The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

Commonwealth gold not enough for critical sports fans

Can James Magnussen make up for his Olympic flops? (CHRISTOPHE SIMON / AFP)
Editor
29th July, 2014
5

Remember your school athletics and swimming carnivals, where everyone had a go even if you could barely swim 50 metres or run the length of a 400 metre track without getting a stitch?

The aim of the game was to have a go. Participation more important than the results.

Of course there were still the serious competitors, those who wanted to break long-standing school records and make it through to regionals, state or even nationals.

The Commonwealth Games encompass that on a grand scale.

Scrolling through social media comments there’s been a lot of negative feedback about Australia’s dominance in the pool, with the gold rush simply put down to the lack of serious competition from the likes of the USA, China and a plethora of European countries.

Regardless of who’s competing, it doesn’t mean our Aussie athletes are training less because they ‘only’ need to beat that English swimmer or other Commonwealth offsider.

In any sport upsets can happen and it’s never a case of simply turning up. If anything, claiming a gold medal when everyone expects you to win proves that you can handle the pressure.

In all Commonwealth/Empire Games, Australia sits at the top of the medal tally ahead of England, Canada and India. Australia has almost 200 more gold medals than the Poms. How is this not something to be proud of when we have half their population?

Advertisement

Saying the Commonwealth Games are a pointless competition is like claiming the Euro football championships mean nothing because of the World Cup, or the Ryder Cup of golf isn’t a true test because it’s only America versus Europe.

It will never be as big as the Olympics, we all know that, but Commonwealth gold is still an achievement, just like winning a ribbon at your first school carnival.

close