Aussies seeking relief from the crying games
Gold Coast 2018 is going to be leapt upon by a public in a state of some distress
THERE is only one subject dominating the sporting agenda Down Under at the moment. And it is not — at least not yet — the Commonwealth Games, which are scheduled to begin on Wednesday.
If ever there was a nation desperately looking for one event to provide salvation from agonising paroxysms of self-loathing and despair, however, it is Australia.
The old Empire Games may not be universally loved.
They may even, like the Commonwealth itself, feel almost heroically anachronistic in a world which is no longer defined by old colonial ties.
But, sweet heavens, Gold Coast 2018 is going to be leapt upon with gratitude and eager hope by a sporting public in a state of some distress.
We in Scotland know a little bit about that theme, of course.
For many, the arrival of Glasgow 2014 — a shiny, happy, familyfriendly antidote to the ugliness and repeated failures surrounding our football teams — felt like blessed relief.
That is as nothing, though, to the sheer euphoria likely to be experienced when the Aussies are given an excuse — a golden opportunity, even — to turn their attention away from the balltampering scandal that has so sullied the baggy green of Bradman, Lillee et al.
As a reminder of sport’s ability to deliver a swift kick in the waratahs when it’s least expected, the storm still tearing up foundations and laying waste to reputations here takes some beating.
In a country where cricket has always been a unifier, a national antidote to the competing football codes and their regional hotbeds, the revelations about cheating — and the tearful mea
culpa from captain Steve Smith, followed by the blubbing of Darren Lehmann and David Warner — have inevitably dominated the conversation.
Perhaps it wasn’t the wisest move, then, for your Sportsmail columnist to open the chat at a lunch with dignitaries, including a local mayor, by asking: ‘So, what about these cheating cricketers, then?’
After a round of guffaws, one of the guests responded: ‘Mate, have you ever heard the expression: “Don’t mention the war?”’
In truth, they were all desperate to talk about it. Eager to cleanse themselves, to put some distance between the nation and its most popular national team.
The message? This is not who we are. The Commonwealth Games, a celebration of all that is good in sport, is what we’re really about. It’s a grand thought, a welcome diversion. There is enormous pressure on Team Australia, then, to deliver what the locals are already calling ‘the gold rush’ of podium-topping finishes across almost every event.
It’s a pressure which will be familiar to some Team Scotland athletes, the veterans of Glasgow.
A feeling of expectation most definitely absent from the build-up here. And yet, with everyone from the chairman of Commonwealth Games Scotland down publicly declaring the intention to bag at least 30 medals — the target if these are to be our most successful overseas Games ever — it would be wrong to say our top performers have been granted a free hit.
They are a driven bunch, the elite athletes who will lead the medal charge here.
Talk to any of them and they will freely admit to putting pressure on themselves to succeed. With a selection policy that has, over recent Games, progressively weeded out the happy travellers who are just delighted to take part, the Scots are on a mission.
Yes, there are Olympic and World champions galore in the blue-riband events.
In the men’s 1,500m alone, for example, the athletes ranked first and second on the planet will line up alongside our own Jake Wightman and Chris O’Hare.
So winning any colour of medal in some of the more ‘stacked’ disciplines is going to take both a Herculean effort and a little good fortune. But, dammit, our lads and lasses mean business. They are not going to be easily denied. Not every time.
Not even by local heroes who are motivated to the max, eager to please — and fully aware that the sporting self-esteem of 24million souls depends on them delivering gold over these next two weeks.