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This is why the Commonwealth Games does still matter.

This is what the ´óÏó´«Ã½ is all about, brilliant

Ah, Refreshing article. Always nice to hear from and hear about participants from lesser known countries. Hope Rico and Carlos and others from St. Helena win medals in the future editions of the CWG!

fantastic read and a brilliant story!

OMG what an awesome story. Good on them...

Wow, while it is good to hear the stories of athletes winning multiple medals, it is stories like these which make us appreciate the importance of these games. Brilliant article as usual Tom.

when ever i hear some bozos in the streets of Toronto talk about the usefulness of CWG i cringe. i wish i can send this to them...to open their minds...

Brilliant story!!! This is what these games are all about. The friendly games, getting an opputunity, meeting people , competing at better than best spirits . Well off course do good for your career and your country . Well done St. Helena and well done CWG for giving an oppurtunity to so many like them . Let people learn from these guys that , you need to grab an oppurtunity when you get one , not moan and give excuses and give into pressure, that is not true sportsmanship . I am not sure how medals you have won, but Tom with this story am sure has put you ahead of any gold medal winners for true spirt of sportsmanship.

Brilliant story... reminds me of the wonderful day I spent in Manchester watching the 2002 triathlon... there were good cheers for the winners, but the noise that was generated when the athletes from the Cook Islands and Kiribati went past on each lap was deafening...

Ever since then I have been a fan of this event, and I love stories like this...

Great story. These are the people that make the Commonwealth Games so special!

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Absolutely fantastic article, I know I am repeating what has already been said, but it is so refreshing. This actually represents the true art of "Journalism". Detailed research and an original story.

St Helena (and Ascension and Tristan da Cunha) are all fascinating, they seem like the type of islands where "Lost" could be filmed. I hate to be picky, but according to your link, the British Virgin Islands are actually the smallest team, with just two participants!

A pleasure to read.

Phillips Idowu is the man.

why cant they compete in the olympics does anyone know?

A lovely article Tom. Thanks!

That's the spirit Tom! Lovely story! Keep them coming :o)

Great one!!!

i had the privilage of visiting St Helena earlier this year, i actually spoke to people about competing in Commonwealth games, they had a very good tennis player who was hopeful of being allowed to go, obviously he was not able. St Helena is an amazing place, the the people are so sparkly. i dont know why they cannot compete in Olympics, but maybe one day. i know it sounf selfish but i hope that an airstrip is turned down, personally i think it would spoil the island and the people.

i was on a world cruise and the Queen Mary stopped off, we doubled the island population for a day

I have also had the privilege of visiting this amazing island about 10 years ago when I was a teenager.
I stayed there for 2 weeks and the island is amazing and is incredibly remote, all the cars and facilities are about 10 years behind the uk, but they don't seem to mind. There is one pub and one shop in the one little town. There was also only one jail cell as well with the crime rate about 0.

This blog is amazing and really took me back to when I was there, good luck to the athletes in the games.
On another point I hope the island gets their airstrip, although it would change the island, I know it's what the st helenians want.

Dear Tom, Sorry to be critical but if you are doing a piece on the St Helenian competitors the least you could do is listen to them enough to get their name correct. They are Carlos and Rico YON not YUN.

I was watching some interviews with atheletes , all of them are basically saying "Delhi CWG is the best so far"...´óÏó´«Ã½ should show atheletes villas , what the atheletes eat and where, their training camps etc...rather than showing images of slums in sports blog (which makes no sense for which Tom was snubbed by many viewers in one of the earlier posts).

I think after the mega success of CWG in Delhi, India should bid for Olympics. Olympics should be held in exciting places like India rather a boring place like England.

I believe the reason they cannot compete in the Olympics is that the legal status of St Helena is a dependency of the UK and the IOC therefore do not recognise them as "a country".

Sammy, grow up. I have looked at your last bunch of posts and every one is either criticising England or eulogising over India.
Not one post of yours has been factual or balanced.

Please do both Indians (who I am sure are ashamed by you) and English ( who find your chip on the shoulder comments tedious) a favour and either stop posting or grow up.

