LET DOWN, BUT ALL IS NOT LOST

THE Gold Coast deserved better.

Our volunteers deserved better.

Our Aussie athletes and those of the world deserved better.

The wonderful young performers from across our city deserved better. And above all, Kurt Fearnley deserved better.

After an amazing and exhilarating 11 days of athletic prowess that electrified our city and wowed the world, the closing ceremony of our Games should have been our crowning moment of glory.

Instead it was sacrificed on the altars of pride, paternalism and runaway egos.

The anger and fury that exploded could so easily have been avoided.

The formula for this event has been long established: Celebrate the Games and honour the athletes. We get to salute the champions and relive the great moments before watching a party led by the athletes unfold. There was no need to change it. Indeed, if organisers were anxious about having a different ‘angle’, Kurt Fearnley was there to allay their fears.

What an inspired choice for our flag bearer. A champion on and off the field, somebody who inspires with deed and word. That was the greatest legacy of the Games themselves – the genius idea to integrate our disabled athletes into the event as never before.

Instead, it was replaced with a confusing and jarring evening of random virtue signalling and self-indulgence.

Indeed, the entertainment rolled out by the ceremonies’ artistic director David Zolkwer and executive producer Merryn Hughes left a strong impression they had not watched a single event of the Games.

The tosh they dished out was a disgrace, even more gallingly so because they charged taxpayers more than $45 million for the privilege.

But the greatest disappointment was denying the crowd at Carrara and more broadly TV viewers here and overseas, the spectacle of Kurt leading in the athletes in the traditional march into the stadium.

GOLDOC chairman Peter Beattie apologised for that decision. And so he should have, as chairman of the Ceremonies subcommittee.

It’s bitterly ironic that the athletes moment to shine was cut yet Beattie cut in with another tedious speech. In fact, all the speeches fell flat, because the stadium was half-empty. And no wonder, with tickets priced up to $350.

And yet despite this monumental cockup, all is not lost, not by a long shot.

We can look back on this past fortnight with tremendous pride. We showed we can put on big event as well as anyone.

The transport worked. The venues were brilliant. The Games spirit, embodied in the volunteers and athletes, was extraordinary.

As a result look forward with great optimism and renewed confidence.

Our city has proved its mettle. It is ready and able for any challenge.

It is onward and upward from here. Fittingly, it was Fearnley yesterday who put things into perspective.

“Right now, we have just finished the best and most inclusive Games we have ever had,” he said.

“It’s the best two weeks of my life ... Let’s just move on and remember the Games as the absolute success that it was.”