Given she’s a former competitive swimmer, it was a no-brainer that Johanna Griggs was asked to join Channel 7’s Olympics coverage back in 1996 for the Atlanta Games.
Fast forward 25 years and the popular TV personality is gearing up to host her milestone seventh Games!
WATCH: Joh Griggs opens up about mental health
But this time Joh won’t be on the ground in Tokyo as she normally would have been. Due to pandemic restrictions, she’ll be hosting from the studio in Melbourne.
“I never take the job for granted and I am so proud of that milestone,” Joh, 47, tells New Idea.
“Every Olympics is always different and there’s always something different I love about them, but this one is going to be one that we are talking about for the ages.”
Despite her many years of experience on the job, Joh admits she still expects the unexpected when it comes to hosting the Olympics.
“You never know what they will throw up. You have to be ready for everything. But that’s the thrill of it … that’s what makes hosting it so exciting!” Joh tells us. “I was saying
to my co-host Luke [Darcy] that the job seems daunting, but you get so excited for the athletes and experience so much joy for them.”
Joh is certainly familiar with the joy the Olympics bring Aussies every four years – or in Tokyo’s case, five! – as she spent her childhood watching them with her family.
While Joh now works during the Olympics, the tradition of watching sport as a family is something that her two sons, Jesse, 25, and Joe, 24, are continuing.
And this Olympics will be extra special, as it’s the first one that Joh’s 3-year-old grandson, Jax, will experience!
“For the past 21 years I have been away for every Olympics, so the family will occasionally send me a picture of them watching,” she says.
“I think it was during the Commonwealth Games … Joe was sitting there with his son, Jax, and he sent me a picture of them watching, saying: ‘Watching with Nanna.’
“This will be Jax’s first Olympics, though. But, he is hyperactive, so I don’t know how muchhe will actually be watching.”
It comes as no surprise that Joh “loves watching the swimming”.
She will be closely following the Aussies’ quest for gold in the pool. But the Better Homes and Gardens host admits she doesn’t swim much herself anymore.
“I don’t really have a schedule that allows swimming anymore. I’m always travelling for work. When I swam I hated running, but now I love running and working out in the gym.
“I do lots of workouts on my iPad. I go downstairs and do half an hour and be ready for the day, or I can put my headphones on and go for a massive long walk. That has become my routine now.”
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