Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Australia’s all-conquering athletes are not in danger of being considered the ‘bullies’ of the Commonwealth Games, insists their team chief in the face of an extraordinary display of domination that’s raised eyebrows in Glasgow.
The Australian athletes were in such a league of their own that they ended up winning 171 medals over the 11 days – 61 more than traditional rivals England.
The Australians’ 70 golds actually dwarfed the English tally by 41.
Astonishingly, even though the program was cut by half from 20 sports to 10, following Glasgow’s late rescue act to host the Games after Victoria’s withdrawal, there were even more Australian golds in this Scottish edition than the 67 annexed in 2022 in Birmingham.
The Australian procession of medals, particularly at the swimming pool, athletics track and cycling velodrome, has been such that there have been plenty of mutterings that it can’t be good for the future of a Games whose place in the modern sporting calendar is constantly under scrutiny.
Yet Petria Thomas, the Olympic champion swimmer who’s been the team’s chef de mission in Glasgow, dismissed the idea as she hailed the team’s record-breaking spree for exceeding “lofty” expectations.
“Oh look, some may say that,” she said after being asked if the gold-and-green domination was unhealthy for the Games.
“Obviously, we’ve been very, very successful here, and some countries may not have had quite full strength teams.
“You can only compete against who turns up. So I’m sure this has been a different Games in that respect (with a truncated schedule) but I’m sure with an increased program in 2030 in Ahmedabad, everything will be back up at full strength, and we’re really looking forward to it.”
It was put to Thomas that the delight around the Exhibition Centre when Jamaica knocked out the supposedly invincible Diamonds in Saturday’s netball semi-final was in response to an Australian Games team having being seen as too good, almost bullying outclassed opponents.
“Oh, I wouldn’t categorise us as bullies,” said Thomas.
“We’re just good at our sport, and there’s been a lot of investment in this team.
“Everyone likes an underdog. We’re the same in Australia, we like underdogs as well.
“Our netball team did great. They obviously got up (to beat England) for the bronze medal and after a disappointing loss, we’re really proud of them.”
Craig Phillips, Commonwealth Games Australia chief executive, told AAP there were many reasons for the success but above all it was clear his nation had “turned up”.
“We wanted to, our athletes came here to succeed because it was important to do it,” Phillips said.
“Probably some teams were not at the strength they needed to be, and I guess they need to have a look at their own performances around that.”
But Phillips added as a counterpoint: “The other thing that’s really important is that while we sit at the top of the medal tally, look at all the different countries that have won medals, it’s really important for them, particularly like some of our Pacific neighbours.
“So while the dominance of the Australian team might seem a story, actually everybody’s having some success.”
To illustrate this, Fiji, Nauru, Norfolk Island, Papua New Guinea and Tuvalu were among the 45 nations who all won a medal.
Of her team’s performance, Thomas said there was a “sense of satisfaction” at how they’d eclipsed their old rivals England.
“We probably have exceeded expectations,” she said.
“And the athletes have just been incredible, the performances across the board, across all sports, have just been amazing. So, just so super proud of what they’ve been able to do here.”
