Alexjc

OH SO CLOSE!. But Yee found an extra gear in his stride... Nothing wrong with the river water... Silver!

Wow what a finish! Yee found an extra gear...Clearly there was something in that water!!! Congrats GB.

Triathlon...Must have been something in the water that has affected NZLs Hayden Wilde... Needs to hang in there...

Whatever was in the water clearly took a while to kick in for Hayden Wilde...

If you cut it right back to the two compulsory programs...Shouldn't be a major issue. If the add on's want in, let them fund themselves. (Bowls, shooting, Judo etc) Don't need a gazillion pound hip hop music BS opening ceremony...Just the basics. You don't even need the teams to march out. Just sit them in the stadium and then march the flag bearers out to take the oath. King Charles or the Duke of Edinburgh will open them, raise the flag, let go a couple of hundred doves, sing Flower of Scotland, fire off a gun salute...done! You could kick off the Athletics that very day. (actually...that sounds like the perfect set up...)

No Drones this time...Haa Haa.. Te Utu...(Maori for "revenge)

On the Medal table at last! As expected it was our Womens Sevens picking up our first Gold...and first medal overall. New Zealand - 19 v Canada 12. A great revenge on Canada as well over the Drone cheating incident over at the Women's Football...Was not expecting them in the final but I still can't understand why the Australians never noticed Canada pulling its surge forward tactics after half time... Now it's time to sit on our bums and do the rest...(Rowing, Kayaking, Yachting etc...)

40 odd years ago NZ hosted the Pacific Games in 1981(?)...I was a kid at the time but do remember them. about 16 Pacific Rim nations showed up including a sizable team from the USA. Very basic with Athletics, Swimming and a handful court and racquet sports that most nations played...I remember the Table Tennis going off as it got really good and became popular. One thing I do recall was the teams really enjoying themselves as it wasn't too rigid with security. We could recreate something like that. Albeit alliance nations only. Australia and NZ have never been invited to join the South East Asian or Asian Games...We'd be the odd looking ones and Australia would probably demolish the medals table.

As I mentioned above...The full blown CWGs era is over... But not for the Youth Commonwealth Games. This is where the Commonwealth Federation should focus on future global development. Our youth. The CWGs were from another era but now with regional games and global championships getting massive investments, national teams should be joining those.

Congrats to France in winning their home Olympic Sevens championships. Fiji can still feel proud of itself and still have another chance to medal in the Womens matches. I hope this Gold encourages Le Blu to step right up in 2027 at the Rugby World Cup and finally win the thing!!!

A close but no cigar moment in the pool today but no medals yet... Rowing heats starting to show potential for medals along with pedal power... Lets see how day two goes. BUT a sense of revenge in Woman's football as Canada is stripped of six crucial points after FIFA gave out its punishment over the drone cheating scandal.

Maybe because I'm over 50 now... but that was far too much and too long to watch. This beats my humble opinion of Sydney2000's opening (and closing). The French just took it to far IMHO. For me though, the Last Supper bridge act was over the top offensive. The upside-down raising of the flag is inexcusable! So sad as there were good bits and using the Eiffle Tower as a backdrop was brilliant, a pity the whole opening ceremony could have happened here. Sorry...not a fan of the LED flames for the cauldron. Understandable but some traditions should never be tampered with. No doubt LA28 will be thinking about the good and bads of this Opening...and so will the IOC. Defiantly not my favourite Opening Ceremony celebrations in my Olympic lifetime.

Don't blink or you'll miss them... A quick look at our contingent sharing a barge with other nondescript nations... My feeling is this was, naturally, a Francophone/Euro nations leaning opening...and probably Games.

Well... All I can say is they could've chopped an hour off it all. A great idea doesn't necessarily mean it will work in practice. Not the worst opening ceremony...if you could call it that. But not one of the best...(maybe because I'm old and grumpy now.)

It's that time again... Anything here involving the NZ Olympic team which has been predicted a minimum of 4 Gold medals and an overall haul of 14 of all colours. (This is about right as we transition through a generational cycle again) Not a great start even before the Opening Ceremony with the women's football team being spied on by the coaching staff of the Canadian team. But rather pointless as Canada beat NZ 2-1 anyway. BUT the real depressing result is South Africa men's Sevens knocking out the NZ Seven's team in the Quarter finals already. the first time the All Blacks Sevens will not medal at the Olympics. (and removing one of the predicted Gold medals) But the Oly Whites football team won it's first match against Guinea 2-1...Something to smile about.

The nightmare at Stad de France continues for the All Blacks as the Seven's team is knocked out of the Games before they have even opened...By their nemesis - South Africa. Just proving the fall of NZ's dominance in both forms of Rugby. Also means NZ's predicted Gold medal minimum haul of four medals just dropped to three.

