IRONING OUT POOL BUGS

SWIMMING Australia’s decision to stage Commonwealth Games trials at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre is exciting news.

It is a development this newspaper tipped but also one that will have local swimming administrators, the city council and the State Government breathing a collective sigh of relief.

Many Gold Coasters might be surprised by that, believing that conducting trials at Southport in February to select the Australian swimming team should have been a lay-down misere. After all, our $41 million aquatic centre is the venue for the Games swimming and diving.

Unfortunately, it stumbled at its first major event. The Pan Pacific swimming championships held at Southport in August 2014 was to be a true test of running a major international event there. But the weather had other ideas as driving rain and high winds hammered the city, ramming home an inconvenient truth with staging world-class competition: international events need a roof to protect swimmers, officials and that very soaked public who had packed the stands.

The word afterwards was the pool would be lucky to host any other major event, apart from the Commonwealth Games. Australia’s leading swimming coach Jacco Verhaeren was still warning last year that the pool risks becoming a white elephant if funding is not found for a roof.

We’re still awaiting the judges’ decision on that, but at least Southport will now have another major hitout as it prepares to host the Games.

Punters rushed the ticketing organisers when swimming seats went up for grabs in the Games ballot. If you missed out – and most people did – then the trials will provide an excellent opportunity to see our nation’s best in action. Just take a brolly.