The corporation has been widely criticised for missing big medal moments for Team GB during the Olympics. Due to a £920million deal between Olympic bosses and American TV giant Discovery, the BBC is only allowed to broadcast two sports live at any one time. In contrast, the 2012 and 2016 Olympics features live streams across the BBC.

Now, the mother of Team GB’s most successful star, Tom Dean, has said the scaled-down coverage “pains her” as a citizen.

Jacquie Hughes told Telegraph Sport: “The number of people that have raised this with me and said, ‘I can’t believe I can’t get all the games on the BBC…I’ve watched the Olympics my whole life’.

“It’s sad from a viewer’s point of view, but it’s funny for me having been party to those conversations and those debates my whole life – to be suddenly on the receiving end of it.”

Ms Hughes, who was head of documentaries and history at the corporation, sympathised with the BBC and said it is the “reality of modern global media”.

She continued: “It’s absolutely nothing to do with any history at the BBC, but it pains me as a citizen.

“I think it’s a reality of modern global media where it’s all about money.

“Obviously, the big American networks, including Discovery, have deep pockets.

“You have a set licence fee and if it’s spending it on the Olympics, people would moan that there was no drama. It’s sad.”

READ MORE: Michael Johnson hit out at ‘plastic Brits’ in Olympics rant

Tom Dean made history to become the first British male swimmer to win more than one gold medal at a single Olympics in 113 years after helping Team GB to secure victory in the 4x200m freestyle relay final.

Hours earlier, the Olympian won gold in the 200m freestyle on Tuesday, despite his training being interrupted after he caught Covid twice.

Luckily for Ms Hughes and her family, there were no interruptions when her son struck gold on both Tuesday and Wednesday.

However, others have hit out at the “disappointing” coverage by the BBC as the likes of tennis and rowing competitions were not broadcast live on traditional free-to-air.

DON’T MISS 
Social media goes crazy as BBC commentator ‘sounds just like’ comedian [COMMENT] 
BBC faces backlash after misgendering first openly non-binary Olympian [REVEAL] 
Team GB boxer walks out of interview after heartbreaking exit [INSIGHT]

Britain’s Olympic chief, Sir Hugh Robertson, told Times Radio: “It’s clearly disappointing if people aren’t seeing as much of the athletes as we would want.”

Mark Davies, the chairman of British Rowing, added: “I can’t find rowing anywhere since the BBC moved to this road cycling.

“I’ve spent the last 25 minutes looking on every coloured button and web page.”

The BBC also faced complaints after its BBC Sports Twitter feed announced results before viewers could see the events concluding on its live coverage on BBC One.

On Tuesday, the corporation came under fire after failing to notice Team GB win a bronze medal in the women’s team gymnastics event, the first medal in that event for nearly 100 years.

The BBC’s coverage was so focused on which of the two teams would secure gold, they failed to notice that the young GB team was also in a medal position.

When the bronze medal for Team GB was confirmed, one of the BBC’s commentators even stated: “We didn’t see any of it.”

The lack of attention to the GB team has prompted a furious backlash on Twitter, as the team’s success appeared to be just an afterthought by the commentators.

One person fumed: “Team GB have taken bronze in the women’s team gymnastics but you wouldn’t have seen that on the BBC iPlayer because it focused on ROC and USA and a couple of other teams performances than that of Team GB.”

“Such a disappointment considering we last won a medal in this event in 1928.”

A third said: “Criminal that we didn’t get to see GB get their first medal in the gymnastics though. Poor from BBC either way.”