It feels like the Commonwealth Games has been limping towards extinction for more than a generation — and now the end might be upon it.
This week’s news that Australia’s Gold Coast had backed out of hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games (CWG), just five months after Melbourne had pulled the plug in July, underlines that the Games are no longer viable. Perhaps they never were.
Melbourne and the state of Victoria were initially set to host the Games in 2026, but they bailed in July this year, as costs soared above budget.
Victoria Premier Dan Andrews said the cost of the Games, which were to have been held in four regional hubs, would total more than A$7-billion (R90-billion) from a budgeted A$2.6-billion (R33-billion) if they went ahead.
Going almost three times over budget caused significant unease in Victoria as citizens, not unreasonably, believed their tax money could be better spent.
“Frankly, A$6-billion to A$7-billion for a 12-day sporting event, we’re not doing that,” Andrews told the media in July.
“I will not take money out of hospitals and schools to fund an event that is three times the cost as estimated and budgeted for last year.”
If Australia, one of the richest countries in the world and one of the most well-off in the Commonwealth, and a country with a long and successful association with…