Melbourne Commonwealth Games

[PeterB]

Back in 1982 I was in year 10 at school, and one afternoon we watched in class the opening ceremony of the Brisbane Commonwealth Games. The highlight of the ceremony was a giant model of a kangaroo (probably 5-odd metres tall), called Matilda, which perambulated around the athletics track, holding in its front paws the games logo, and at one point offering a huge wink to the crowd. I remember at the time that adults cringed at Matilda’s antics, while I thought it all a bit of fun. Australia did well at the games, but IIRC Canada outdid Australia in gold medals.

Well, now it’s 2006, and the Commonwealth Games are back in Australia – Melbourne to be precise, 50 years after the Olympic Games were held there.

And for whatever reason, at the moment I don’t really care. I think it has something to do with the way Australia has dominated the last few Commonwealth Games medal tables, with the remaining Commonwealth countries relegated to a support role. I suspect the people who selected the sports which would be contested at the Games focussed solely on those which Australia had a good chance of doing well at, and only included others which would be unthinkable to leave out (like track and field). It’s for reasons like that that I have to wonder why (for example) Sri Lanka has bothered to send a Rugby Sevens team – their game against Australia is not likely to be much of a contest. A lot of Australians seem to enjoy winning lots of sporting competitions, but I have to say that it rings a bit hollow when the competition is relatively weak.

In fact, if I have any interest in the games, it’s going to be to watch the performances of some of the smaller Commonwealth nations in some of the peripheral sports, or the sports in which Australia isn’t so dominant.

I suppose I’m vaguely curious about what will be in the opening ceremony – there’s word that it will include a flying tram, which is prodding my curiosity – but I suppose I can survive until tomorrow morning to catch some highlights on TV.

*sigh*

I must be getting old…

Still, on the bright side, I heard this morning that Fox Sports will be showing a lot of Commonwealth Games footage in the USA. So you never know – if the British Commonwealth is such a great group to belong to that the former Portuguese colony of Mozambique has joined it, perhaps some Americans might petition their government for the USA to join the Commonwealth, only 230 years after storming out in a fit of pique. The question would then be whether we’d want to let ‘em in… :-)

[PeterB]

Well, how right am I?

I watched the last piece of the opening ceremony, and I really felt something watching the small Pacific nations enter the stadium. To these people, competing seems a lot more important than winning medals. I've also enjoyed watching them compete.

The celebrations by the netball team of Malawi were also a joy to behold - they beat South Africa, one of the more powerful netball nations, so the win was quite an upset. And didn't the Malawians love it!

Finally, I've enjoyed watching the lawn bowls. There's a competition sport for people over 35! In fact, one of the best shots I've seen in the coverage was unleashed by the 63 year old captain of the Australian women's triples team. There should be more coverage like this.

Finally, what I'm really enjoying is watching competition involving so many people from around the world which have the Commonwealth in common. The Olympics are pretty much open to any country. But to get to the Commonwealth Games, your nation (or territory)must be part of the British Commonwealth, and in that respect it's great to see countries and territories as diverse as Barbados and Cyprus, Northern Ireland and Mozambique, India and New Guinea, Mauritius and Norfolk Island taking part.