Commonwealth Games 2010: Australian athletes threaten to boycott Closing Ceremony
The crisis hit event is finally drawing to an end. With intense competitions and criticism from all corners, the 12 day Commonwealth Games in New Delhi will come to an end on Thursday. The pre-Games scenario did not seem very promising. India’s administration and the CW Organizing Committee were constantly criticised in the headlines of international and domestic media. At one point, the Games Village and other venues received scathing criticism along with the security in the country.
The officials of the Organizing Committee took a sigh of relief after the Opening Ceremony concluded on a successful note. It was a house-full event, enjoyed by everyone who was there at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi. The Games progressed, some usual problems came along. Today is the last day of the competitions and the Delhi Games will come to a close tomorrow. Fans and delegates are expecting another spectacular event at the Nehru stadium, quite like the Opening Ceremony. Where everyone is excited for tomorrow’s event, the Australian delegation has threatened the organizers of a boycott of the Closing Ceremony if the conditions which troubled them in the Opening Ceremony are not improved. The presence of Team Australia is particularly important since the team dominated the Delhi Games with the highest medal tally.
When the chef de Mission of Team Australia Steve Moneghetti was asked about the boycott, he said that the athletes were made to wait outside the stadium in a tunnel which had a temperature of 40 degrees, for more than one hour before the Opening Ceremony. The threat was made by the chief of the Australian Olympic Association, Perry Crosswhite during talks with the Organizing Committee officials in Delhi. Australia has a cooler climate and thus so much heat was understandably unbearable for the delegation. The chef de Mission said that the athletes and delegates are looking forward to the closing ceremony that is scheduled on the 14th of October 2010, but will not attend it unless their problems are not addressed properly by the officials of the Organizing Committee. Steve also suggested that the team can be made to wait in the warm up area outside the stadium instead of the “Tunnel of h**l”, as he called it.
Australian athletes will be heading towards the final events today. Team Australia consists of 380 athletes who have won 68 gold medals so far.
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