Return of the Friendly Games
“Citius, Altius, Fortius” goes the famed motto for the Olympic Games. Faster, higher, stronger — noble goals for any athletic endeavour.
The motto for the Commonwealth Games is somewhat less strident: “Humanity, Equality, Destiny”. Excellence is on the table, but participation and fellowship are at the core. These athletes go pretty fast, quite high, rather strong.
The big sporting show on display for New Zealanders over the past month has made for a grim spectacle. All Black failure on the field, disruption and discord on the sideline.
Let’s forget about that for a couple of weeks, while becoming overnight experts on lawn bowls. The storylines out of the Commonwealth Games, which start today in Birmingham, will be
happy. At the Friendly Games, even defeat comes with a smile.
The reassuringly gentle tone and pace of the Commonwealth Games belie the magnificent determination of the athletes we’ll be following over the next two weeks. Don’t doubt the top-flight effort and preparation that has led to the performances. For many of those at the Games, these events are the peak of their craft.
But a lot of the codes on show have their biggest day at the other four-yearly show. Of the top 10 nations on the medal table at the Tokyo Olympics, eight are not part of the Commonwealth. Other countries — those less likely to have a military-like focus on creating robotic athletes — get to shine. Happily, some unique sports find their place here.
The International Olympic Committee’s drive to co-opt every sport, tap into growing youth markets and slap its branding on seemingly every endeavour is one of the more distasteful features of the modern sporting environment. The sense that there’s something a bit unseemly about the battle to win Olympic hosting rights doesn’t help.
Lawn bowls is unlikely to catch the eye of the IOC, but it’s a fixture of the Commonwealth Games. And there’s unlikely to be palms greased to win the hosting rights — the bigger dilemma is finding places willing to put their hands up to stage the thing.
That these events are not the pinnacle for many of their sports is what makes the Commonwealth Games special. They teach us that while excellence is awesome, inclusion and participation are the truly magical components of sport. That’s an important message for parents on the Saturday sidelines, for teachers, big-money sponsors and government decision-makers. And, the media, too.
In four years’ time, the Games move to the Australian state of Victoria. Hosting rights for the event in 2030, are yet to be decided. It could be time for Auckland to step up.