Viewers slam ‘racist’ Olympic commentator for claiming a Chinese swimmer ‘died like a pig’

IN THE world of live television, sooner or later someone needs to realise that it is best to assume you are ALWAYS on air.

Canadian CBC announcer Byron MacDonald landed himself in serious hot water during the broadcaster’s showing of the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay final yesterday.

After team USA took the gold, closely followed by Australia, Byron slammed 14-year-old Ai Yanhan for China’s failure to edge out Canada for the remaining podium spot.

Yanhan swam the second leg of the relay in 1:57.79 — 1.61 seconds slower than Canada’s Taylor Ruck, which allowed the Canadians to close the gap on China.

After China missed out on a medal, Byron could be heard remarking: “The little 14-year-old from China dropped the ball, baby.

“Too excited, went out like stink, died like a pig. Thanks for that.”

The TV host was apparently unaware that his microphone was still being broadcast to the world. But followers on social media certainly did not miss the shocking gaffe.

Many Twitter users were outraged, claiming the presenter was "racist" and picking on a 14-year-old girl.

The announcer later apologised for his comments, claiming he meant “no disrespect”.

“I was referring to a swimmer’s performance, and not to them as a person. Needless to say, there was no disrespect intended and I’m very sorry.”

Faced with an incredible backlash online, CBC were forced to issue an additional apology, with spokesman Chuck Thompson telling Postmedia on Thursday that MacDonald had made an “unfortunate choice of words”.

They said: “We sincerely regret that these statements were made, and that they were allowed to go to air.

“We moved quickly last night to apologise to our viewers on-air and to our followers on social media.

“To be clear, Byron’s comments were related to the swimmer’s performance, not to her as an individual.