GAMES QUEST FOR CLOSURE

MARK Peters isn’t Robinson Crusoe in wishing Commonwealth Games and Closing Ceremony organisers could seize back a key 10-minute period.

The fallout for the way the presence of athletes was downplayed in the stadium and ignored when it came to the Closing Ceremony broadcast continued yesterday as the GOLDOC CEO was left to deal with prickly questions raised at the Estimates hearings. Mr Peters said the stadium lights should have been left on so the athletes could be seen.

Games Minister Kate Jones was happy to buy into the issue though as she offered her bit of advice for the Games federation – dump closing ceremonies at future Games events and replace them with informal celebratory functions for the athletes. She isn’t Robinson Crusoe in that regard either.

But if we are to look at the complete picture, our Gold Coast Commonwealth Games was an outstanding success – and that is what should be remembered in the decades ahead. Everyone who attended the sporting events says so, and Ms Jones yesterday used the results of a Griffith survey on the impact of the Games to highlight how the athletics and entertainment extravaganza generated $4 billion, with $1.7 billion of that going into the Gold Coast economy.

That’s a great result. The city also benefited from massive infrastructure construction that delivered stadiums, a new aquatic centre, a huge upgrade to many local roads and best of all, set a new era of public transport on track with light rail and its link to heavy rail at Helensvale.

Gold Coast movers and shakers, and the public, are united now in looking ahead to what the Bulletin describes as our city’s Golden Age, exploring what must be done and what can be achieved to take us from our moment in the sun with the Games to the next exciting level in city development.

Controversy over the Closing Ceremony was just a blip on the radar. Of course, Mr Peters wishes that part of the entire Games program could be reworked. We all do.

Will anyone worry about it in 10, 20 or more years, or will it continue to be controversial? We hope not. Memories are built on golden moments – and we have plenty from the Games to mine.