Written by Sliw76.

Gabby Yorath, sport presenter and TV personality with Welsh Dad Terry!

Gabby Yorath

Stunning, sports TV presenter and daughter of former Welsh international football player and manager Terry Yorath. Gabby was not born in Wales, since Terry was in Leeds at the time playing for Leeds United. The family moved following Terry's career so Gabby went to Bishop Ullathorne RC School in Coventry, Cardinal Heenan High School, and Notre Dame Sixth Form College in Leeds. After school she read Law at the College of St Hild and St Bede, Durham.

She played netball at school and then at university. Athleftics were important too, she competed at high jump however the peak of her sporting career was when she gained eighth place in rhythmic gymnastics while representing Wales during the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland. She retired from gymnastics at just seventeen due to health problems. Her comaint was sciatica, the symptoms of leg pain and possibly tingling, numbness or weakness which originates in the lower back and travels through the buttock and down the large sciatic nerve (hence the name) in the back of the leg.

Below, rather disrespectful title but impressive none the less!

Gabby was interested in football, natural given her father's career and she attented matches with her mum, apprently seen as a family duty! It was during one of these 'family football days' sadly 52 people died (possibly more because some are missing) as a fire engulfed the Bradford City football stadium Their mother too Gabby and her brother and sister left the stand only moments before the fire took hold and witnessed the disaster taking place.

Since her days at Durham University Gabby has supported Newcastle United Football Club and stayed true to her sporting heritage by running and rather more gentle sports like golf. So she appreciates a wide variety of sport activities.

Starting her career...

Leaving Duram Uni she accepted a great opportunity presenting Metro Radio in Newcastle. This exposure opened a new opportunity in 1996 as a presenter on Sky Sports. She stayed with Sky until 1998 when she switched channels to ITV - For our internatinoal readers ITV is simply Independant Television. Her career gained more attention while she hosted ITV program "On the Ball". At the time there were few female sport presenters so making the transition to normal terrestrial programming is impressive. A while later ITV lost some major coverage contracts but Gabby was capable of filling in theor gaps. She presented numerous UEFA Champions League matches including the 2005 and 2006 finals. Demonstrating her versitility she presented ITV's 2005 Super Bowl coverage. There were other programs, she even appeared on BBC's 'They Think It's All Over'. She has also appeared in very different programming such as the celebrity version of 'Stars in Their Eyes'. For Gabby being in front of a camera also includes photo sessions for the men's magazine 'GQ' and journalism as a columnist for the Times newspaper.

Gabby took a break from TV to begin her family (a proud mother of twins) before retuning in 2006 to co-host Sports programming at ITV. They asked her to cover the Football World Cup of 2006 which included interviews David Beckham. She later stated that she had not been able to actually see any of the games and yet had to work at this high level which drained her confidence making her question her own abilities.

There was a difficult period after this where viewers would expect to see Gabby presenting but the programming executives had switched their preseter teams.
It appears Gabby's career was now prone to difficulties and working with other networks and radio stations became difficuly. Apprently there were many apperances scheduled which due to contractural obligations she became excluded. Apprently nogotiations became so difficult she even turned down some ITV appearances.

Moving to the BBC

Whatever happened at ITV it's clear that things were moving quickly because by autumn 2006 she was in negotiations with the BBC and a three year contract was signed. She began hosting BBC 'Inside Sport' and sports events. She's also worked on Radio programs and taken part in 'peak-hour' programming as well as 'lunch-time' shows. Her role at the BBc includes supporting the famous Match of the Day program, standing in for crisp munching (UK joke) Gary Lineker (very well respected personality and ex-soccar player in the UK).

It seems that even though she turned down some alternative programming at ITV she was happy to accept this with the Beeb, she took part in the popular 'Strictly Come Dancing' show where she had the unusual experience of competing against her husband Kenny Logan. Their partners were also a married pair, James and Ola Jordan! By the summer of 2008 she was given the prestigioius oppotunity of presenting the BBC coverage of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. In 2009 she accepted an invitation from BBC Wales to take part in 'Coming Home' a program about her Welsh family history.

Work for Charity...

Gabby and husband Kenny Logan are vice-presidents of the children's charity Sparks.

Connection: Of Welsh descent on her father's side. Born in England, raised in Leeds. Father is Terry Yorath, former Welsh football manager and International.