Olympics Commentator Tries To Say ‘Gundam’, Gets It Horribly Wrong

While following the triathlons during the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, this commentator did their best to pronounce the word "Gundam." Regrettably, their best was not enough and the Internet has had a field day with this clip.

The DiverCity Tokyo Plaza in Odaiba is a section of the course for the athletes participating in the triathlon and there's an enormous replica of the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam. You simply can't miss it at a towering 19.7 metres tall, and in the evenings, it will trigger its "destroy" mode and glow with pink light and shift its panelling like it's being piloted. Here in the UK, the most exciting statue you'll ever see in a public space is probably one of the Gromits that were painted and auctioned to raise funds for the Bristol Children's Hospital Charity. Those Gromits were great. However, a colourful cartoon dog wouldn't make much sense to anyone who wasn't clued into their significance, and this is just what this BBC commentator was trying to do with the Unicorn Gundam in Tokyo.

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Gus Lobban, the producer of Kero Kero Bonito, caught the unfortunate pronunciation of the word "Gundam" from the commentator, and it soon did the rounds on social media. Kero Kero Bonito is also the band behind that catchy theme song for Bugsnax. See, it's circular. We started with the Olympics and now we are on Snaktooth Island. It all comes back to Bugsnax. Oh ah oh.

"Going past this giant statue of... Gandum, which is some sort of famous robot. Uh, I don't know anything about it," said the commentator for BBC's coverage of the event. He's not that off base, honestly, and in a different clip, he does correctly identify it as the "Unicorn" mecha. "I was texted yesterday and it said, 'that statue they pass in the park is of the robot Gandum.' So there we are. I've said it."

Personally, I would award points to this commentator for actually remembering to tell viewers what that big statue is if they weren't aware. However, it's difficult to deny that the execution wasn't as enthusiastic as it could have been and it would have taken about ten seconds to look up the pronunciation of the word. You might not get why Gundam is so popular in the country but if you introduce the robot to the audience with the warmth that you would extend to our good lad Gromit, then it's all gravy.

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