SALLY’S GAMES DISASTER
ATHLETICS: SYDNEY 2000 had Cathy Freeman. Brisbane ‘82 had Raelene Boyle and Matilda. Gold Coast 2018 can bank on – anyone?
When news of Sally Pearson’s injury swept the Gold Coast early yesterday, locals felt like theatregoers who had arrived at
The Phantom of the Opera to be told the Phantom was having a night off.
That’s how much of a gap she will leave.
It’s not the gold medal that matters. It’s the poetic threads behind it that will be missed.
Images of Mum and hubby as she celebrated a gold a few kilometres away from where she once caught two buses to training would have been show-stoppers.
Australia will probably win 50 or more gold medals, so many that it actually dilutes the impact of each of them.
So much gold it will be hard to tell what really sparkles — which is where Pearson stands apart because hers would have been pure gold, and she’s a local.
When all the hype and hoopla fades from a Games there are normally just one or two iconic images that remain as historical bookmarks that live in the memory for ever.
And they can come from anywhere, like Andrew Lloyd bursting through the pack to win an incredible gold in the 5000m in Auckland, 1990.
Games need signature moments.
Some Games lack them. Can you remember your favourite Australian Commonwealth Games moment from Delhi 2010? No? Neither can I.
As exceptional as the Gold Coast opening ceremony was, some felt the one thing it lacked was the singular dam-busting moment that would enchant the nation (sorry, a naked bottom comes close but we can’t pay it).
After the Pearson news broke, conspiracy theories abounded about the timing of the withdrawal – but there was no sinister plot at play.
It was a big story but a simple one. Her temperamental Achilles was screaming “nooooooo” so loudly on the track on Tuesday that she could not even do a half-paced run-through.
She kept it secret so not to take of the gloss off the opening ceremony. End of story.
With Pearson gone, the challenge for the rest of Australia’s athletes in all sports is to provide the enchanting moment of these Games.
It could come from anywhere. It may not come at all.