November 2010
After a rather tense build up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games, which opened in spectacular fashion in the first week of October, it can truly be said that “Delhi promised, and Delhi delivered”.
As had been hoped, the host nation laid on one of the most colourful, vibrant and enthusiastic Games for some time, with the closing ceremony on the 14th bringing to an end ten days of intense competition, between the world’s elite athletes.
At Forresters, we are proud to have supported the England team, and are delighted at the fantastic performance and results which they achieved.
Comfortably beating their medal tally from Melbourne 2006, England finished an impressive 3rd in the medal table, just 35 behind their old rivals – the all powerful Australia.
Commenting on one of England’s most successful Commonwealth Games ever, Craig Hunter (England’s Chef de Mission) commented “We thought that India, with the home games advantage, would be significantly ahead of us, and we are proud of the fact that we have got to the wire with them. Although it is difficult to do like-by-like comparisons because sports are different, there is no doubt our team have been enormously successful”. Sir Andrew Foster, chair of Commonwealth Games England, added “The performance by England has been absolutely excellent, surpassing our expectations. We all know there was adversity, and out of adversity has come tremendous performance”.
Dame Kelly Holmes (President of Commonwealth Games England) agreed: “I think it’s exceeded our expectations. There was an assumption that the Games weren’t going to be as successful as was hoped. I think they have proved everybody wrong, and I have to say to those athletes who didn’t turn up, some of them may have made a decision they will regret”.
Winning medals in 16 of the 17 sports, England’s performance was truly something to be proud of – the track and field athletes collected eight more medals than four years ago, and one more gold, and there were significant individual achievements, too.
Notably, 16-year old Zoe Smith won the first ever women’s weightlifting medal – a remarkable feat.
All of us here at Forresters are proud of the England team and will look forward to even greater success at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, in 2014.