George Hamilton honoured at Paris ceremony for Olympics coverage

Hamilton worked at his 11th Olympic Games in Tokyo. 

George Hamilton at the AIPS ceremony at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. 

George Hamilton was honoured at a ceremony in Paris on Tuesday for his decades spent covering the Olympic Games.

The RTÉ commentator, who worked at his 11th Olympic Games three years ago in Tokyo, was part of the International Sports Press Association's (AIPS) Journalists on the Podium presentation at UNESCO headquarters.

The ceremony, which was first held 12 years ago in London, recognises journalists who have covered ten or more Olympics. 

Hamilton, who is not commentating at the Paris Olympics, first worked at the 1980 Games in Moscow. He had to wait 41 years to commentate on his first Irish gold medal. He was on the mic when Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy claimed lightweight double sculls gold in Tokyo.

"Some personal news," Hamilton posted to social media on Tuesday. "Highly honoured to have had coverage of 11 Olympics acknowledged at a ceremony in Paris this morning."

Each of the journalists received AIPS pins, a copy of Francois Carrard's By The Way and a portrait of themselves by Italian artist Cesare Giardini. 

16 sports legends in attendance, including Edwin Moses, Kip Keino, Sean Fitzpatrick, Seb Coe, Nadia Comaneci, Kipchoge Keino, Daley Thompson, Chris Hoy and Sergey Bubka, made presentations to the journalists.