A dedicated thread for all thing leading up to and including the Commonwealth Games which officially start on 15 March. News, views and images before and during the games.

um ya no offence but WHAT THE F*CK is doing in the sa forum

Commonwealth village filling up

06 March 2006

By Ahmer Khokhar

Northern Ireland's Commonwealth Games athletes could be left without a bed during the week-long competition if they delay checking into the already crammed Games Village in Melbourne.

With the village only able to hold about 4,500 people, Northern Ireland's 63 competitors and their officials will face a tight squeeze.

The shortage of beds is shaping to be so acute that village mayor Steve Moneghetti could lose his bed.

Final team sizes were submitted to Melbourne 2006 organisers more than two weeks ago, and although organisers are yet to release exact athlete numbers, Mr Moneghetti conceded yesterday it would be a tight fit at the Parkville Village.

"I want to make sure athletes have got room out here and it's pretty tight so if I've got to leave because an athlete takes my bed then so be it," he said.

The lack of space means very few team coaches and officials will be able to stay at the venue.

"We were worried we weren't going to get enough athletes out here, and now we've got so many we are only just getting them in," Mr Moneghetti said.

Many nations have confirmed that they will rotate athletes through beds in the village to make the numbers work, and have paid for motel accommodation to house their coaches and officials.

Eleven sports including athletics, badminton, boxing, cycling, swimming and shooting, will be represented by Ulster competitors.

Among those competing is medal hopeful David Calvert. The five-times gold medal winner is heading the team of shooters and will be defending his full-bore rifle title and the pairs in tandem with Martin Millar.

The bowlers will also have a strong hand in Margaret Johnston who has been at the top of her sport across the last three decades and clinched a record third World Bowls title in 2004.

The 62-year-old also has Commonwealth singles gold and bronze to her name as well as gold in the pairs.

____________________________________________________________________

Beer's up, and village running
Ellen Whinnett
07mar06

IT wasn't just the team flags hanging out the window that showed the Commonwealth Games village in Parkville had opened.

It was the slabs of beer carried in on the shoulders of team officials that showed the visitors were making themselves right at home.

The village is open for business and by today, an estimated 2000 of an expected 6100 athletes and officials from 71 nations will have taken up residence.

The Herald Sun was the first media outlet to enter the Games village, and found a happy, carnival atmosphere and athletes relaxing before competition starts next week.

Street performers on stilts wandered about the international zone. Another dressed as a butterfly flitted in and out of the small retail area.

Inside, there were few takers at the day spa, although one official stopped by for a short back and sides.

Sponsor NAB had a branch set up, and a florist shop, corner store, phone shop and souvenir shop were doing little trade.

In the games room, athletes from Namibia were ensconced in white beanbags, fiercely contesting computer games, while others played eight ball or watched pay TV.

Namibian swimmer Alexander Ray said he was enjoying the village, and that yesterday's cooler temperatures were a pleasant change from the African heat.

The bar, known as the Local, was open for business but the only customer was village mayor and ex-marathon runner Steven Moneghetti, who savoured a bottle of water after going for his daily hour-long run around the village.

The official beer, Crown Lager, was on sale at $6.50 a pop, but downstairs the Welsh team had taken matters into their own hands, carrying in two slabs of Melbourne Bitter.

The distinctive red and white maple leaf of the Canadian flag fluttered proudly from a window, and the Welsh flag in another corner showed where the beer was headed.

About 80 Australian athletes and officials have moved in, including the synchronised swimming team.

Moneghetti was preparing for a welcome ceremony for the Isle of Man team.

Each team is officially welcomed to the village with an Aboriginal ceremony, the playing of their country's national anthem, and the raising of a flag.

Cheerful volunteers in blue and orange milled about, and Moneghetti said they were already becoming a highlight of the Games across Melbourne.

"Three countries have specifically mentioned to me how friendly they are," he said.

"I get a bit caught up in it myself too. It's pretty exciting for me." ____________________________________________________________________


Games athletes forced to rent fans
March 7, 2006

COMMONWEALTH Games athletes have been forced to rent fans because air-conditioners have not been installed in their Melbourne Games village.

Several teams have placed urgent orders for fans after scorching temperatures at the weekend, News Limited newspapers reported today.

Games organisers did not install airconditioners or cooling fans, despite the $90 million budget for Parkville village.

The Canadian team ordered 100 fans on Saturday, one for each bedroom, team spokesman Derek Johnston said.

