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The Common-what Games?

Australian flag-bearer Mark Knowles. (AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy)
Roar Pro
5th April, 2018
7

“The Common-what games?” This is the response I got from a bunch of ten-year-olds a couple of days ago when I asked if they were excited about seeing Australia’s best athletes competing on the Gold Coast for the next two weeks. Their confusion was genuine.

I was initially quite surprised by this group of kids claiming to have never heard of the Commonwealth Games. I remember how excited I was as a youngster watching the 2006 Melbourne games as Anna Meares blitzed her rival Victoria Pendleton in the women’s 500m time trial.

I was in amazement as the late Kerryn McCann battled exhaustion to finish in the women’s marathon. These felt like significant moments in my young life, as what I witnessed developed my understanding that Australia was a sporting nation, a nation that achieved sporting success.

It is noticeable that that interest in the Commonwealth Games has dwindled away considerably since then. It was once an important link between the nations of the British Empire, one which united and displayed the strength of a global domain.

But the world of sport is a continually growing and expanding economically. The Games represents just another international event in the global sporting landscape.

This is the fundamental problem that grips event like the Commonwealth Games. In an already oversaturated sports market, the Games struggle to gain media oxygen.

As these Games begin, they have already been dwarfed by Australian cricket’s ball-tampering scandal. This while the AFL and NRL take up 90 per cent of space on the back pages, and the US Masters, one of the most prestigious sports events in the world, also begins over the weekend.

Cameron McEvoy Australian Swimming Trials

(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

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It’s a battle for the Games to grab attention regardless of when or where they are held. The current irrelevance of the games mirrors that of former world empire.

Coincidently, as the Commonwealth Games have declined, we have reached a critical juncture in Australia’s sporting history. Simply, we too just aren’t that good anymore.

In 2014, England won nine more gold medals in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games than Australia. The Mother Country performed significantly better than us in both the London and Rio Olympics. ‘The Missile’ misfired, the Kookaburras stopped laughing, while those on the velodrome found more punctures than medals.

Heaven forbid, we are now a cricket nation of bad losers and cheats!

Our identity as a sporting nation is under serious threat.

Now, these Games no one knew or cared about suddenly matter. What if we can no longer keep up with the international sporting heavyweights?

It is clear that Australia’s time as overachievers on the international sporting stage is finished. Just like in international politics, we have been sent to the bench.

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We can feign our international importance as much as we like, but we aren’t fooling anyone. In the end, we’re just that sideshow that will cozy up to the first-team players like the United States, China and Great Britain, hoping that sometimes they mention plucky old Australia.

We need these Commonwealth Games more than ever as it is our chance to reclaim our position as a proud sporting nation. Bring back the Aussie underdog who overachieves against all odds.

What is the national image of Australia without sport? I’m too scared to look.

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