Editorial: Another Bolt in Games' future?

OPINION: While terrorism is the most immediate threat to the Commonwealth Games, the event's importance in the sporting world is being undermined quietly.

If athletes from the Commonwealth's 52 member nations finally make it to the Games in India this October, their ranks could be thinner than anticipated.

Jamaica's Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world, has said he will not take part – not because of terrorism but because the Games would interfere with his long-term goal of winning at the athletics world championships in 2011.

Bolt's priorities are reinforced by a prominent figure in India's sporting world, Sharda Ugra, sports editor of India Today, who brands the Games a waste of money and "the most redundant and peculiar of sporting events".

He points out that the ultimate goal of sportspeople is to win a medal against the best in the world.

That's where the Games lose out. They never have and never will be on a par with the Olympics, or with regular world championships and regional games spanning every code.

The event evolved from the British Empire Games first held in 1930, an era when the sporting calendar was less cluttered and the pace of life slower than today.

Furthermore, times have changed and sentimental ties that bind Commonwealth members to Britain – and each other – appear to be waning. Witness our own debate about becoming a republic and changing the national flag.

Contrast that picture with the 1974 Games in Christchurch. The event was a matter of national pride. Offices around the country came to a standstill while employees eagerly watched John Walker, Filbert Bayi and other stars of the period.

A depleted Games in India would be a serious blow to worldwide coverage and interest. India is deploying 17,000 security personnel for the World Hockey Cup starting in New Delhi on Sunday. A member of the New Zealand hockey team, Simon Child, has withdrawn, citing safety concerns. The security level is a warning of what it could be like at the Commonwealth Games: Stadiums like fortresses and athletes' leisure time spent confined to hotels, playing indoor cricket and darts.

It's not all negative, though. If the Games, like the empire, eventually fade into history, they will have served a purpose. They provide a mid-term benchmark between Olympics for sportspeople to gauge their progress. And while Australia and Britain dominate the medal tally, small nations – St Vincent, Grenada and Seychelles, for example – have a chance to win a medal. Those positive factors could see the Games survive longer than their critics expect.

But will you watch the Games if Bolt and other top athletes are absent?

- © Fairfax NZ News