Children's presenter taken off world athletics

TV presenter Ortis Deley has been sidelined by Channel 4 bosses after apparently struggling to read scripts and name co-hosts while fronting the station's athletics coverage.

Deley, a children's presenter who has also fronted Channel 5's The Gadget Show, has been replaced as main anchor by Rick Edwards. The channel said today that his role had been "scaled back", but he will still feature in the ongoing IAAF World Championships programmes.

His delivery has been stilted as he repeatedly referred to his script. He has also had to correct himself frequently when he misread his lines and failed to get his tongue around the names of fellow presenters. At one stage he told viewers they would see "history in the making as Oscar Pistorius from South Africa makes history".

A video of many of his appearances in Daegu, South Korea, has been placed on YouTube with comments blaming Channel 4, which won the broadcasting rights for the event over the BBC.

One said: "Putting a kids TV presenter in charge of the biggest sporting event of the year?!"
Another wrote: "The bosses have to take all the blame for this embarrassment. They should've made sure they hired a half-decent presenter who could handle live TV."

A station spokeswoman said: "Channel 4 is committed to developing new presenting talent."