Gary Lineker reveals past incident that stops him presenting Olympics for the BBC

When it comes to the Olympics, Lineker isn't involved with the former Tottenham, Leicester and Barcelona striker enjoying some time off.

He will return to screens when Match of the Day starts up again next weekend following the first round of Premier League fixtures.

Speaking on his Rest is Football podcast, Lineker revealed he was put off presenting the Olympics back in 2012.

He says he was given precious time to prepare for an interview with a group of medallists he didn't know anything about.

"I did the evening show [at London 2012]," he said.

"And what would happen was that people would win a medal, whether silver, gold or bronze and then there’d be a good chance that they’d be in the studio.

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"So, I’d come in very early in the morning, I’d watch every event and any time there was a medal winner, I’d do massive amounts of research on them.

"I’d find out what I could about their background, where they’re from, what their interests are, on the off chance that they might come into the studio.

"Now, normally, there would probably be three or four interviews during the show in the evening. But I remember one day, we were starting to win so many medals, gold, silver, bronze, loads of them. We were doing so well. It was amazing."

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Team GB won 65 medals, including 29 golds, with the side finishing third behind the United States and China.

Lineker continued: "It took a while to get going.

"For the first three or four days, we struggled, but suddenly, it was madness, and everyone was winning.

"I remember sitting in the studio, and I was on my own. They'd keep coming back to me, and I’d have a guest with me. This one night, I had nine separate lots of guests. That might’ve been one individual, a pair, a four, and I think there was even a group of eight.

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"At about the seventh guest, I was sitting there, and these four lads came in.

"They sit next to me, and I hear, ‘We’re coming to you in 30 seconds, Gary, we’re coming to you.’ Now, I’ve looked across at the floor manager, and I've gone, I've hid behind my hands and went, 'Who the f*** are they?'

"I was about ten seconds away from interviewing them!

"I can't remember who they were, but they wore helmets, and it was impossible.

"I was going, ‘Who are they?’ and people were shouting in my ear: ‘It’s the so-and-so team,’ and I managed to scramble my way.

"It was an amazing experience, but after that, I made the conscious decision to stick to football."