The Commonwealth Games were held here in Melbourne over the last two weeks and finished on Sunday night, to much popular acclaim from what I’ve heard.
A couple of strange things happened though, and I’d appreciate the opinions of Dopers regarding them.
1: A week into the Games, half of the Sierra Leone team (11 members) went AWOL from the Athletes Village. They have since been located and (surprise, surprise!) submitted applications for political asylum, and have been granted temporary visas until their cases are reviewed.
What gets up my nose is that the team was ‘sponsored’ to get here in the first place. Fares were paid by the Comm Games Authority, and a group of philanthropic Melbourne businesses and individuals got together to pay for clothing and sporting equipment to enable them to compete. They didn’t turn up for their events. :rolleyes:
I’m not concerned about the asylum applications: Sierra Leone does indeed sound like a poxy place to live. I just feel that seeing the team members came here as athletes, they should have done the right thing and actually competed in the Games, especially as so many people helped facilitate their inclusion in the first place. I reckon they were bad sports.
2: The Women’s 4 X 400m Relay was won decisively by the English team, but they were eventually disqualified after a protest by the Australian team (who came in second by a country mile, athletically speaking of course!!). It was an extremely minor infraction (the English girl was in the wrong ‘position’ on the track), and wasn’t even initially picked up by the referees who monitor the baton changeovers like hawks! But a protest is a protest and must be investigated. And the English team lost the Gold medal, and Australia picked up yet *another * one to add to their booty. :rolleyes:
I understand that rules are rules, but this wasn’t the 100m where every nanosecond counts. The actions of the English team did not disadvantage any other athlete, and did not give them an unfair head-start in the relay-leg being run. It was just a technical infringement, and would have made no difference one way or the other to the result, and I reckon the Australian team were bad sports in bringing it to the attention of the officials. The English team deserved the gold medal, and I hope the Aussie chicks get an allergic reaction to the metal hanging around their necks.
Perhaps the Sierra Leone team had no choice but to go AWOL and not compete? It’s possible they might have been considered a ‘flight risk’ by their own government - they could have had security guarding them etc. If they turned up to their events they may have been ‘arrested’ by Sierra Leone Security.
What are the circumstances surrounding their flit? Did they run off in the middle of the night and hide, or just saunter round the Olympic village not bothering to get involved in the Games and being really obvious? I guess that the sponsors who give money to support teams like these must know there’s a chance the athletes might claim aslyum and not compete.
I guess they wanted a new life, more than they cared about whether people thought they were good sports or not. This could have been their only chance.
Re: The Sierra Leone team, and to quote Annie, “When you gotta go, you gotta go.” Maybe that was the only time they were unsupervised enough to make a break for it. You can bet at the games themselves, they’d be watched like crazy. You see your opening, you take it. And I’d never call someone a bad sport if they chose to make a break for freedom over entertaining me on my television.
Re: The Aussie women’s track team- come on, ladies. If the English team interfered with you in some way, or did something unsportsmanlike, sure, go get 'em. But when you see a minor infraction from your position in waaaaaaay second place, go tellyour competitors afterward, so that they don’t repeat the mistake at a bigger competition. You got beat. Go do the classy thing and show your competitors respect.
I’ve been competing nationally and internationally for 13 years, and I wouldn’t be caught dead with a gold medal I didn’t earn.
Not to mention the ridiculously one-eyed and jingoistic television coverage. An Australian gets bronze? We’ll just ignore those other two people, even if they are standing on higher levels of the podium. Australian sports reporting has often been like this, but it sank to new lows this time.
I agree it was bad sportsmanship for the ladies team to protest abou the English, though it would be interesting to know who’s idea it was. Was it the atheletes or one of the team officials?
As far as the nature of the infringment, I see it as similar to the girls swim team who were disqualified at the olympics for jumping in the pool after winning. The teams were obvsiously the fastest on the day and it seems a little unfair to be disqualified for an action that had no bearing on the result of the event.
Also, no athlete takes part in this sort of event (Olympics, Commonwealth Games, World Athletics championship, whatever) solely in order to take part in the relay events. All of the English relay team were there as individuals - the relay was a side event (as it was for the other teams as well). It’s sad but not surprising if they weren’t aware of the minutiae of the rules, and it’s not as if the infraction gave them the slightest advantage. As far as I’m concerned they did win the gold.
On watching the replay it was obvious the English girl came out in third place and then walked straight in front on the Aussie girl who was in second place, perhaps the Aussie girl should have pushed her out of the way or explained the rules to her, having said that, one of the Aussie men in their relay event handed over the baton and then stood like a statue blocking the path of the following English runner, and no complaint was registered.
I think you underestimate the desperation that underlies claiming refugee status. Think how much you love your country. Then think what it would take for you to admit that your country was so appalling that you would rather die (one athlete’s words) than go back there. The female athletes were under threat of genital mutilation by their own families if they went back. I rather think that considerations of whether they escaped this fate before or after competing were not exactly uppermost in their minds. Sportsmanship did not enter into it.
Yeah. So what? At least it looks like some of the people there at least had a good time. It’s only medals, personal bests, and a few moments in the limelight.
Indeed, I think that most people claiming refugee status are quite desperate and see no other alternative to their dilemma. I don’t think that is necessarily the case with all of the Sierra Leone athletes:
Time of course will tell, and I do hope they are dealt with speedily and justly. I just feel vicariously cheated on behalf of all of those who tried so hard to give these young athletes an opportunity to compete in the Games.
Maybe if there hadn’t been so much obvious emphasis on Aussie getting as much gold and success as possible, the protest wouldn’t have been lodged. Was it lodged by the team – or by their handlers? “Aussie chicks”? Oh, good grief, kambuckta. :rolleyes:
Can’t say NZ is much different. We bash those who don’t live up to expectations. But seriously, it’s only as big a deal as you make of it yourself.
Personally, I thought they should have been renamed “The Melbourne Games”- and it’s interesting to note very few people up this way paid ANY attention to the Games, at least as far as I know.
What the hell was that crap in the opening ceremony with the duck? Even the commentators had trouble keeping up with it, and it stuck me as a severe case of over-indulgent wankery by Melbourne and Michael Leunig.
The infringement was only noticed by the Australian runners, who approached the officials (without their handlers in tow) not long after the completion of the race. I’m guessing it was the girls themselves who initiated the protest, but it might well have been done with their coaches approval. I really don’t know.
And it really doesn’t matter much. The facts are that the English team lost an earned gold medal because of the petulance of the Australians who ran second. Are we arguing that?
That’s Melbourne keeping up their rep as the “cultural centre of Australia”. The question is: what exactly had they been smoking when they came up with that?
I’d say the Aussie officials would have been backing them – but it’s sad, in any case. We do agree on that. Sportsmanship these days, however, is heavily linked to commercial value. Silver medals aren’t worth as much as gold, unfortunately, when it comes to advertising and promo revenue.
And to convincing more little Aussies that they, too, can be gold medal winners. By pointing out when someone else doesn’t absolutely follow the rules …