CGF has run out of time to find a host for 2026. Cut it lose now...AND focus on the Youth Commonwealth Games...This is where you create good citizens of the World. Yes the CWGs in their prime was a great era, wonderful memories. But the post colonial World has moved on. We are in a totally different era of regional and cultural relevance now,

Ten years now seems to be the norm for preparing a city to host. At least SLC can make amends for the corruption issues over the 2002 Games...Which were very successful in the end. Also proving the western side of USA should always be the Olympic hosts in that part of the world.

The push (by others) for South Africa to host the Commonwealth Games began almost immediately after the election of Nelson Mandela as President. The country was pretty much at year zero and in a state of economic flux as all of a sudden, the World wanted in. It really only could've hosted the event from 2010 onwards as Fifa WC facilities were built during the 2000s. Cape Town 2014 was the missed opportunity IMHO... Why the most powerful country in Africa (at that time) acquiesced to Nigeria and its Abuja bid clearly showed a return favour over the 2010 WC. By the time Durban's amazing stadium, bid to host 2022 came around, the SA economy was in serious trouble...We had no idea of the global trauma that was coming, Durban needed Pretoria to help with costs. Durban pulling out early was probably a good thing...We got Birmingham, which I feel were the best games of the 21st century. (just, Manchester, just) BUT, moving forward...It's done and the CGF should focus on the Youth events for the future.

The CGF have asked Malaysia as a last resort to host the failing event. They will most likely say no as we are only two years away. This SHOULD be the cue for the Commonwealth Games Federation to finally call it a day for the FULL VERSION of the games...And move up the Youth CWGs as its focus. That version seems for in line to what the Commonwealth should be about...global youth development.

Agree, but Central Govt will support larger singular events such as the 2027 Women's Lions tour and the 2029 Lions tour. Probably help Auckland with a 2027 America's Cup host bid if Team NZ successfully defends the Auld Mug this year. Remember that the 2030 proposal is just that... A proper study will get back to Council in August. Already the proposal to move track cycling and some netball to Invercargill has prick the ears of that city as well as Queenstown for the mountain bike and BMX events.

now now now Scotguy...they call that idea 3Waters....

In its current form?...Yes they are done. You kind of felt it in Brum 22, the closing ceremony had a touch of farewell, but not we will see you again feeling. The games are too big and need to cut right down. The Queen passed away not long after Brum. It did feel like a proper end as she loved the Commonwealth. The sudden surge of interest in Christchurch is simply because the 50th anniversary of what was one of the finest CWGs ever hosted. It was also in a time when the CWGs were in the top tier of global track and field and swimming competitions. You could say the Brisbane 1982 CWGs was the last of these and of course the games nobody wanted in 1986 gave a double blow, with a boycott thrown in for good measure. We kind of have the commercialisation of Los Angeles 1984 to blame for the sudden diminishing of the CWGs. This allowed the IOC aligned regional sports events to do the same. Massive sponsorship poured into events that would become the Daimond League, singular sports like swimming, cycling, rowing etc tournaments had more lucrative pay days, and the now mammoth World Track and Field Champs...all the while building up to the Olympics which has now become a monster that needs a decade in preparation for a host city now. We need to look at the current Commonwealth as well. What's the point? The only thing we had in common was British conquest, and in most situations, it didn't go all that well. The world as we know it is moving away from the "post-colonial" era. Many nations are breaking ties down to a simple "hi there" at the UN, forming their own regional blocs...perfectly fine. So for me it's a YES to the current format of a singular city and 20 sports...Too costly, a strain on infrastructure, and not relevant anymore. If Christchurch wants to get the feels for 2030, let them but cut down the event calendar or do what they propose to do...Move events into the surrounding regions -Oh My God! where have we heard that before.???? (sorry to Sir Rols for the long rant...been alive too long)

We don't have a Federal Govt...New Zealand is not made up of a federation of states. We have a Central Govt. And yes, they would need to help out, as they do for international events NZ hosts. They are interested but 2030 could be cutting it fine and there is the large spectre on the horizon...2040.

Christchurch is looking into a possible rescue bid for 2030... https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjjoKLXsfSDAxUza_UHHUPXB4QQxfQBKAB6BAgHEAE&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rnz.co.nz%2Fnews%2Fnational%2F507397%2Fchristchurch-council-looks-into-viability-of-hosting-commonwealth-games&usg=AOvVaw0oAJNNIyldPdaiCRNyTXuL&opi=89978449 Facilities needed to host events would be provided within the city as well as other South Island centres. The report back into a hosting would be completed in August this year...