"It will help make the sleeping hours more bearable," he told News limited.

"When I came from Ottawa, the capital of Canada, it was minus -20C so in one jump I've gone to 35C," he said.

______________________________________________________________________


The Commonwealth Games: Village people

Fri 24 February 2006
Comm Games village

Parkville will be home to athletes and officials from 71 countries during the Commonwealth Games. Police Life spoke to the police who will oversee law and order in the village. By Tamara Heath

When the $90 million Commonwealth Games athletes’ village becomes home to more than 6000 athletes and officials next month, it will be, at least for the duration of the Games, the largest accommodation facility of its type in the Southern Hemisphere.

The 27-hectare village has been built on the site of a former psychiatric hospital in Parkville in Melbourne’s inner-north and boasts hundreds of apartments, town houses and tents, as well as nine staffed resident centres offering services such as laundry, and a 100 metre-long dining tent that can accommodate 2000 people and is expected to serve 20,000 meals a day during the Games. Up to 30 people will live in each house, with one bathroom to share between each five residents.

Policing this home away from home will be the responsibility of the Commonwealth Games Planning Office’s Inspector Matthew Ryan and Senior Sergeant Neil Paterson and a team of carefully selected senior sergeants, sergeants, senior constables and constables from across Region 2 Division 1.

The team will staff a 24-hour temporary police station within the village and be responsible for providing a visible policing presence and dealing with any criminal or disorder issues that arise. They will conduct foot, bicycle and vehicle patrols in addition to staffing the police station.

The team will also help maintain security in and around the village, including policing the village’s exit and entrance points.

Sen Sgt Paterson said the police chosen for village duties would be the public face of Victoria Police for many Games participants and, as a result, had been selected for their professionalism and flexibility.

“It is going to be a really exciting environment to be working in and these police will professionally represent the organisation,” Sen Sgt Paterson said.

“Village police will be dealing with high-profile athletes, as well as prominent officials, many of whom are community leaders in their country of origin, sometimes even royalty.

“High-profile figures such as The Queen, Australian Prime Minister John Howard and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are also likely to visit.

“This means that Victoria Police, through its work at the village, is effectively on show to the representatives of 71 countries across the world.

“We want every village resident to go home with a good impression of the organisation and its staff.”

Police and team officials are expected to begin moving in on 27 February. The first athletes will begin moving in on 5 March, with all residents required to leave by 29 March, three days after the Games finish.

The village police station was officially launched by Ms Nixon on 5 February. In addition to the main Parkville village, there are three regional accommodation venues.

The venue in Bendigo will house about 100 athletes and officials, including shooters and basketballers. Venues in Ballarat and Traralgon will house basketballers during regional matches. Technical officials, such as timekeepers and scorers, and members of the Commonwealth Games Federation will be housed in hotels in central Melbourne.

For more information on Victoria Police's role during the Commonwealth Games, see Police Life February edition out now.

__________________________________________________________________

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um ya no offence but WHAT THE F*CK is doing in the sa forum
I kinda agree with u there, but its nice just to keep the guys up to date on SA's performance in the games, so rather make a thread for the SA team goin to the commi's rather than just the commonwealth games.

by the way they got a basturd stadium!!!!
http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/5398/picture0217we7os.jpg

Ian Thorpe withdraws from Commonwealth Games
WebPosted Tue, 07 Mar 2006 11:47:06 EST
CBC Sports

The 2006 Commonwealth Games took a major hit Tuesday when two star athletes – Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe and British distance runner Paula Radcliffe – pulled out.

Thorpe has bronchitis and a viral infection, while Radcliffe cited a foot injury as the reason why she won't compete at the Games, scheduled for March 15-26 in Melbourne.
Illness has forced Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe to withdraw from the Commonwealth Games. (CP Photo)

"It is very frustrating, it is very disappointing that I cannot be part of the team competing in Melbourne," Thorpe, an Olympic and world champion, told a news conference.

"I have struggled for the last three weeks to overcome my illness. It's been a very trying time, a difficult time. It was difficult coming to terms with not being able to compete, but in the end it was the only decision I could come to – I would have done more damage than good if I had competed."

Melbourne would have been Thorpe's first major competition since the Athens Games. He skipped last year's world championships in Montreal.

A five-time Olympic gold-medal winner, Thorpe was due to compete in the 100-metre and 200-metre freestyle events, as well as the three relays.

