“Hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2026 in regional Victoria has never been done before and it will showcase Victoria to the world. It will provide a never seen before model for hosting future Commonwealth Games.”
Earlier, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said: “It’s not a re-run of any other games, it’s something unique, something that’s never been done before – that’s what we’re pushing.”
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Victorian government sources insist the Premier’s remarks related to the regional nature of the 2026 Games, with events and athletes villages in four centres – Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and Gippsland.
The Gold Coast Games were effectively held in a regional city of 600,000 people with a single athletes village and while Birmingham will have four villages, it is focussed on a metropolis.
However, in order to make the sports program more flexible at future Commonwealth Games, the CGF in October last year mandated there would only be two compulsory sports at future Commonwealth Games – swimming and athletics.
It was designed to encourage future cities and states to pitch for Games, with Victoria being the only candidate in the 72-nation Commonwealth bidding for 2026.
Lawn bowls in Bendigo and table tennis in Geelong will appeal to dedicated followers of these sports but the Tokyo Olympics demonstrated that surfing at Bells Beach, or skateboarding in Warrnambool, or rowing at Nagambie could showcase Victoria to the world.
AOC chief executive, Matt Carroll, argues it is preferable for the Olympic and Commonwealth Games sports to be aligned in the lead up to the 2032 Summer Olympics in Brisbane and south-east Queensland.
Carroll said it would also simplify the grants model of Sport Australia, the federal government’s funding body.
Weightlifting is on the 2026 program at Bendigo but may not be included at the Los Angeles Summer Olympics in 2028 following its systematic failure to control doping.
The IOC in 2023 will make a decision on weightlifting’s place on the LA program, meaning athletes could be competing in Victoria three years after being banished from the Olympics.
Sam Coffa, the CGA president for 20 years and the national president of weightlifting, said: “We’ve been given until next year to show the IOC we are worthy of being in LA, but it’s not as though if you are out of the Olympic Games, you are out of everything, such as the Asian Games, the Pacific Games.”
Victorian government sources insist it did not bid for the 2026 Commonwealth Games to rescue the event or the CGF, arguing it will contribute more than $3 billion to Victoria’s economy, creating more than 600 full-time equivalent jobs before the Games, 3900 jobs during the Games and a further 3000 jobs beyond the closing ceremony.
Wrestling or men’s cricket? Stalemate on new sports for 2026 Commonwealth Games
Source: Philippines Alive
