GLASGOW, Scotland — Twenty years after Australia decisively topped the medals table at the 1994 Victoria Commonwealth Games, little has changed.
Hilary Caldwell of Victoria took the women’s 200-metre backstroke swim bronze medal here Sunday in the 2014 Commonwealth Games behind two Aussies. Belinda Hocking won gold in a Games-record 2:07.24, Emily Seebohm the silver in 2:08.51 and Caldwell bronze in 2:08.55.
“Those Aussie girls are really fast. I knew it was going to be pretty quick. I was just off silver,” said Caldwell, the 2013 world championships bronze-medallist, who trains at Saanich Commonwealth Place.
“It wasn’t where I wanted to be [bronze-medal position]. Maybe my fitness was not the best this year. But it is always nice to be on the podium.”
It was the fourth medal for an Island athlete after four days of competition in these Games, to go with swimmer Ryan Cochrane’s gold in the 400-metre freestyle, Kirsten Sweetland’s silver in the triathlon and shooter Jim Paton’s silver in men’s fullbore rifle pairs.
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It was all Aussies all the time Sunday. Two decades after Steve Moneghetti ran across the finish line on Belleville Street in front of the B.C. Legislature to win the men’s marathon at the 1994 Victoria Commonwealth Games, fellow-Aussie Mike Shelley did the same in the Glasgow Green Precinct to capture the gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Perhaps fittingly, Moneghetti is the chef de mission of the Australian team to the 2014 Games. Two decades ago in Victoria, he scooped his infant daughter up into his arms after winning marathon gold. It was that picture which appeared in the Times Colonist the following day. You have to think those memories all rushed back to Moneghetti here Sunday when he congratulated Shelley.
Marathon day here — Flomena Daniel of Kenya was the Games’ women’s champion — was rainy and gray.
But it hardly mattered. There is no cloud that can cast a shadow on the friendly intrepidity of these Games. It’s near impossible not to like the Scots, and by extension, their Games.
The spirit of these Games, and by reverse extension of the Scots, is exemplified by the family Dilawar Singh Benning of Glasgow. A respected leader in the Scottish Sikh community and a former member of the Scottish Police, Benning has been awarded an MBE for his service. In the lead-up to the Games, almost his entire clan was out to cheer him on as he carried the Queen’s Baton at Ibrox the day before the opening ceremonies. That’s the Commonwealth Games’ version of the Olympic torch relay. Benning has been involved on several Games-related committees and his family all wore white T-shirts emblazoned with his current picture next to that of one from his police days over the logo: “Big Dad, MBE.”
These Games are special moment for Benning’s gracious family of life-long Glaswegians, representing several generations, and their pride in their city is palpable. Open and giving, they represent all that makes Scotland what it is.
The Games crowds here have been chivalrous to the extreme, lustily cheering athletes from all nations. At the rugby sevens venue at Ibrox Stadium, the Langford-based Canadian team won three games Sunday to earn the Bowl championship which goes to the winner of the consolation side. When Canada beat Uganda 32-0, the 50,000 fans chanted “U-Ganda, U-Ganda, U-Ganda.” It was nothing against Canada, which is well respected here, but the Scots just love an underdog. Maybe that’s what comes of living next to its giant neighbour England.
“It’s how these are different than other multi-sport Games,” said Suzanne Weckend-Dill of Victoria, who swam for Canada at the hometown 1994 Games and then competed in triathlon at the 2006 Melbourne Games, and is here in Glasgow as a sitting member of both the Canadian and international Commonwealth Games boards.
She pointed to the heavy UNICEF fund-raising aspect of the Glasgow Games.
“It is still top-level competition, but with so many things that are unique to the Commonwealth Games,” said Weckend-Dill.
There is still some life left in this loose collection of nations that share the bond of a common language and common history of once having been part of the British Empire.
“Ibrox was one of the best venues I’ve played in and the crowds have been amazing,” said rugby sevens player Nathan Hirayama of the University of Victoria Vikes, who helped lead Canada to ninth place here.
Said Canadian rugby head coach Kieran Crowley of Mill Bay: “We didn’t want to be where we were [consolation side Sunday after going 1-2 in a tough pool Saturday] but we made the most of it [by beating Trinidad and Tobago 33-0, Uganda 32-0 and the Cook Islands 50-7 to win the Bowl].”
But the Bowl isn’t a medal.
“Our goal was gold. Obviously that didn’t happen. But we never stopped and everyone stepped up today to win the Bowl,” said Canadian captain John Moonlight of Victoria’s James Bay Athletic Association.
The Canadians then took about 20 minutes to get off the pitch following their final victory over the Cook Islands, making a complete round of the Ibrox pitch with the Bowl while signing autographs, shaking hands and taking selfies with the fans.
Somehow, that just seemed to sum up this friendly Scottish city which is hosting the XX Friendly Games.