Thorpe won three gold medals and two silvers at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and two golds, a silver and a bronze at the 2004 Athens Games. He also won 10 Commonwealth Games gold medals during his career.

Radcliffe, winner of the 5000-metre event at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, was favoured to win the 10,000-metres this time around.

Radcliffe also holds the world record in the women's marathon.

She injured a foot during training in Albuquerque, N.M.

"It reared up again at the end of January and we feel it would be stupid, too much of an unnecessary risk, to compete in Melbourne," Gary Lough, her husband and manager, said.


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THERE are 71 nations in the Commonwealth, representing over a third of the world's population and all are expected to compete.

The event includes 12 individual and four team sports involving 24 disciplines.

Athletics, boxing and swimming are the only sports to have been at every Games since the first one in Hamilton, Canada, in 1930.

Team sports were introduced in Kuala Lumpur in 1998 and each Games must have a minimum of two and a maximum of four. This year's team sports are basketball, hockey, rugby sevens and netball.

England will be looking to improve on their 2002 tally of 165 medals, which included 54 golds and put them second in the medal table behind Australia.

Some 80,000 fans will pack into the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for the opening ceremony.

Melbourne is the fourth Australian city to host the Games following Sydney (1938), Perth (1962) and Brisbane ( 1982).

MELBOURNES MAGNIFICENT AQUATIC CENTRE

A real example of an intelligent solution for an indoor aquatic venue.


http://www.majorprojects.vic.gov.au/doi/doielect.nsf/2a6bd98dee287482ca256915001cff0c/7e20f9f298fd6379ca257118001badd1/$FILE/msac01.jpg

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http://www.majorprojects.vic.gov.au/doi/doielect.nsf/2a6bd98dee287482ca256915001cff0c/8ab05d126fd09956ca257118001bc32f/$FILE/msac04.jpg

^^ Clever asstralians, putting a canvas over the pool!

the pool is new...this is something the ozzies prob did in one year, athens had 7 years..cudnt even put a roof over the pool...its prob been done before on a few occassions but a roof like this does lower the costs involved in constructing a brand new aquatic centre that is just too large to be sustainable in the future....the trends these day are to use indoor sports centres e.g. rod laver arena will be converted into an aquatic centre (10,000) for the swimming world champs, the manchester arena will also be converted into an aquatic centre just for the swimming world champs too...

Dubious benefits of an expensive, second-rate circus
Next week's Commonwealth Games in Melbourne will be a waste of time and tax dollars, says Alan Wood
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

March 08, 2006
SEVEN days and counting to the 2006 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in Melbourne and the official boosters have gone into overdrive. The rest of the world, one strongly suspects, is managing to contain its sense of excitment at the thought of Australia beating Tuvalu at table tennis.

Even Melburnians, so far at least, seem well below the pitch of excitment associated with the Melbourne Cup or an AFL grand final. Not that the lead-up has been without its moments of excitment.

There was, for example, the matter of God Save the Queen. It wasn't an issue when the Games started in 1930 as the British Empire Games. After 1950 they were the British Empire and Commonwealth Games, then the British Commonwealth Games and now the Commonwealth Games.

There is a great geo-political story behind those changes, the bottom line of which is that at Melbourne in 2006 it is apparently terribly unfashionable to sing the royal anthem. After a public outcry we will get eight bars of it in some sort of jolly medley.

On the eve of the Games there has also been the makings of a very Melbourne scandal. You may remember a certain controversy surrounding the dual roles of Solomon Lew as both a director and supplier of goods to Coles/Myer.

His youngest son Steven is a witness, along with John Harnden, the chief executive of Melbourne 2006, the Commonwealth Games organisation, at a liquidator's examination in the Federal Court. Involved is a nasty spat between Steven Lew's company Playcorp, the approved wholesale supplier of official Games apparel such as polo shirts, caps and T-shirts, and Factory 5, holder of an exclusive retail concession for Games merchandise.

A dispute between Playcorp and Factory 5 over the price at which Lew wanted to sell his Games apparel led Factory 5 to seek to get Melbourne 2006 to exercise a clause in its agreement allowing it to seek an alternative supplier. Instead, Factory 5's retail concession was withdrawn by Melbourne 2006 and the company went into liquidation.

A new twist has been added with the raising of the possibility that Melbourne 2006 and Playcorp may be in breach of the Games code of practice on labour, which requires adherence to International Labour Organisation standards by supplying companies. Lew's supplying company in Ningbo, China, may not.

