It was a moment of national pride for Italians watching the glitzy opening ceremony of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics live on state broadcaster Rai earlier this month.
But for Paolo Petrecca, whose gaffe-ridden commentary of the event went viral and became a national embarrassment, it signalled the end of his broadcasting career.
Petrecca, the head of Rai Sport, has handed in his resignation after his litany of on-air errors broadcast to an audience of 9.2 million viewers prompted a brief strike by news journalists.
His tenure will end at the end of the Games, and he will not be commentating on the closing ceremony.
Petrecca had been a last-minute stand-in, because the original commentator was dropped for revealing a "sensational surprise" element of the ceremony by mistake.
