CWG, New Delhi: Washing machine dropped from balcony at the Australian team residence
The Commonwealth Games in New Delhi have been in the news for all the wrong reasons and once again they have come into the limelight as a washing machine was dropped at the Australian team residence from an 8th floor balcony. However thankfully
no one was hurt. The Australian team continued their winning spree at the end of the Commonwealth Games as they have been since 1986. They won 177 medals, which included 74 gold medals, 55 silver medals and 48 bronze medals. Their team was lead by Australian
swimmer Alicia Coutts in the Closing Ceremony who bagged five gold medals.
However, the Australians finished their tour of the Commonwealth Games on a sour note as an athlete from the 400 member squad was sent back home for bad conduct. The Indian media has slammed the Australian athletes for bad behaviour as many of them were
accused of drunken behaviour during the closing days of the Commonwealth Games. By this time, most of the athletes had already participated in their individual competitions.
The athletes have admitted that several of their teammates had been drinking alcohol during the last few days of the Games and were enjoying themselves as the Games were finally concluded with the Closing Ceremony taking place soon after.
However, their celebrations were cut short as a washing machine was dropped at their team residence from an 8th floor balcony of a 10 story building. However, according to reports, there were no reported injuries.
The Chief Executive of the Australia Commonwealth Games Association himself said, that the athletes were questioned by the police however no athlete was detained. Today however, around 300 of the remaining athletes boarded a chartered Qantas flight from
the Indira Gandhi International Airport and left for Sydney.
"There certainly was an incident with the washing machine,’’ Crosswhite admittedly told journalists before departure. ‘‘We don’t know who did that. Delhi police came around and they’ve done a report and an investigation and we’ll hear about that.’’
Crosswhite also admitted that a particular athlete was sent home before the Closing Ceremony of the Games for bad behaviour. However, he failed to give any names. Crosswhite said that it was a confidential matter between the individual and the team and that
he would submit a report to the relevant sports federation. Crosswhite was however of the view that such unfortunate incidents did take place and have been taking place since the 1976 Montreal Olympics. The end of competition celebration by the athletes has
always resulted in a few untoward incidents in the past.
Crosswhite said it was normal for such things to happen at the end of the games and admitted that his team have always been able to manage such things and move on. Crosswhite has been involved with the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games since 1976 and has
sufficient experience to deal with such incidents.
Meanwhile Matthew Mitcham, who is Australia’s Champion diver, alleged that he witnessed some eccentric behaviour from the athletes in the Athletes Village. Marathon Runner Michael Shelley also admitted that some people from his team were under the influence
due to post game celebrations and noticed some groggy people as they sat down for breakfast on Friday.
‘‘As you can imagine, the last couple of nights (there was) a bit of grog around. It’s just a free-for all. That’s the problem when a lot of people start celebrating together and alcohol gets involved.”
The Commonwealth Games were plagued with allegations of mismanagement and corruption, not to mention some missed deadlines and the collapse of a pedestrian bridge a few days before the start of the Games. However, Kalmadi, during the Closing Ceremony said
that the New Delhi Games were a success as the 60,000 strong crowd jeered him during his 4 minute long speech. He termed the games as “the most enjoyable Games ever. However, he was heavily criticized by many for serious mismanagement.
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