All this before the Games have even opened. There are still a lot of unsold tickets and various tricks are being used to effectively get taxpayers and Melbourne city ratepayers to take up some of the shortfall.

Perhaps Melburnians will start to get excited when the fireworks go off next Wednesday and huge illuminated tin fish make their way up the Yarra. The river is a bit short on the real thing. Then again the excitment may be of a different sort once the difficulties facing we Melbourne commuters as a result of widespread city road closures, security measures, the loss of parking spaces and other considerable inconveniences associated with the Games bite.

The rational thing to do, of course, would have been to hold the Games in Sydney. There are all the under-utilised facilities built for the Olympics and who would notice a few more road closures and a bit more congestion in the chaos created by the Cross City Tunnel?

However, rational economics has little place in the frenetic political scramble to attract sporting spectaculars. Are they really worth the cost and trouble?

All governments of course claim that great economic benefits flow from these activities but it is nonsense. True to form, the Bracks Government is claiming Victoria, and Australia, will enjoy great economic benefits.

Games Minister Justin Madden has slipped around a bit on the size of these benefits. His initial claim, made jointly with Premier Steve Bracks in 2003, was that based on the experience of the Manchester Commonwealth Games and the Sydney Olympics, the cost/benefit ratio would be between 2.0 and 2.5 times. The Government's current estimate of the cost of staging the Games is $1.1 billion. so the economic benefit would be between $2billion and $2.5billion. These figures are crap and invite the obvious response that if budget costs were to blow out to, say, $4 billion would the economic benefit rise to between $8billion and $8.5billion.? If so, spend on.

Obviously neither Bracks nor Madden believe this, since they are engaged in various attempts to conceal the true cost. One has been to fiddle the figures on the Games village to try to hide a $50 million cost blow-out.

Another has been to move the cost of security off budget and refuse to say what this cost is. An estimate from a reliable source yesterday was about $400 million, taking the budgetary cost of the Games to about $1.5billion.

This is rather a long way from the cost estimate in the original bid by Jeff Kennett. The Australian tracked Kennett down and found he had recently been to Games headquarters for a look at how things were going. He asked if they had a copy of his original bid document and they did: it estimated the cost of the Games at $146 million.

That, Kennett pointed out, was before September 11 and the increased security costs it imposed, but he readily accepted that there was no way the Games would show a financial profit. But he remains a great believer in the benefits of attracting landmark events such as the Games for Melbourne.

These benefits are only partly economic and include the building of infrastructure and intangible benefits such as community confidence and dynamism. No doubt there is truth in this, but it would be much more persuasive if it was backed up by some hard numbers.

Without them it looks suspiciously like Victoria (and Canberra) are spending a lot of money for the dubious benefits claimed to flow from holding what is, in international terms, a second-rate circus.

Note: Simon Crean has proved a much more lively political corpse than his factional enemies, and I, anticipated. It is a personal triumph, but underlines Labor's fundamental problem. An old union hack with discredited policies has defeated a young union hack with no policies and Labor's internal battles will intensify.

Dubious benefits of an expensive, second-rate circus
Next week's Commonwealth Games in Melbourne will be a waste of time and tax dollars, says Alan Wood
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

March 08, 2006
SEVEN days and counting to the 2006 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in Melbourne and the official boosters have gone into overdrive. The rest of the world, one strongly suspects, is managing to contain its sense of excitment at the thought of Australia beating Tuvalu at table tennis.

Even Melburnians, so far at least, seem well below the pitch of excitment associated with the Melbourne Cup or an AFL grand final. Not that the lead-up has been without its moments of excitment.

There was, for example, the matter of God Save the Queen. It wasn't an issue when the Games started in 1930 as the British Empire Games. After 1950 they were the British Empire and Commonwealth Games, then the British Commonwealth Games and now the Commonwealth Games.

There is a great geo-political story behind those changes, the bottom line of which is that at Melbourne in 2006 it is apparently terribly unfashionable to sing the royal anthem. After a public outcry we will get eight bars of it in some sort of jolly medley.

On the eve of the Games there has also been the makings of a very Melbourne scandal. You may remember a certain controversy surrounding the dual roles of Solomon Lew as both a director and supplier of goods to Coles/Myer.

