Torch bearer Louise Martin poses for photographers with the London 2012 Olympic torch on the Swilken Bridge next to the eighteenth tee on the Old Course at St Andrews in Scotland June 13, 2012. PHOTO: REUTERS
Martin beat the incumbent Prince Tunku Imran of Malaysia at the Commonwealth Games Federation general assembly in Auckland on Wednesday to head an organisation that has faced pressure to remain relevant in a crowded sporting market.
The Games have been scrutinised in recent years with cost over-runs and budget blowouts, which have put cities off from bidding for the four-early event.
Only two cities bid for the 2018 Games, which were awarded to Australia’s Gold Coast ahead of Sri Lanka’s Hambantota, while Durban was rubber-stamped as the only bidder for the 2022 Games.
Many top-class athletes have also skipped the Games, with track and field in particular shorn of several headline names who choose to run in lucrative meetings in Europe that clash with the multi-sport event in the calendar.
“I want to make sure the best athletes in the Commonwealth make the Games the cornerstone of their calendars and that the cities are queuing up to bid for,” she said.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 3rd, 2015.
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