OFF AND RUNNING AFTER 10 YEARS
Gold Coast at the start line after genesis for ambitious Commonwealth Games bid in 2008
THIS time next week the Gold Coast will be in the middle of the biggest event in the city’s history.
The opening ceremony of the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games on Wednesday is a moment the city has waited just short of a decade for.
The year was 2008 – Ron Clarke had just been re-elected Mayor, the global financial crisis was a handful of weeks away and George W. Bush was in the final months of his presidency.
On the Gold Coast the city was celebrating the excitement of the Beijing Olympic Games, oblivious to the devastating event which was just around the corner.
As the Chinese sporting extravaganza reached its conclusion, Premier Anna Bligh announced her dream of holding the Commonwealth Games locally for the first time.
Upon discovering that Perth was also considering a bid, Ms Bligh threw down the gauntlet at a Gold Coast Bulletin business lunch and declared the Gold Coast would undergo a billion-dollar transformation in an attempt to secure Games.
The ambitious bid took shape in the early days of August 2008 after Ms Bligh wrote a letter to Australian Commonwealth Games Association president, Sam Coffa, nominating the Gold Coast as a potential bid city.
Ms Bligh followed up the letter with a personal phone call to Mr Coffa, who was in Beijing at the time cheering on the Australian team.
Mr Coffa told Ms Bligh he wholeheartedly supported the idea to host the Commonwealth Games in Australia’s sixth biggest city.
“On behalf of the ACGA, I formally acknowledge your letter and advise that the ACGA Board of Management will, in the next few months, determine whether Australia will bid for the 2018 Commonwealth Games or future Commonwealth Games,” said Mr Coffa.
“If it is decided that Australia should prepare a bid, the ACGA will establish a process for determining which city will be endorsed as the Australian candidature.’’
At the time, Perth was the only other city to show interest in the 2018 event but it was believed Adelaide, Hobart and Canberra could make late bids.
Ultimately, the Sri Lankan town of Hambantota was the only other location to bid on the event.
Ms Bligh told the Bulletin at the time the Gold Coast bid would be overseen by a steering committee including Cr Clarke, a former Olympian, then-Southport MP Peter Lawlor and Commonwealth Games and Olympics gold medallist Glynis Nunn-Cearns.
The committee was chaired by then-Bulletin editor-in-chief Bob Gordon.
“There would need to be investment into significant new sporting facilities here in areas like swimming and athletics,” said Ms Bligh. “That’s why we’ve got a 10-year time frame. It isn’t something we can bid for overnight and that’s why we need to get out of the blocks now.
“I want the Gold Coast to have the most competitive bid. Having a 10-year planning framework gives us the chance to look at sporting infrastructure in a different way.”
Ms Bligh told then-West Australian Premier Alan Carpenter to ‘bring it on’ after he engaged a feasibility study to investigate whether Perth facilities could be redeveloped to host the 2018 Games.
“Ten years gives us the time to deliver not just the sporting infrastructure but also the transport infrastructure and other necessary requirements for such a big international event.’’
The Gold Coast won the bid on Saturday, November 11, 2011.
Sadly, Ron Clarke, who proved instrumental in securing the bid, did not live to see the Games – he died in 2015.