It's all been happening on the Gold Coast: the Games in a nutshell

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This was published 5 years ago

Opinion

It's all been happening on the Gold Coast: the Games in a nutshell

So to recap. The opening ceremony began well with lots of lights, movement and colour. OK, maybe too much colour, according to Pauline Hanson, but who is surprised or cares what she thinks anyway? Oh, Alan Jones cares what she thinks? Well, of course he does.

Aside from the ruthlessly overlooked meter maids and those who go searching for offence, the opening ceremony seemed to please most others and got things going tickety-boo even if we only got the dud royals, Charles and Camilla, to kick things off officially.

The colour and glitz of the opening ceremony.

The colour and glitz of the opening ceremony.Credit: AAP

The Gold Coast locals were so excited about how many people were set to descend on the place that they left. They thought it’d be like schoolies, only with people who had cash and didn’t put their pants on their heads … well, not until the rugby sevens was finished anyway.

The empty streets proved handy for the bus driver who picked up the Grenada beach volleyball team at Coolangatta to take them to their match. He was halfway to Brisbane when someone pointed out the beach seemed to be the other way. The presence of a beach is normally considered important in beach volleyball. Take note, Birmingham.

The bus driver turned around and headed back, and even had a police escort for the last leg of the trip – just to clear a path through the absent traffic. Organisers later explained the Fawlty-esque reason for the navigational problem: the bus driver was from far north Queensland.

Meantime, a Nigerian athlete protested in the athletes’ village that he was not being allowed to compete because it turns out he is not a Nigerian athlete. He is English. Well, he is Nigerian, too, but not for the purposes of these Games.

A Mauritian official was charged with sexually assaulting a team member and bailed to appear in court after the games. The charge doesn’t stop him travelling anywhere.

Asked what happens if he goes home and doesn’t show up at court, the police deputy commissioner said he would be served with a warrant. And then what? Well, the deputy commissioner said, it’s not an offence you’d be extradited for. Anyone surprised the official then flew out?

Wales' 11-year-old table tennis player Anna Hursey.

Wales' 11-year-old table tennis player Anna Hursey.Credit: AAP

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Meanwhile an 11-year-old Welsh athlete – that’s right, an 11-year-old – won her first table tennis match. Won as in not just beat her dad for the first time, she won her first match playing for her country against the best adults in the Commonwealth. It turns out that Anna Hursey is Welsh for overachiever.

By the weekend an athlete was admitted to hospital with malaria. But that was OK because it wasn’t the Gold Coast mozzies. The athlete had it when they got here apparently, so it's all good, unless you are the athlete with malaria.

Sally Pearson came and went in a day. She carried the baton or torch into the opening ceremony but the next day had to announce she was pulling out with an injury. Which made for a sad face for the Games.

Meantime, Australia splashed their way to seemingly winning everything in the pool. Mack Horton got stung by a bee and had his arm blow up but still managed to chase Kyle Chalmers home in the 200m freestyle for an Aussie quinella.

Cate Campbell proved the Games might be only of Commonwealth countries but there were still world-class performers there. Campbell posted the fastest women’s freestyle relay split in history as the team set a world record.

Then the Games got political in a good way, not the Hanson-Jones self-promoting sort of way. On Saturday, the beach volleyball held a minute’s silence before the Rwanda-New Zealand match to acknowledge the 24th anniversary of the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda.

"I think we need to think peace, sustainability and prosperity,” Commonwealth Games Federation CEO David Grevemberg said. "One of the main reasons Rwanda wanted to be included in the Commonwealth was because of these modern ideals of peace, prosperity, good governance and human rights."

Amen.

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