It’s pretty important with a big event to slow yourself down, because the event takes over anyway. It was a great night for athletics and a wonderful thing for Cathy, but I felt the pressure that night. You just try to do it justice, and whether you do or not, it’s up to the public to decide.

What would you isolate as your calling highlight?

Freeman. The Ben Johnson-Carl Lewis race was probably the biggest single Olympic event in history. But for me, Freeman. Probably because it was the home Olympics, it was the big stadium, it was Cathy. All those things.

Do you still run?

I do, but I’m injured at the moment Bob. I’m always injured. It’s a calf at the moment. I had a knee operation not long ago. I do run, I do try and stay fit, but I’m a plodder. When I’m away at these events, I do try to do something. I’d rather have less sleep and have a jog every morning in Beijing because I feel I need to get rid of a lot of anxiety and tension that way.

If you had any advice for aspiring commentators, I would say that you would say, “Above all, have enthusiasm.” Would I be right?

Just about. Above all, you’ve got to have knowledge. You’ve got to be well-prepared. No, you are right. I’m as keen now as I was thirty years ago. Now, you hope that never leaves you. The minute it leaves you, I reckon you’re in trouble. I’m as hungry now as I was then. My best call is out there somewhere. I haven’t done it yet. If you were a young guy coming to me I’d say, yes, go in there with enthusiasm and get knowledge. Be well-prepared. Listen. And learn. And pick up knowledge. But…it’s hard to beat enthusiasm. It gives you a big head-start.

Published in Inside Sport, July 2008