BBC Morning Live bosses support Gethin Jones as he's granted leave from show
The Welsh presenter has been missing from screens this week after starting a new role away from the BBC show
Gethin Jones has been absent from BBC Morning Live this week after starting a new job away from TV.
The Welsh presenter usually fronts the show alongside co-host Helen Skelton, but has been missing from screens over the course of the week. Instead, Skelton presented alongside Rav Wilding earlier this week, with Holly Hamilton, Gordon Smart and former Olympian track and field star Greg Rutherford taking up hosting duties.
Jones' absence comes as a result of him spending the week in Glasgow as part of his new role as Team Wales' chef de mission for this summer's Commonwealth Games.
The 48-year-old was been appointed to the role last year and will act as the figurehead for the Welsh team at the Games, leading and motivating athletes and support staff, while also representing Wales at official functions and acting as a spokesperson for the team.
He travelled to Scotland at the start of the week alongside his fellow chef de missions from all 74 nations and territories of the Commonwealth for a week of seminars, presentations and workshops, and told WalesOnline that it had been "absolutely fascinating".
"I'm off this week and my boss is incredibly supportive of it," Jones said. "I think we're off air at the end of July, so it works out unbelievably well, but after this we'll be looking at the King's Baton Relay and the kit launch as well, which is so exciting. It's a real opportunity to see athletes after selection, which is on June 19. We'll really know the team then and that's when my job will really be important, how do we make sure they all come under the umbrella of Team Wales?
"I'm not on the organisational side of things, my role as chef is more ambassadorial, but it's been great to be here to see how it all works and the intricacies," said Jones.
"The detail is just phenomenal. Everything is geared towards the athletes being in the best environment to succeed when they come here in the summer and every day, every hour there's something to consider.
"Somebody said to me the other day, 'How do you get a pole vault to location? How does that get here, where do you keep it?' and when you're watching it on telly or you're here live, you don't think about those things.
"But the team behind the team make all of it happen to make sure there's no stress at all for the athletes."
Jones went back to university to to study for a Master’s degree in Sports Directorship and expand his skillset for the role, and admitted he was "emotional" and "really chuffed" when his hard work paid off and he was offered the job.
He also leant on his sporting friends - including Olympic cyclists Becky James and Sir Chris Hoy - during his research process and gained valuable advice to take into his new role.
"I spoke to so many athletes to try to understand what it's like for someone to wear the red of Wales in a multi-sporting global event, but it's different to being in the Olympics," he explained.
"There's definitely a different kind of emotion to that. I think that is what I was thinking about when I got that call, how amazing it is to be part of Team Wales for such a huge event.
"I talked a lot to Becky about it and Chris and Glasgow is synonymous. I was at his velodrome yesterday. We'll have the cycling there and the arena will also host the gymnastics. I think he's chuffed, he's probably had enough of me asking questions now, but they'll continue to come!
Revealing the most important piece of advice he learnt from Hoy, Jones said: "You've got to know everything, and he's absolutely right. We had 214 athletes go to the Gold Coast and I made sure I knew something about every single one of them.
"Not because of media or anything, but just for bumping into them in the village and being able to say: 'How is your injury?' or 'How's your mum doing?' or 'How are you going to get on on Tuesday?'.
"It's that little bit of information. Every athlete likes to be seen and our job as the team behind the team is that we do see the work that goes into it and we appreciate it and give them the best chance to do their best on the day."