A brief look back at Commonwealth Games 2010
India won the bid to host the 19th Commonwealth Games which took place from the 3rd (opening ceremony) to the 14th (closing ceremony) of October. Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium witnessed the most expensive and spectacular opening and closing ceremonies of any sports event. Now that the Games have come to an end, some people look back it as a successful event while others consider the even not worth the trouble.
The Organizing Committee of the Indian Commonwealth Games made headlines in the domestic and international media for the last couple of weeks because of the controversies that did not seem to end in the Indian capital. As the preparation process kicked off, allegations, accusations and criticism followed from within and outside the country. The local Indian public had to suffer at the hands of inflation since the labour that was working at the construction sites of the venues demanded high wages. Where officials were accused of being corrupt, the country had its heaviest monsoon rainfalls in about 2 decades. Some of the half-done venues of the competitions were stripped off by the rainfall. As a result, the Organizing Committee failed to fulfil its commitment of finishing the construction of the venues and the Games Village on the given deadlines. The chairman of the Organizing Committee, Suresh Kalmadi and Delhi’s chief minister Sheila Dikshit constantly urged the international community to have faith in them and cooperate with the Indian administration to make the event a success.
As the officials and representatives of the organizing committee declared that the Games Village was now ready for lodging and messing, a huge deal of criticism followed from the Olympic Associations of all the participating nations regarding the living conditions of the athletes’ Village. The athletes who paid a visit to the Village said that it was unfit for human inhabitation. There were stray dogs in the vicinity and the hygienic conditions of the rooms and washrooms were not up to the mark. In one instance, a snake was found wandering in a delegate’s room. This really caught the attention of the international media. Yet again, the bed in another room collapsed as soon as the athlete sat on it.
To the disappointment of the fans and the Commonwealth Games Federation, a couple of high profile athletes including Usain Bolt, Elana Baltacha, Kevin Tataryn and Dietmar Trillus pulled out of the Games due to security and health concerns. This resulted in almost empty stadiums at all the competitions. The overall ticket sell out of Delhi Games was not more than 10-20 percent for all the major events.
Moving on to the health issues, the delegates were under huge threat of dengue and influenza epidemic in the country. Some of the Team India’s athletes were also laid down with dengue before the games started, and some officials became the victim of the deadly disease on the day of the opening ceremony. This news sent across a wave of fear in the delegates.
It seemed like one could finally relax and take a sigh of relief after a successful opening ceremony. Although, there were no major problems, but controversies did not part their ways from the Commonwealth Games. On the first day of the competitions, the scales used in the weightlifting competitions were declared to be inaccurate, and thus the weigh in events were postponed until the next day.
The Games proceeded with some anti-doping violations and a couple of disqualifications but the general atmosphere was not very negative. Following the tradition of the spectacular opening ceremony, the closing ceremony was, indeed, a splendid event. The fans and delegates enjoyed the event which was full of colours and music and bid a loving farewell to all the visitors and athletes who flew to New Delhi to make the event a successful and memorable. The flag of the Commonwealth Games was handed over to the Mayor of Glasgow, the venue of the next Commonwealth Games.
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