Allison (48), the chief executive of the Central Lakes Trust, will concentrate on athletics and will give a comprehensive coverage of the track events.
He is part of the TVNZ team of 160 that will be providing coverage of the Olympic Games in Beijing in August.
Allison will be based at the main stadium and will be part of a team including Nigel Avery, who will look after the field events, and Australian Caroline Swallow, who will give expert comments.
Avery won two golds and a silver medal in weight lifting at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. Swallow is a former Australian Olympian in the 10,000m and the marathon.
It is the same team that worked together at the Commonwealth games in Melbourne two years ago.
TVNZ has the world feeder rights for athletics and will supply commentary to overseas networks.
"I will be covering every track event, including the heats and qualifying rounds, quarterfinals, semifinal and finals," Allison said.
It is unlikely that any of Allison's commentary from the main stadium will come back to New Zealand, but his voice is expected to be heard from the marathon and triathlon.
At the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, Allison worked from a studio in the city. This time he will be based at the main stadium.
"It's a thrill to be involved," Allison said.
"I've never been to an Olympics before. I'm looking forward to it."
Does Allison foresee any problems?"The biggest challenge will be to identify the athletes," he said.
"It's a huge event with the sheer number of competitors. There is a lot of background work to do before I go to Beijing."
Allison has a comprehensive background in sport that will fit him for the Olympic role.
He is a member of the nine-strong board of Sparc, the Crown entity responsible for promoting, encouraging and supporting sport and physical recreation in New Zealand.
He resigned last July after 14 years as chief executive of Sport Otago, has made a big impact on sport as a competitor, administrator and broadcaster. He is a former New Zealand marathon representative and holds the record in Dunedin's Moro marathon with the time of 2hr 24min 31sec he ran in 1993.
Allison ran 28 marathons during his long competitive career in athletics. Ten of these were overseas.
His best time of 2hr 18min was run at Long Beach, California, in 1993 when winning the Pacific Rim title.
His most interesting marathon was in 1992, when he finished fifth in the Hong Kong marathon that finished in mainland China before the reunification of the two countries.
It was the first race that crossed the border into the then heavily restricted Communist China.
Allison finished fifth in the race but had the distinction of leading the field across the border. Allison is in his 16th year as radio rugby commentator from Carisbrook.
"I've missed only one game in that time, when I was at the Commonwealth Games," Allison said.
"I will miss two of Otago's Air New Zealand Cup games when I'm at the Olympics."