His youngest son Steven is a witness, along with John Harnden, the chief executive of Melbourne 2006, the Commonwealth Games organisation, at a liquidator's examination in the Federal Court. Involved is a nasty spat between Steven Lew's company Playcorp, the approved wholesale supplier of official Games apparel such as polo shirts, caps and T-shirts, and Factory 5, holder of an exclusive retail concession for Games merchandise.

A dispute between Playcorp and Factory 5 over the price at which Lew wanted to sell his Games apparel led Factory 5 to seek to get Melbourne 2006 to exercise a clause in its agreement allowing it to seek an alternative supplier. Instead, Factory 5's retail concession was withdrawn by Melbourne 2006 and the company went into liquidation.

A new twist has been added with the raising of the possibility that Melbourne 2006 and Playcorp may be in breach of the Games code of practice on labour, which requires adherence to International Labour Organisation standards by supplying companies. Lew's supplying company in Ningbo, China, may not.

All this before the Games have even opened. There are still a lot of unsold tickets and various tricks are being used to effectively get taxpayers and Melbourne city ratepayers to take up some of the shortfall.

Perhaps Melburnians will start to get excited when the fireworks go off next Wednesday and huge illuminated tin fish make their way up the Yarra. The river is a bit short on the real thing. Then again the excitment may be of a different sort once the difficulties facing we Melbourne commuters as a result of widespread city road closures, security measures, the loss of parking spaces and other considerable inconveniences associated with the Games bite.

The rational thing to do, of course, would have been to hold the Games in Sydney. There are all the under-utilised facilities built for the Olympics and who would notice a few more road closures and a bit more congestion in the chaos created by the Cross City Tunnel?

However, rational economics has little place in the frenetic political scramble to attract sporting spectaculars. Are they really worth the cost and trouble?

All governments of course claim that great economic benefits flow from these activities but it is nonsense. True to form, the Bracks Government is claiming Victoria, and Australia, will enjoy great economic benefits.

Games Minister Justin Madden has slipped around a bit on the size of these benefits. His initial claim, made jointly with Premier Steve Bracks in 2003, was that based on the experience of the Manchester Commonwealth Games and the Sydney Olympics, the cost/benefit ratio would be between 2.0 and 2.5 times. The Government's current estimate of the cost of staging the Games is $1.1 billion. so the economic benefit would be between $2billion and $2.5billion. These figures are crap and invite the obvious response that if budget costs were to blow out to, say, $4 billion would the economic benefit rise to between $8billion and $8.5billion.? If so, spend on.

Obviously neither Bracks nor Madden believe this, since they are engaged in various attempts to conceal the true cost. One has been to fiddle the figures on the Games village to try to hide a $50 million cost blow-out.

Another has been to move the cost of security off budget and refuse to say what this cost is. An estimate from a reliable source yesterday was about $400 million, taking the budgetary cost of the Games to about $1.5billion.

This is rather a long way from the cost estimate in the original bid by Jeff Kennett. The Australian tracked Kennett down and found he had recently been to Games headquarters for a look at how things were going. He asked if they had a copy of his original bid document and they did: it estimated the cost of the Games at $146 million.

That, Kennett pointed out, was before September 11 and the increased security costs it imposed, but he readily accepted that there was no way the Games would show a financial profit. But he remains a great believer in the benefits of attracting landmark events such as the Games for Melbourne.

These benefits are only partly economic and include the building of infrastructure and intangible benefits such as community confidence and dynamism. No doubt there is truth in this, but it would be much more persuasive if it was backed up by some hard numbers.

Without them it looks suspiciously like Victoria (and Canberra) are spending a lot of money for the dubious benefits claimed to flow from holding what is, in international terms, a second-rate circus.

Note: Simon Crean has proved a much more lively political corpse than his factional enemies, and I, anticipated. It is a personal triumph, but underlines Labor's fundamental problem. An old union hack with discredited policies has defeated a young union hack with no policies and Labor's internal battles will intensify.

Melbourne tickets still available
Fans buy Games tickets at a Melbourne outlet
Fans flock to buy tickets in the centre of Melbourne
A total of almost 400,000 tickets are still available for the Commonwealth Games, which starts on Wednesday.

There are 5,000 unsold for the opening ceremony at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and 200,000 left for athletics.

However Melbourne officials are pleased at the level of sales with Games chief executive Mike Hooper saying: "We're delighted with where we are at.

"We have had an enormous take-up and have sold over 1.3m tickets which is a record for any Commonwealth Games."

