The 2014 Commonwealth Games have flown under the sporting radar, thanks mainly to the FIFA World Cup, but we are now less than ten days from the opening ceremony.
Taking place in Glasgow from the 23rd of July until the 3rd of August, the Games will feature athletes from 71 countries taking part in multiple disciplines across 17 sports.
Fans of sport are struggling with the nine-to-five struggle after the World Cup, Wimbledon and most recently the Tour de France have denied us our beauty sleep.
Now the Commonwealth Games represent 11 further nights of minimal sleep, as we stay up to watch our next generation of athletes compete for gold.
Despite team officials’ best efforts to make us all feel ill with those horrible team uniforms, I can’t help but be excited to see the nation dominate the pool, track and everywhere in between.
The team will be headlined by swimming superstars James Magnussen and Cate Campbell, and our golden girl of the velodrome, Anna Meares.
Magnussen will be looking for a dominant meet after struggling with the immense pressures placed on him by both the media and himself heading into London 2012. He is again the red hot favourite to win the freestyle spring events, but even without the superpower US swimmers around, gold is far from assured, mainly due to the presence of Roland Schoeman.
22-year-old Campbell is favourite in the women’s 50 metre freestyle event after a strong showing at last year’s Australian championships.
Meares will be looking to dominate the track now that arch rival Victoria Pendleton has drawn curtains on her illustrious career. She is favoured to add to her four Commonwealth and two Olympic golds.
The Australians dominated the 2010 Olympic Games in Delhi with 74 gold medals, 36 ahead of second-placed India. All signs point to a similar dominance on the medal tally, especially now that the shooting events have been cut. Both India and England, Australia’s two biggest challengers in 2010, have been successful in the past in these events.
There are 261 gold medals available in Glasgow across the aforementioned 17 sports, 44 of which will be won in the pool, historically Australia’s strongest sport.
All eyes will be on the netball final if, as expected, we see Australia versus New Zealand. The 2010 final will live in the minds of every single fan who watched that epic contest.
Also among the highlight events will be the rugby sevens, dominated by our neighbours across the ditch for too long. Australia wants that elusive gold at these games but to do so they will have to overcome the might of New Zealand and South Africa.
New heroes will step up, household names will be created, and an entire nation will be red-eyed for almost a further fortnight.
But there is nothing like sitting up late, with the heater on, watching the Aussies destroy England, New Zealand and the like.
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