Australians retain affection for Commonwealth Games
Julian Linden
The Commonwealth Games remain as important to Australians today as they ever did.
In an age where there are greater challenges and richer prizes on offer in sport, Australians still retain a genuine fondness for a festival most would agree has little relevance in the 21st century.
Winning most of the medals helps of course, so does beating their old imperial masters, but that is only a small part of the lingering appeal.
According to Arthur Tunstall, the sometimes-controversial former Australian Commonwealth Games Association (ACGA) secretary, it is that link with the colonial past that makes the Commonwealth Games so popular in Australia.
While the old ideals of the Olympics have been obscured in a whirl of corruption, politics, commercialism and drugs, the Commonwealth Games have remained frozen in time.
"Why do we love the Commonwealth Games? Well that's easy, it's because they're the friendly games," Tunstall said.
"They're not the Olympics and no-one is pretending they are. They really are the friendly games. They allow the youth of the Commonwealth to come together and play sport."
RIVALRY
Australia's nostalgic love affair with the old Empire Games should not be confused with their approach to competing in the Games. Friendly they may be, but Australians treat the Games seriously and desperately want to win.
The Australian network that won the television rights to this month's Manchester Games will broadcast 18 hours of action each day for 11 days, with a crew of about 280 working on the coverage.
Millions of dollars are poured into the various training programmes and the competition for places in the squad is fierce with threats of legal action following almost every team announcement.
That dogged approach has helped Australia to become the dominant power in the Commonwealth, which in turn has helped fuel the interest in the Games. Australia have finished at the top of the medals count at each Commonwealth Games since 1990, winning a record 80 gold medals in Malaysia four years ago.
In all, they have captured a staggering total of 564 gold medals since the Games began in 1930, well ahead of England with 488 and Canada on 356.
Their team for Manchester's July 25 to August 4 event numbers around 520, including officials, the biggest ever for a Commonwealth Games.
MOTIVATION
The motivating force behind Australia's success has been in trying to beat England. Australians have been obsessed with beating the English since the early days of settlement.
As a former penal colony, Australia was considered inferior to England. The only place where the countries could meet on equal terms was the sporting field and it was there that Australians first developed their proud sense of patriotism.
"We're mad sports lovers and we've been on top at the Commonwealth Games for quite a while so it's a matter of prestige for our country now," Tunstall said.
"The fact is Australians do like to win medals and to be on top. We're out to beat anybody, but especially the poms (English), because they're our number one rivals."
Australia demonstrated through its brilliant staging of the Sydney 2000 Olympics that it is capable of holding its own on a much bigger stage but it remains committed to the Commonwealth Games with Melbourne already confirmed as the 2006 host city and public interest in Manchester building up.
