Why are the Games still a thing?

I’m not snarking. I’m genuinely curious.

The cost of running them means that few of Britain’s former colonies can afford to play host.  Since 1930, the Games have been held outside the metropolitan core of the Commonwealth only three times, in Kuala Lumpur, Delhi and Kingston, Jamaica. 

They get a boost to infrastructure, which might otherwise be a hard sell to budget-conscious bean counters. 

The Queen, or nowadays Charles and Cammie, get a long weekend away for the opening ceremony. And Australia gets to play at being a sporting superpower.

The competition, especially in the pool, but more generally across those events where countries boasting of an advanced technological base also enjoy outsize advantages, is lopsided. 

That’s not to say it’s second rate. A few world records will get a nudge. But given the disparities between the rich, white Commonwealth, and the vast majority of its inhabitants, there’s something a little off about the perennial triumphalism of carrying away truckloads of gold.

Jamaica’s sprinters, India’s wrestlers and Kenya’s long distance champions probably get some benefit from competing in a high-quality atmosphere a couple of years out from the next Olympics, but for most of the countries that marched out under that big floaty whale on opening night, the whole gig must seem a bit off.

It’s been good watching the para-athletes do their thing as part of the main event; more inspiring in many ways than seeing a conventionally elite performer come out of their super-advanced, scientifically honed training regime to shave a hundredth of a second off some record. 

As a bloke who struggles to swim the length of a short council pool, I’m in literal awe of somebody who can tear up an Olympic pool despite missing a limb or two.

Great effort has gone into integrating the para-athletes and it has improved the overall competition.

If the richer nations of the Commonwealth invested a little in those less fortunate countries which still turn up to get flogged every four years, it might mean having to give up a medal or two somewhere down the track. But it would also mean a stronger, better competition for all.