Editorial: Winning makes Commonwealth Games relevant today

Hawke's Bay Today News Editor James Ford. Photo / File

The 21st version of the Commonwealth Games is upon us.

Over the coming days the Gold Coast will welcome more than 10,000 athletes, officials and media, from 71 Commonwealth nations and territories and it is estimated that an audience of 1.5 billion from around the world will tune in to watch the action.

There's 275 medals up for grabs and the youngest competitor is just 11 years old, Wales' Anna Hursey, who will compete in table tennis.

But there's one question that has loomed in recent years. Are the Commonwealth Games still relevant?

In a fast-paced world in which our thirst for watching the best of the best, do the Commonwealth Games merely play second fiddle to the Olympics and other world championships.

After all, it is an event that excludes some of the world's best. Or, is it a fine representation of our history and a celebration of a union of nations? Personally I view these games as the latter.

And as a proving ground for athletes who will inevitably go on to pit their skill and will against the world's finest.

As a nation we are sports obsessed, and, to be more accurate, winning obsessed. We like nothing more than to stick in to the Aussies or get one over the English. Whether it be on the rugby paddock, or in the Commonwealth Games.

At the previous games in Glasgow New Zealand claimed 45 medals, 14 of which were gold.

And it is just that, the winning, that makes the Commonwealth Games just as relevant to us as it was when under the banner of the British Empire Games.