Around 19,000 tickets for prime events like swimming, diving, gymnastics and track cycling were bought by fans in just four hours after they were released on Monday.

They became available after organisers finalised plans for positioning scoreboards and camera platforms at venues.

Officials are going to give away 5,000 tickets for the opening ceremony to Games volunteers to try to ensure the 80,000-capacity MCG is filled.

There are also still 26,300 tickets remaining for the closing ceremony.

Harnden added: "The Manchester Games in 2002 sold approximately 900,000 tickets and our figure is projected to go in excess of 1.5m.

"With 72 hours to go we think we are ready to put on the biggest and best show ever in Melbourne.

Its Starting today!!! wat times the opening ceremony? i can go watch it in the board room while everyone is gone for meetings!!!

South african time its approximately from 11am to 2pm.
Check it out on supersport 7,8 and 9 i think.
Ill be watching. The huge stage construction is the size of thew newlands cricket field.

^^ Thanx Mo, yeh they got SS9, 10 & 11!!!! for the commi's gonne watch on da big plasma in the board, but if one of the directors comes in to make a video call then i'm fuk'd!

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c363/dynamoultraclean/57096500.jpg
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^^ holy mother of GOD :omg:

They had Fireworks on the buildings!!!!!

I am sure if Aussies had won on
Sunday they would have set it off then!

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/5357/ocmcglight6ud.jpg
Chuck was there, he said his fart was better than that!
Did u know that Chuck Norris once farted in 2 cans, & gave them to the US Airforce, they dropped them on Hiroshima & Nagasaki!

the show was mediocre, the theme song predictable, fireworks display mediocre, stage setting excellent but underused, aerial elements underused, some really good scenes but nothing close to sydney 2000, it was over before it even began...

having been part of an opening ceremony, watched most of them on television and a few of them live including the sydney opening, i think given the budget south africa could have put on a better opening the melbourne which spent about 20 million ozzie dollars but prob more,

seeing that south africa is the cradle of humankind i think a "birth of man" type theme, and the development and growth of man through time until modern day africa would kind of be a good theme....it allows for a good african concept yet at the same time is not very restrictive, concepts such as peace, love, learning, courage could allbe explored and displayed visually with simple yet striking scenes...similar to the milky way scene of athens and the aboriginese scene in sydney both refer to man through time but the one in a simple elegant way and the other using fire elements...

there was just too much kitsch in the melbourne opening, and the concepts were not very well thought out...with their budget some scenes had great potential but just didnt seem to go anywhere, the interaction with the audience was poor, and i didnt really get that WOW feeling during any stage...the river fireworks concept was cool, but all the fireworks were the same...most olympic ceremonies have a divere array of fireworks...(looking forward to the cape town symphony of fire returning the end of this month!!!!)

all in alli was left asking what the hype was all about...durbs when u guys host the commies even if u go with an indo-african theme im sure u'll do a better job...

ok ive changed my mind..i like the delta goodrem song...playing it a few times..

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I have the song being sung in this picture by delta, its the live version...lemme know if anybody wants it..http://cache.gettyimages.com/xc/57096531.jpg?v=1&c=MS_GINS&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF193CC300C081D9F47001436F7E1886DFBC4E4DD1537AADEFBBB

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South Africa's men top team table
March 16, 2006

SOUTH Africa has finished on top of the table at the end of the day session of competition in the men's gymnastics team event at the Commonwealth Games.

South Africa totalled 245.000 points to lead New Zealand (239.700) and Sri Lanka (213.400).

This is the first time an open ended points system has been used at an international competition.

The new system combines execution and degree of difficulty scores, whereas under the old system gymnasts could score no higher than 10.

The main medal contenders in the men's team event, including Australia, favourite Canada and defending Commonwealth champion England, will be in action at Rod Laver Arena tonight.

Australia has never won gold in the men's team event at a Commonwealth Games.

It finished with bronze in the team event at Manchester in 2002, trumped by host nation England and Canada.

Canada is going to be hard to beat at the Melbourne Games, with four of the five team members having Olympic experience.

It will be led by 23-year-old Kyle Shewfelt, who claimed gold on the floor at Manchester and the 2004 Athens Olympics.

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Philippe Rizzo, 25, will captain Australia and is expected to do well on the high bar despite failing to qualify for the finals in the apparatus at the world championships in Melbourne last November.

