Vibrant ceremony provides memorable start to Gold Coast Commonwealth Games

Rainstorm fails to dampen impressive celebration of the region’s origins and culture.

A tropical rainstorm in the so-called ‘Sunshine State’ served as a suitably eccentric beginning to an opening ceremony in which the Prince of Wales declared open the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Athletes from major nations and tiny Pacific atolls marched shoulder to soggy shoulder during a vibrant ceremony which celebrated both the region’s indigenous origins and its modern surfing culture.

“Even though we are half a world away, we are all connected,” said the Prince of Wales, after the final leg of the Queen’s Baton Relay was completed by Australian hurdling star Sally Pearson in the Cararra Stadium.

Sally Pearson with the Queen’s baton during the opening ceremony for the 2018 Commonwealth Games at the Carrara Stadium on the Gold Coast (Danny Lawson/PA Images)

Others with less justification continue to dismiss the Commonwealth Games as an increasing anachronism in today’s corporate-fuelled, global sporting age.

Try making such claims to athletes like Tereapii Tapoki, who trained for her shot put and discus disciplines by throwing coconuts back home in her native Cook Islands.

Remote islands sending athletes to the Commonwealth Games. See story COMMONWEALTH Islands. Infographic from PA Graphics

Only at the Commonwealth Games can septugenarian lawn bowlers mix with the likes of 11-year-old Anna Hursey, who will make her debut for Wales in the table tennis on Thursday.

A view of the programme for the opening ceremony of the 2018 Commonwealth Games in which England is listed as an African nation (Mike Egerton/PA Images).

The Games is no stranger to a Royal rumpus: the soon-to-be-disgraced head of the Delhi Games, Suresh Kalmadi, mistook the Duchess of Cornwall for Princess Diana upon being introduced to the couple in 2010.

Mercifully there were no such embarrassing faux-pas on Wednesday night and the initial torrential downpour made way for the kind of early evening warmth with which this area of the Queensland coast is more accustomed.

Fireworks are set off as the final performance takes place during the opening ceremony for the 2018 Commonwealth Games (Mike Egerton/PA Images)

Reeling from its ball-tampering scandal, hosts Australia will seek to use the Games to restore some much-needed sporting dignity and reclaim top spot in the medals table from England, who topped the list in Glasgow for the first time since 1986.

England’s flag bearer Alistair Brownlee leads out his team during the opening ceremony for the 2018 Commonwealth Games (Danny Lawson/PA Images)

But with respect to those who bring much-needed stardust, it is the sprinkling of athletes from so-called lesser nations who best embody the uniqueness of the Commonwealth Games – and encapsulate why it continues to justify its place on the sporting calendar.