Geejaytee, that's correct . Remember England Scotland etc also can t compete in the Olympics!

anyway the powers that be might allow St Helens islanders compete at the Olympics if be it under the auspices of GB? This what the friendly games are all about bring people from around the world, all be it former parts of the empire for the most part and sharing a bond of sport. great as it is to win medals but the shear joy of representing your country and making new friends is just if not more important. Good on you for an excellent postive piece!

Sammy yes dehli has been a success of some sort despite some negative reporting unfortunately it is not quite ready for the Olympics as whilst I think some members of the british media have been snobby just imagine the yanks and the french!!! it would be crippling. I hope that India do get the olympics probably in 4 cycles time. London 2012 will different as Bejing and Brazil will be in 2016. whilst some have scoffed at Dehli remember Atlanta was not such a hot success I think it was summed by the fact Juan S did not say these have been the best games ever in his closing speech.

The airport is going ahead because at the end of the day the Islanders wanted it because they are fed up being cut off from the rest of the world. The Governor Sir Andrew Gurr announced a few weeks ago that the British Government had given it's approval after MANY years of argument and debate. St Helena is one of about 8-9 'Colonies' left, with some of the others being Gibraltar, Turks & Caicos, Montserrat, Bermuda, Falklands, British Virgin Islands and they all strive to send competitors to the Commonwealth Games. The rapport between athletes is fantastic and makes it all worthwhile. St. Helenians are not allowed to join the British Forces and many do.
The OIC has a ruling which says that these 'colonies' must enter their prospective Olympic athletes through their parent country (Great Britian) and of course they have little hope of being selected. It is all political because Gibraltar and the Falklands campainged for years to get in but Samarach was the OIC President, at the time, and he could not allow Gibraltar in because it would have virtually nullified Spain's claim to Gibraltar (they would have lynched him in Madrid), so he dreamnt up this ruling about selection through the Britain. However there is a flaw because Bermuda, for example, were allowed into the Olympics before Samarach thought up the ruling. So much for democracy in the 'wonderful' Olympics!

My submission above should have read...'St. Helenians are allowed to join the British Forces...... I inadvertantly inserted the word 'not' by mistake. Sorry.

Nice article Tom. This is what the Commonwealth Games are all about, not neccessarily winning but just being there and competing. Now what about a piece about those 2 lovely little badminton girls from the Falklands who look about 14 years old, who I saw briefly on TV last week, when they played against England. They managed to get a few points between them and smiled all the way through. They have come a very long way as well.

Thankyou for the article Tom, a great read

nice article Tom. Journalism at its best!

Very nice article about the positive impact of the sport.Here are some more links about how positive the atheletes are feeling about the games.

Hi thats a great blog and appreciate the difference people are feeling and positivity.Here are some links to the laurels about Delhi CWG2010.

@ 25: Great Britain isn't a nation either, but as long as the Irish are all happy to compete as one team that's fine by me, though I'd love to see us all join forces as a British Isles squad :o)

Fascinating article which makes one appreciate the unique character and diversity of the CWG

27 James Autar
Thanks for that information .. I've wondered why for eg Gibralter enters the IAAF world champs and not the Olympics and also why it doesn't field a national football team like say Faroe Islands ( although in the case of football the same could be said of the three "British Isles "(?) minnows )

For all those India Olympics boosters.. where do they think they'll get their IOC members votes from...do they think IOC members from Commonwealth countries ...who will be well aware of the pros and cons of these CWGs..will support an Indian bid ?

I salute the duo for their enthusiasm for sport.

Here is a sample of the biased coverage:

First read what Fennel says

´óÏó´«Ã½ Sport's Martin Gough
DELHI ORGANISING CHIEF SPEAKS "Games chief Mike Fennell is asked a question on a major theme over the last few days: Do you blame the media for exposing problems or do you think they helped? 'Both,' replies the Jamaican. 'I felt some of the trivia received more attention that it should, but it was important to expose some of the fundamental issues and it helped. When these were exposed in the media, this helped us to get action going in certain areas, and I say that very sincerely. But I would be less than frank if I said some of the minor reports did not help because the public does not understand the dynamics of organisation.'"

and then ..from some Anon..the SMS..the bottom of that is a message exorting folks to get SMSes in for their -ve experiences.