Sydney Olympian Damian Istria, 23, is also tipped to perform strongly on the high bar after qualifying for the finals at worlds.

The team clash counts as both a medal event and the qualification round for the individual all-around and individual apparatus events.


South Africa: Freestyle relay victory at the Commonwealth Games

March 16, 2006, 1 hour, 41 minutes and 47 seconds ago.

By Andnetwork .com

Olympic champions South Africa held off a concerted final leg challenge to end Australia's unbeaten Games record with a thrilling men's 4x100m freestyle relay victory at the Commonwealth Games today.



The South African team of Roland Schoeman, Lyndon Ferns, Johannes Zandberg and Ryk Neethling swept to a Games record of three minutes 14.97 seconds to edge out Australia and Canada for gold.

It was Australia's first defeat in the 100m freestyle relay since the 1978 Edmonton Games.

The South Africans, who shocked the swimming world when they won the 100m freestyle relay gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics in world record time, were 1.8 seconds outside their world record swim Thursday.

Ashley Callus raised a powerful effort for the Australian team in the final lap to pip Neethling in the anchor leg but the South African held on strongly for a great victory.

Source : Sapa

MEDALS TABLE
Last Updated: Thu Mar 16 - 11:02 G S B Total
Australia 3 4 4 11
Scotland 2 0 1 3
England 1 3 2 6
India 1 1 0 2
Malaysia 1 0 1 2
New Zealand 1 0 0 1
South Africa 1 0 0 1
Canada 0 2 1 3
Wales 0 0 1 1



http://www.iol.co.za/data/picdb/5/0/picdb44193ccf3ab2a

SABC COVERAGE OF THE GAMES- Better than I expected

Coverage from 8am to 1pm (LIVE) SABC 2
then from 01:4am to 6am (LIVE) SABC 3
H/L 23:00 to 02:00 each night

Basically you only missing two hours of action from 6am to 8am...
the rest of the time OZ is asleep

http://cache.gettyimages.com/xc/57104425.jpg?v=1&c=MS_GINS&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF193CC300C081D9F47004CC707340CF6633548D46E39917BD9A3

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A Spectacular vodafone arena and the aquatic centre, im so loving the venues

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GOLD GOLD GOLD FOR ROLAND

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OUR HERO FROM REDDAM

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what are our medal stats now? 2 gold and a few bronze right?

...

woops

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http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/1299/medalsday31lc.png

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yes ive always had a thing for hockey bois

http://cache.gettyimages.com/xc/57128374.jpg?v=1&c=MS_GINS&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF193CC300C081D9F470040A36D529EF76663A9E70BD2587AC266

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mmm... very bulgy, that hockey boy :)

Tally as by today (19/3): 12 (G 5, S 2, B 5)

Everybody was shocked to see "shoomen" as his known now, coming in 3rd place in the 100m freestyle, looks like the bug wat he got is really hampening his performance.

GOLD MENS SHOT PUT:JANUS ROBERTS
SILVER WOMENS 100m: GERALDINE PILLAY


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Mo Rush The organisation in Melbourne is faultless, and the South African visitors are enjoying it. The thinking here is that the next games will be in Cape Town in 2014.

Mo Rush The organisation in Melbourne is faultless, and the South African visitors are enjoying it. The thinking here is that the next games will be in Cape Town in 2014.

Cape Town withdrew its bid for 2014 in support for Abuja. Cape Town will focus on an Olympic Bid. The organization in Melbourne has been faultless except the Media Centre, which failed quite weirdly in providing facilities for the media. But im not too sure if that rumour is true. But yes, Cape Town would be a good host. Durban though is more of our Commonwealth Games host and i would stand behind a durban CWG bid if they decided to enter the race.


GOLD 50m Freestyle - ROLAND SCHOEMAN

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GOLD - WOMENS SHOOTING (trap)

http://cache.gettyimages.com/xc/57142798.jpg?v=1&c=MS_GINS&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF193CC300C081D9F4700BB91451FB5D08204A81E4CF17C64D55D


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i think if it came to south africa it would only be in 2018.

great to see our team doing rather well...still have the athletics to go even though there are no more boys to watch in the pool...

Isnt they also have cricket in the Commi's I swear to god we won gold in Manchester, I remember Pollock was Captain.

