commonwealth games

blueheeler
blueheeler Posts: 61
edited October 2010 in The bottom bracket
what does everybody think of the Commonwealth games?Anyone actually watching any of the coverage?It's all a bit of an anachronistic farce. Saw on TV two old dears from the Norfolk Island lawn bowls team being interviewed....they were having a whale of a time.
Anyway the Qld premier was in Delhi last week drumming up support for the Gold Coast QLD to be awarded the 2018 or 2022 games, estimated cost a billion dollars.Pity that money could not be spent on hospitals and schools etc.

Also a gripe of mine...athletes that compete for one country in a games and the very next one are allowed to compete for another. About 10 Sierra Leone athletes were granted refugee status after the Melbourne Commonwealth games in 2006 and 3 of them now compete for Australia in Delhi in weightlifting. A bit of a farce I reckon.

Comments

  • deptfordmarmoset
    deptfordmarmoset Posts: 3,118
    Yes, it all feels a bit like mock exams or dress rehearsals to me - serious but not quite the real thing.

    Still, I was very impressed with the young Welsh lass, Becky James. Very impressed.
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  • BigG67
    BigG67 Posts: 582
    They CG have been damaged by this one for sure. One thing that will help Glasgow is the date is back into June and so won't clash with major events for the likes of gymnastics and track cycling as this one has.

    Also the atheletes won't be as worried about illness. A lot pulled out because they are right at the start of their 2012 programme and 3 months sickness now would be a big issue in either qualification or training.

    I also heard that while Sky didn't put pressure on their riders they were told that if they went to India and got sick their contracts were at risk.
  • northernneil
    northernneil Posts: 1,549
    the rugby scoreboard collapsed today ........ I think it sums up this tournament
  • father_jack
    father_jack Posts: 3,509
    lol swimmers getting sick wonder if they pumped in water from the ganges.
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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    A lot of the fixtures and fittings seem shoddy. The long jump board moving, starting block not fixed properly, crowd noise and mis-interpretation of rules and of course sickness issues, all very shoddy IMHO.
  • Aggieboy
    Aggieboy Posts: 3,996
    Nothing's as bad as watching our swimmers on the podium, wondering what to do for the excruciatingly long time that Jerusalem is played.
    "There's a shortage of perfect breasts in this world, t'would be a pity to damage yours."
  • northernneil
    northernneil Posts: 1,549
    They have just revealed the 10M diving board is actually 10.7m high

    :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

    this is beyond a joke now
  • father_jack
    father_jack Posts: 3,509
    Have they found Mr Hankey in the swimming pool?
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  • Gazzaputt
    Gazzaputt Posts: 3,227
    Complete and utter waste of money that a country would do better spending on trying to alleviate the poverty there.
  • IronHorse100
    IronHorse100 Posts: 302
    Gazzaputt wrote:
    Complete and utter waste of money that a country would do better spending on trying to alleviate the poverty there.
    here here, we can't have these third world chappies joining in our fun.
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Gazzaputt wrote:
    Complete and utter waste of money that a country would do better spending on trying to alleviate the poverty there.

    You could say that about any major sporting event ever held.
  • acidstrato
    acidstrato Posts: 945
    yeah, forget about the jobs that it created in that poverty stricken country... or the trade it produced to obtain the materials...or the magnitude of tourism produced by hosting the event..lets just make more adverts filled with plenty of naked black children suffering from malaria so we can pay 150quid a year to watch televisions filled with adverts asking us for more money...great

    its just a shame that its all been really shoddy, the governing body should have been more responsible in over seeing the work and advised much sooner aboutthe health and safety issues
    Crafted in Italy apparantly
  • Sirius631
    Sirius631 Posts: 991
    Gazzaputt wrote:
    Complete and utter waste of money that a country would do better spending on trying to alleviate the poverty there.

    Whilst we are having the emotional blackmail over the poor kids in the slums the Indian government are waisting their money on the Commonwealth Games, nuclear weapons and space programs. In the meantime our manufacturing jobs are disappearing over there, pulling our standard of living down with little or no attempt by their government to raise the standard of living for their population.
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  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,463
    The organisation has been shockingly bad. On the sporting side it is a real mixture, at some events the standard can theoretically be world class e.g. distance running, track cycling, swimming (other than missing the Yanks) and much harder to win than European champs although in many cases this time around the best athletes are missing. It also provides a really good stepping stone for athletes in preparing for the Olympics. There are, however, a few sports there that make it look less than serious and there are athletes who are way out of their depths (e.g. a Kenyan swimmer or did the 100m slower than I can and I'm not even an average swimmer) although that's not necessarily a bad thing. I do like that they have fully integrated the para games with the main event rather than tacking it on at the end which with the Olympics always makes it seem like an after thought.
  • morstar
    morstar Posts: 6,190
    Sirius631 wrote:
    Gazzaputt wrote:
    Complete and utter waste of money that a country would do better spending on trying to alleviate the poverty there.

    Whilst we are having the emotional blackmail over the poor kids in the slums the Indian government are waisting their money on the Commonwealth Games, nuclear weapons and space programs. In the meantime our manufacturing jobs are disappearing over there, pulling our standard of living down with little or no attempt by their government to raise the standard of living for their population.

    They are clearing the slums (a la Slum dog millionaire) and moving the residents into new flats.

    Not as altruistic as it may appear though as the slums are on incredibly high value real estate. Think Kensington and Chelsea prices.
  • ilm_zero7
    ilm_zero7 Posts: 2,213
    Gazzaputt wrote:
    Complete and utter waste of money that a country would do better spending on trying to alleviate the poverty there.
    agree - way past their sell by date
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  • deptfordmarmoset
    deptfordmarmoset Posts: 3,118
    Still, the triple jumpers are coming on in leaps and bounds....
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  • northernneil
    northernneil Posts: 1,549
    morstar wrote:

    They are clearing the slums (a la Slum dog millionaire) and moving the residents into new flats.

    well it worked so well for us in the 60's and 70's :roll:

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