From volunteers to man on the street, Aussies take great pains to ensure smooth Games
G'DAY, mate! How are you going? Jingeri! Jingeri means hello. It’s used by an indigenous group Yugambeh from the Gold Coast region.
These Aussie expressions greeted us whenever we met friendly volunteers at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in the beautiful state of Queensland.
These volunteers are everywhere like the sand of the golden beaches here as a total of 14,000 have been deployed for the Games.
And mind you, 75,000 had applied for the job. None of them gets daily allowances like our volunteers did during the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games. Now, that’s true volunteerism. They truly bring out the spirit of the Games – with their smiles and dedication to showcase their friendship and culture.
The organisers too have taken painstaking efforts to make this a successful Games.
Most of the roads leading to 17 world-class sporting venues across Gold Coast and in three event cities – Brisbane, Cairns and Townsville – have one designated Games lane.
It’s marked in yellow and unlike in Malaysia where motorists trail the ambulance on fast lanes, only authorised buses and cars are seen on this lane. No one cuts queue even when the lane is all empty.
Now, that’s a show of respect.
The facilities are impressive at all venues and athletes have given the thumbs-up to the Games Village too.
And there is the friendly mascot – Borobi, the blue koala that adds colour, fun and warmth to the whole ambience of the Games.
A teacher’s design was picked from 4,000 entries in a national competition.
What a creative way to get the community involved in the Games.
But not all has been smooth sailing though in the land of sun, sand and sea.
There have been teething problems but the hosts have handled it well.
Nine local television crew members had their media accreditation tags revoked after they leaked footage of the opening ceremony dress rehearsal.
The incident of syringes found at the Indian camp was dealt with immediately. They have been cleared of any doping violation but were reprimanded for their carelessness.
There was an alleged assault involving an athlete and official from Mauritius but it’s now under criminal investigation.
“There is zero-tolerance for poor, bad and abusive behaviour,” said Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) chief executive David Grevember. Now, that’s professionalism. Australia is showing it is doing its
best as the host of the 21st Games and they marked it with a spectacular opening ceremony yesterday.
The stage is set for a sporting extravaganza and today, all the focus will be on the 4,450 athletes from 71 nations here to compete.
One voice will be heard the loudest – of the locals chanting “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, oi, oi”.