DOUBLE GOLD AS SOUTH AFRICA DOMINATES THE MCG

GOLD MENS 400M HURDLES - GAMES RECORD LOUIS VAN ZYL FORMER WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPION
SILVER MENS 400 HURDLES - ALWYN MYBURGH
GOLD WOMENS HIGH JUMP - ANIKA SMITH

Van Zyl breaks Games record to claim gold

March 23 2006 at 11:11AM

Melbourne - World junior champion Louis van Zyl led home a South African 1-2 in the men's 400m hurdles final at the Commonwealth Games on Thursday.

The 20-year-old broke the Games record with a time of 48.06 seconds to edge out compatriot Alwyn Myburgh while Kemel Thompson of Jamaica took the bronze.

LJ, as he is known, came from behind to pass Myburgh in the final metres and confirm the promise which made him South Africa's athlete of the year in 2005 during which he finished sixth in the World Championship final.

Myburgh, seventh in the 2004 Olympic final, had coasted past Thompson early in the final straight after the Jamaican, who had strapping round his left calf, started to tie up.

Myburgh looked to have the title in the bag but Van Zyl dug deep to give South Africa their fourth title of the athletics competition in which they were without several of their more established stars.

Behind the medallists Welshman Rhys Williams was left well adrift but the 22-year-old son of Welsh rugby legend JJ Williams finished fourth and ran a personal best.

Sadly for defending champion Chris Rawlinson there was to be no fairytale ending to his respectable career as the 33-year-old Englishman was never in contention and finished last in his farewell to the sport.


Smith wins gold in the high jump

March 23 2006 at 01:19PM

Melbourne - South Africa's Anika Smith equalled her personal best of 1,91m to win the Commonwealth Games women's high jump gold medal on Thursday.

The 19-year-old strung together an almost perfect sequence of jumps, failing just once on her first attempt at the winning height.

Wales' Julie Crane finished second after clearing 1,88m.

She was denied a third chance of clearing 1.91m when the judges ruled she had broken the line of the bar as she pulled out of her initial attempt at the last moment.

The bronze medal went to Jamaica's Karen Beautle, who was one of six competitors to go out of the competition at 1,88m but was awarded third place on a countback.

http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/640/medal0gm.jpg

Glasgow in Scotland could be the next venue in 2014.

Glasgow in Scotland could be the next venue in 2014.

abuja has a huge chance..africa is the largest bloc of voters..africa supported delhi 2010 and now asia will prob support abuja....
based on votes abuja could possibly be the front runner...unless the CWG federation deem them to be "not ready"

I think Cape Town should host the Commi's in 2014

I think Cape Town should host the Commi's in 2014

cape town did intend to, but withdrew to support nigeria and gain their support an olympic bid..durbs is more of the commie city they would be excellent hosts...

JAMAICA TAKES MENS 4 X 100 MENS RELAY, SOUTH AFRICA GRABS THE SILVER
TWO SOUTH AFRICAN MEN THROUGH TO THE JAVELIN FINAL
WATCH OUT FOR THE MENS 4 x 400m MENS RELAY FINAL LATER TODAY
MENS BOXING SIVLER

http://cache.gettyimages.com/xc/57179285.jpg?v=1&c=MS_GINS&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF193CC300C081D9F47006CFD38AEEC395A03A2E93717A521160C
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ADD ANOTHER GOLD, MENS BOXING 69kg

Cute boxers for a change
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we are doing SO well! ooh i'm impressed!!

SOUTH AFRICA COMES FROM BEHIND TO TAKE SILVER IN THE MENS 4 X100m as WELLL

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AUSTRALIA LET WONDERING WHAT WENT WRONG!!!
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FAREWELL MELBOURNE, ITS BEEN AMAZINGLY SPECTACULAR

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WELLDONE TEAM SOUTH AFRICA YOU HAVE DONE US PROUD!!

http://img60.imageshack.us/img60/3406/medalcollage7it.jpg

The closing ceremony was allllright, the fireworks as usual were exellent. India's items were cool cant wait for Dheli 2010!

its in india next time? hmm...well i take it they wont have problems with athletes running away from the games village never to be seen again...

^^ u can say that again, maybe u'll find that some teams will have extra members!

the closing was better than the opening...by a mile..

nice closing montage mo...and yeh durbsboi...the locals might try and claim to be south africans and come home with us...better send the durban indian squad to teach those o's from mumbai what a real durban charro is like :)

.......... teach those o's from mumbai what a real durban charro is like :)
Mmm I need lots of Bunny chows in exchange for chicken tikka then!