The President of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), Mike Fennell, acknowledged the tremendous progress made during the last few days in getting the Games Village ready for the athletes, and hoped that the momentum would be maintained not only to ensure the completion of work, but also sustain the good show till the end of the Games.
“Massive work ought to have been done before, so that athletes and officials could enjoy the best conditions,” Fennell said, as he addressed the media on Saturday.
He conceded there was still an enormous amount of work left to be done, particularly in terms of removing water from the basement of the 32 residential towers of the Village, apart from making it compliant with fire safety standards, not to forget many other functional areas that demanded attention.
The Chairman of the Organising Committee (OC), Suresh Kalmadi, was candid in accepting the responsibility for the sorry state of affairs on the final lap despite seven years of preparation, particularly with regard to the lack of hygiene and maintenance at the Village when the advance parties of the visiting teams were shocked by the accommodation provided to their teams.
He assured that everything would be ready and all the athletes, including those from England who had moved first into hotels on arrival, would get into the Village soon.
Rich tributes
Fennel paid rich tributes to the chefs-de-mission who had arrived in advance, and extended solid support to the organisers in getting the accommodation readied.
He expressed his delight about the full participation of all the countries, and categorically stated that cancellation of the Games was never on the agenda. “All pitched in to work for the teams, personally cleaning up the apartments, establishing their commitment to the Games.
Positive demonstration
“This is a demonstration that is extremely positive. They showed solidarity to the Commonwealth Games movement. It was out of the world,” said Fennell, even as he extended his appreciation to the government departments and other agencies that swung into action when the alarm bell was sounded.
The Wales Chef-de-Mission, Chris Jenkins, who is also a member of the coordination committee for the Games, said he was impressed by the speed at which things were done, once the advance parties went public about the plight of the Village.
“The improvement was slow initially, and the problems were many. Now, we can't recognise the place, as it has completely changed. It was a management issue, or resources issue. Huge response was made with appreciable improvement in the last 48 to 72 hours,” acknowledged Jenkins.
The CGF president was categorical that hosting the Games was a collective responsibility, and everyone had to share the blame.
He stressed that there was no point in blaming each other, but all the stakeholders had to work together to make the Games a success.
Learning experience
Fennell said it was a huge learning experience for India that had already suffered considerable damage to its reputation, and admitted that it was also a learning experience for the CGF to host the Games through the largest country in the Commonwealth.
On the positive side, Fennell said the food and variety was excellent, and that was so important for athletes preparing for a high level of performance.
Conceding that the CGF did not have the expertise on structural stability, Fennell said the competent authority was giving certificates and more certificates were being collected, to assure safety and security for the athletes and officials.
“We have had problems, and all such Games have problems. We will overcome these problems to celebrate the Games properly,” Fennell said.
Considerably toning down on the overall hype in many quarters about hosting the best Games ever that would put Beijing Olympics to shame, Kalmadi said the Commonwealth Games, with the opening ceremony scheduled on October 3, would be as good as the one staged in Melbourne in 2006.
He said the success of the sporting extravaganza could only be discussed at the end of it, and that it would be premature to label it the worst Games ever.
