GAMES WILL BE DEFINED BY WAY THEY’RE PLAYED

“We can reconnect with the spirit Australian teams have played with in the past, a spirit that was once a source of great pride among our fellow countrymen and respect among opposing teams around the world.’’ Mike Hussey.

There has been some wonderful writing about what went down in Cape Town last week, when the cheating scandal plunged Australian cricket into its worst crisis in a generation.

Enough has been written now and certainly enough said.

But there remains something to be gained from this shameful episode for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

The quote above was penned by former Australian Test batsman Mike Hussey, a member of one of the greatest XIs to wear the baggy green during the 2000s.

Hussey was referring to the next steps for the Aussie cricket team. But those words could equally be applied to the Games about to begin.

There is a golden opportunity for our team, our coaches, our officials, our fantastic volunteers, indeed even for our spectators, to help use these Games to recast our nation’s sporting image across the globe.

As GOLDOC chairman Peter Beattie suggested last week, what happened in South Africa need not define Australians as sportspeople elsewhere.

The timing of Cape Town is not ideal for our Commonwealth Games competitors, as chef de mission Steve Monneghetti has acknowledged.

But he was right to send a clear message to our entire team that they can help restore a reputation that was once the envy of the world.

“We want to make sure people know that’s not the true picture of Australia’s sporting culture,” Moneghetti, the 1994 Commonwealth Games marathon champion, said in the wake of the scandal.

“It’s a home Games and therein lies a wonderful opportunity.”

We are all looking forward to some spectacular sporting action. There will be extraordinary feats at every arena.

But when it’s all done, when the athletes have packed up and moved on, what will we remember?

There’s every chance it will be an act of sportsmanship, of kindness, or of charity that will stand out the most.

One of the greatest episodes in Australian athletic history was not a gold-medal winning performance or the shattering of a world record.

It was the astonishing moment the world’s greatest mile runner, John Landy, stopped mid-race at the Australian championships, to help rival Ron Clark back to his feet after he had tripped.

Landy recommenced the race nearly 40m behind the pack, but streaked home to hit the tape first, although he was disqualified for stepping out of the track to help Clark (who went on to become the Gold Coast’s Lord Mayor).

Nobody remembers who actually was awarded first place in that race. They just remember Landy’s extraordinary sportsmanship. It’s a truism recognised by Hussey last week. “I’ll share with you something I have learned through the years,’’ he wrote.

“When you’ve finished playing, no one remembers you for the runs you scored, the wickets you took or the wins and losses you had along the way. They remember how you played.”

How good will it be for the world to remember our Games with fondness because of the way we played.