I’M BACK
MARK Stockwell, the man who helped win the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2011 only to be sacked as chairman six months later, will today be announced as the co-mayor of the athletes village. He will be joined by Olympic cycling champion Sara Carrigan. STORY P4
MARK Stockwell will today be named co-mayor of the Commonwealth Games Athletes Village, six years after he was controversially sacked as GOLDOC chairman despite securing the event for the city.
In what he describes as “the icing on the cake”, the former Olympic swimmer and businessman will return alongside co-mayor and champion Gold Coast cyclist Sara Carrigan.
The coveted role, which GOLDOC chairman Peter Beattie offered his predecessor in a private moment at November’s GC2018 Charity Gala, represents a healing for Mr Stockwell, who was dismissed as Games boss only months after heading the successful bid team – and six weeks after the Newman government won office in 2012.
“I’ve come full circle,” Mr Stockwell said ahead of today’s official announcement.
“I didn’t expect it (the sacking), I didn’t see it coming, but that’s all history now. The government of the day made those decisions and you just get on with it.
“I was just shocked with the way it was done. You pour your heart into something and then from that moment you’re not involved anymore.
“I thought I had the support but I obviously didn’t and I’m probably a bit annoyed with myself that I didn’t see it coming. I was just focused on the Games and the Gold Coast and the athletes. I wanted to use the Games to change the destiny of the Gold Coast.
“You’d have to ask others why they sacked me. I never asked the question.”
An appointee of former Labor premier Anna Bligh, Mr Stockwell led the city’s bid to victory in November 2011 before being named GOLDOC’s inaugural chairman.
A political storm erupted in May 2012 when he was dumped from the role by LNP Games minister Jann Stuckey, with claims of a “personality conflict” between the pair.
With Labor regaining power in early 2015, Mr Stockwell’s replacement, businessman Nigel Chamier, was later ditched in favour of Mr Beattie.
“I didn’t take it personally,” Mr Stockwell said of the axing. “I’ve spent a lifetime of understanding situations and I think it’s very important you don’t burn bridges.
“The important thing – and I would say this to a few ministers – is that Commonwealth Games ministers come and go and the reason you have a statutory body and independent board is to keep continuity and consistency through the different political cycles.”
Commonwealth Games Minister Kate Jones said Mr Stockwell’s greatest legacy would be securing the event for the Gold Coast.
“Generations of Queenslanders will remember him swimming his way into the history books but even more will benefit from his contribution to the Games.”
Ms Carrigan, who worked closely with her co-mayor on the Games bid, said his latest appointment was a “fitting end” to his Games journey.
“When I first heard (he had been sacked), my heart sank because I know how much he had put into the bid,” she said. “It’s so great that six years later Mark gets to come back and join those core guys he started the journey with … I think it’s beautiful.”
WELCOME back, Mark Stockwell.
The successful businessman, Olympic and Commonwealth Games swimming medallist and member of the famous Mean Machine relay team was far from “mean’’ yesterday as he shrugged off the slings and arrows of politicians who saw him as being from the wrong side of politics and dumped him from his previous Gold Coast Games role. Stockwell played a vital part in the Gold Coast’s successful bid in 2011 to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games. But then the Newman government, through its Games minister Jann Stuckey, sacked him from his position as Games chairman once it was in power in 2012. Stockwell did not dwell overly on that sorry episode yesterday as the Bulletin spoke to him about a return in the traditional role of athletes village mayor, a fun position he will share with a Gold Coast hero, Olympic cycling gold medallist Sara Carrigan, whose selection will greatly please Gold Coasters.
For Carrigan, the appointment reflects not only her sporting achievements and the high respect she has deservedly won, but also dedication and love for this city.