Hanging out by the beach: Commonwealth Games set to begin
Tributes for Madikizela-Mandela at CGames
GOLD COAST, Australia, April 3, (AP): Sun. Surf. Security.
The first two have come relatively easy for organizers of the Commonwealth Games which begin Wednesday on the glitzy Gold Coast tourist strip.
The security will come from 3,500 police and 2,000 members of the Australian Defense Force who have blanketed venues and streets, protecting 6,600 athletes and officials and more than a million spectators who are expected to attend 18 events ranging from swimming
CGAMES
being held in 48-hour isolation until their illness subsides. Officials are keen to avoid any repeat of the norovirus — a stomach bug— which caused more than 280 people to become ill at the recent Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea.
“The country involved immediately isolated them,” Peters said. “There are no more than the initial three ... it doesn’t affect their training or preparation.”
Peters said of the 1.24 million tickets for the games, there were 140,000 still unsold. Organizers remain confident,
though, that sales will hit 95 percent of capacity.
The Queen’s Baton relay will come to an end on Wednesday, 388 days after it started. It has traveled 230,000 kilometers (143,000 miles) and Sally Pearson, defending 100-meter hurdles champion and 2012 Olympic gold medalist, will be among the final baton runners.
Meanwhile, a simple but heartfelt condolence book will mark the death of anti-apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela at the athletes village of the
Commonwealth Games.
Madikizela-Mandela died in South Africa late Monday night, aged 81.
A spokeswoman for Team South Africa chef de mission Ezera Tshabangu invited all athletes, not just South Africans, to show their respects by signing the book.
In an official a tweet sent out just after 1 a.m. Tuesday, Team SouthAfrica posted “Hamba Kathleen Mam’ Winnie Mandela, the mother of our nation. May her soul RIP. Condolences to her close family and friends”.