Anyone getting excited about the Commonwealth Games?
I can’t say that I am. Except perhaps for the cycling, its pretty hard to say its international competition of the highest standard. As of now, Australia is, as usual, dominating the medal count.
| Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS | 23 | 15 | 18 | 56 |
| ENG | 8 | 11 | 6 | 25 |
| IND | 7 | 3 | 1 | 11 |
| SCO | 4 | 4 | 3 | 11 |
| RSA | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
We’ll come back to the field a bit next week, because we suck at track and field and boxing and stuff like that, but will still dominate the games. I suppose Australian competitors can only beat the competition that they face, but in general its not all that strong. Whatever happened to Canada in swimming - in the 70’s and 80’s they were right up with Australia, but now they’re hardly noticeable.
While I thought it really good in Kuala Lumpur and Manchester that Aussies won just about everything at the Commonwealth Games, its just not as exciting anymore. “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oy, oy, oy” just doesn’t cut it anymore. (Its a bit like the mighty Canberra Raiders - when they won their first premiership in 1989 it was really exciting and Canberra really buzzed about it, when they won again the next year, it was a bit ho hum, I think because they were so dominant that winning was inevitable and expected.)
My favourite sport in the games is the cycling - its of a high standard, with Australians and English being world champions in many events. Its all pretty close, too. Some of those races are crazy - the madison especially (when’s it on?).
Things I don’t like about the games so far:
- commentators (this seems to be a Channel 9 thing) referring to them as the “Comm Games”
- Darrell Eastlake - just heard him doing commentary on the weighlifting. I know Channel 9 caters for the yob demographic in its sporting coverage, but please don’t inflict Big Dazza on us. I thought he’d disappeared from the airwaves forever years ago - wasn’t sure he was even still alive until I heard him tonight.
- Nicole Livingston in the swimming commentary - seems to see her role as chief apologist for those swimmers who don’t do as well as expected (instead of this, they should be shamed for letting their country down …. and pissing taxpayers’ money down the drain by not winning)*
* just joking - I know the glory is in competing and trying your best (I just object to my taxes paying for them to enjoy their favourite sport).
Technorati Tags: Commonwealth Games, medals, cycling, commentators, Channel 9, Darrell Eastlake