Hopeless,this is not reporting.Its a slander campaign
Via SMS From Anon: "Mike Fennell has clearly not been an average spectator at CWG! Conditions have been dreadful for some sports such as rugby - no shade provided, no drinks, no suncream allowed in venue from 9-6! Security has not been firm but fair, it has been draconian! Basic human needs have not been met. All the correspondents have press passes which allows them water. What do you think it’s like with none and no shade?"

Has anyone else experienced something similar in Delhi? Or the complete opposite? Text me your views on 81111 (UK) or +44 7786200666 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +44 7786200666 end_of_the_skype_highlighting (worldwide) - messages will be charged at your standard operator rate.

Whoops Tom - we seem to be spending much of our time correcting you. The Falklands is the smallest nation in terms of population size with the latest cenus showing 2,900 people which is just over thousand short of St. Helena's 4,000.
It is also much farther away from India than St Helena although there is an airport there so their athletes took less time to get to Delhi than the St Helenians.

St. Helena DO compete at the olympics as part of the GB team. Their athletes are eligable to participate just like those of England, Wales, Scotland, N.Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey, IOM, Gibralter etc.

These two would not make that squad due to not being at the required level, in fact even if St. Helena had a seperate team they would still not compete as it would be extremely unlikley that they would be good enough to secure any of the places available (In shooting you have to win other competitions to give your nation competitor slots). Even the GB team only managed to obtain a single slot last time around in their event.

Hi hackerjack - I've explored this fully. The St. Helenians, Falkland Islanders etc. would have to join a running club in Britain, for example, if they wished to even stand a chance of competing in the Olympics. Then they would have to be selected by their club for trials and from there onto the AAA Championships and whatever further selction process is required. It's virtually an impossible task as the 'Colonialist' would have to move to live in Britain. That is why the OIC's ruling is politically unacceptable. The athletes from these Countries should be able to compete in the Olympics as of their own right but Samarach ensured that they can't. Theoretically they should throw Bermuda out as they fall into the category above, but hopefully they will not, having been accepted into the Olympic movement before Samarach brought politics into sport.
But I can assure you that the St. Helenians do NOT compete at the Olympics as part of the British team, as you have suggested.

Hi hackerjack - I've explored this fully. The St. Helenians, Falkland Islanders etc. would have to join a running club in Britain, for example, if they wished to even stand a chance of competing in the Olympics.
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Entirely dependent on the sport James. In shooting for instance where these chaps compete there is no restriction on having to join a club in order to compete in the trials.

Also those that do require club selection are open in most cases to clubs from the dependencies, clubs on the IOM and CHannel sles do send athletes in numerous sports to GB selection.

St. Helenans may not compete as you say, but there is nothing saying that they can not if they choose to do so in the majority of sports.

Also I didn't say the process was fair particularly, nor support it, but it's the IOC's ruling and was put in place in order to prevent people from claiming to represent unnoficial nations and causing politial issues. How would Russia respond to Chechnians entering etc. Personally I think that a nation should be allowed to compete under their own flag provided the nation they are dependent on agrees, which the UK would of course do.

#37

Even on a positive blog, you can't help but be the only person to go all negative. Why don't you just clear off and let others enjoy themselves for once?

suresh kalmadi should be shifted there asap so that india can organise the olympics without corruption. all said and done he should be given some credit...i think. i will forgive him for now.
btw how the hell did GB get there in the first instance!!! amazing

ps ..Carlos and Rico are true champions and a good gesture by india to get them to these games.well done. really inspiring

Great story Tom, thanks for sharing it with us. Well done boys, and enjoy your long journey home. I've never played Yuka with six hands, 500 is another good one that can keep you up all night. I bet you can't wait to see that little island on the horizon.