CONGRATULATIONS! Gold Coast bid wins Commonwealth Games 2018 & London wins 2017 Champs!

2 major sporting events had future events inked in over the past 24 hours, with Australia's Gold Coast winning the right to host the Commonwealth Games in 2018 after Glasgow's 2014 event rather than Hambantota in Sri Lanka. This followed the IAAF London seeing off Doha for the rights to host the World Championships in 2017 at the 60000 Olympic Stadium

 (See our blog London Legacy - prep the key ).

Gold Coast is a coastal city, and a major tourist destination with its subtropical climate, surf beaches & waterways. It sits just 94km south of Brisbane on Queensland's capital, Brisbane, and with a population of just over half a million is Australia's most populous non-State capital city. For 2018, there will be major infrastructure changes, with an increase to the Metricon Stadium to 40000 seats, new badminton & mountain bike facilities to look forward to, and a wrold class squash centre in addition to existing arenas & stadia as witnessed by the Scottish Rugby team during their visit to the Gold Coast ahead of the World Cup this year: it can certainly be stated that the locals will back sport!

Photo from www.goldcoast.com.au 

Gold Coast media release on winning bid

Commonwealth Games decision - UK Guardian report

London & The Legacy? Preparation the key for events: ask the Sports Scientists!

Doha v London 2017 World Athletics bid: London has much to lose. The UK Government has much to lose. By taking the 60,000 stadium back into public ownership & terminating the agreement with West Ham United, UK Ministers & the bid team played the legacy card strongly in addition to arguing that a Western Europe event for the first time since Berlin in 2009 was necessary for the health of the sport for sponsors & supporters to be held.

With a home-based Games around the corner, and the Team GB ticket announcement for football suggesting sell-out crowds throughout the UK 2012 could herald a Golden Period for events with Commonwealth games, Rugby World Cup in the years following the Olympics. No doubt an Athletics World Championships would be seen as another jewel in the sporting crown, but London has much to look forward to.


In the build up to an event there is much occuring behind the scenes.
The Journal of Sports Sciences back in November 2009 demonstrates an eclectic mix of papers. The editorial by Richard Davison & Michael Williams included here demonstrates how far sports' science has come to generate the conditions for sporting success over the past quarter century. They talk about the planning that can take place in advance of Olympic competition, in areas such as psychology, skill acquisition & physiology. 

The use of sports science in preparation for Olympic competition: Davison & Williams

In preparation terms the 27 IAAF Council delegates will expect a similar level by the bid teams in Doha & London, but like the Games themselves there can only be one winner.