MATT de Groot has been front and centre at the biggest sporting event in the world.

The former Coffs Coast radio presenter and announcer hosted events at the recent 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

De Groot was one of a handful of announcers who introduced athletes during games, and announced the medal ceremonies in stadiums and across the global television coverage.

His first water-based hosting job on the Coffs Coast was the Coffs Harbour Rotary ‘Duck Race’ at Park Beach Reserve.

Years later in Paris, he hosted the Olympic Mixed Triathlon Relay as athletes jumped into the River Seine then ran and rode past the Eiffel Tower and along the Champs-Élysées.

When he started on his journey into media, he sat courtside announcing the Coffs Harbour Suns State League basketball matches.

In Paris he sat courtside alongside the highest paid basketball team ever assembled – the American ‘Dream Team’.

“I’ve genuinely struggled to get my head around it, while here, it’s almost as if it’s too big to absorb in real time,” de Groot said of the experience.

“I had a moment where I was about to introduce a gold medallist, it was at the badminton, and I said to myself: ‘Take this in’,” he said.

“It’s cheesy, but I looked at the Olympic rings above the dais, and I said to myself: ‘Note where you are and think how far you’ve come, it doesn’t get bigger than this’.

“At that point I started to get emotional and had to rapidly back track and say: ‘Take it in less’. You can’t be the guy who announces a gold medal while in tears.”

For the former St John Paul College student, hosting at the Olympic Games was the culmination of twenty years of moving forward in the competitive world of sport announcing.

“Make no mistake, my role is a very small cog in a very large wheel, but when that wheel costs $9 billion dollars to put together, the stakes are higher than anything I’ve experienced,” he said.

“In my first three days of the games my events were attended by King Fredrick of Denmark, the head of FIFA and Andy Murray.

“Knowing your voice is being heard around the world is one thing, but I truly get more nervous knowing Mum and Dad are staying up back in Coffs, watching an event I’m working late at night.”

Hosting at the Olympic Games followed his recent gig hosting at the T20 Cricket World Cup in New York, and relocation with his family to live in London.

Despite headlines around safety, security, the Olympic village, and other issues, he said on the ground it felt nothing like that.

“Honestly, Paris is buzzing; the venues are stunning, and the crowds are spectacular,“ he said.

“The patriotism of the French is incredible; everywhere you go people just randomly burst into the national anthem, that would never happen in Australia.

“I feel very lucky to be here and contributing in some small way.”

By Aiden BURGESS