Delta Goodrem’s closing ceremony spectacular wow Glasgow Games
The Commonwealth Games have ended in spectacular fashion to see out Day 10 in Glasgow, with Australian star Delta Goodrem performing as our athletes celebrate finishing top of the tally
READING LEVEL: GREEN
Aussie pop icon Delta Goodrem rocked the closing ceremony of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Bringing the energy, a bedazzled Goodrem played a medley of her hits, including Sitting on Top of the World.
Goodrem also brought in Scottish artist Cammy Barnes to help sing Australia’s unofficial national anthem, You’re the Voice – complete with live bagpipes. Australia’s netballers were spotted singing and dancing among the crowd of athletes at The Hydro, the same venue at which they won bronze earlier in the day.
Australia’s Commonwealth Games team not only topped the medal count – they’ve more than doubled rival England’s gold medal count.
A bit like the Ashes series in Australia last summer, England simply couldn’t catch us after the Aussies established a commanding lead early in the Games.
While the 2022 Birmingham Games medal tally race came down to a final day, which Australia won with 67 gold medals to England’s 58, Glasgow was a landslide.
As the final event crossed the finish line at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome*, Australia had a stunning medal tally of 70 gold, 45 silver and 56 bronze medals. To put that into perspective, Australia won more gold medals than the next three nations combined, with England ranked second with 29 gold medals, Canada third with 19 gold and India fourth with 13 gold medals.
In winning 70 gold medals from 215 events, Australia not only surpassed* their Birmingham gold medal tally, but they did it from 73 fewer events.
At the pool, on the track and in the velodrome, Advance Australia Fair was heard on repeat as a green and gold tidal wave took over Glasgow.
The dominant performance also helps bury the demons from 12 years ago when Australia came to Glasgow for the 2014 Games but England won the medal tally with 58 gold medals to 49.
This is not the end of the campaign for many of Australia’s leading athletes, with the swimmers already in California for the Pan Pacs starting next week, the athletics team remaining in Europe for Diamond League events and several other Aussies staying on to pursue further international competitions.
The final medals of the Commonwealth Games over the weekend included a stunning and historic win by Australia’s 4 x 100m men’s relay team. Australia pulled off an incredible victory, led by our fastest man Lachlan Kennedy, with Josh Azzopardi, Calab Law and Rohan Browning pulled off a remarkable win in 38.07 seconds. It was our first gold medal in this event at a Commonwealth Games since 1974.
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There was netball bronze for the Diamonds, who bounced back from their shock one-point loss to valiant Jamaica in the semi-finals. Having never before failed to qualify for the gold medal match, the Diamonds will take some comfort from defeating England 68-50.
In the early hours of Monday Australian time, Alyssa Polites won gold in the women’s elimination race to claim Australia’s 10th cycling gold of the Games.
Georgia Baker won silver and was named Australia’s flag-bearer for the closing ceremony. Australian para-cyclist Tara Neyland won her second gold medal at the Commonwealth Games with victory in the women’s C4-C5 1000m time trial.
Several players including Courtney Bruce, Sophie Garbin and Sophie Dwyer were emotional and shed some tears after the bronze medal game as the reality of what might have been set it. The Diamonds had never missed a gold medal match at the Commonwealth Games before.
The passing of the Commonwealth Games baton to Ahmedabad, India, for 2030 was celebrated with some bouncy Bollywood* performances from the next host nation.
Scottish rock icons* Simple Minds* closed the Commonwealth Games in style. The closing ceremony finished with local acts, including legendary Scottish DJ George Bowie.
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POLL
GLOSSARY
- velodrome: a track for bicycle racing, usually with curved sides that go up steeply
- surpassed: someone or something that went beyond, to do or be better or more than something else
- Bollywood: while it has come to refer more broadly to Indian song and dance numbers, the name refers to the country’s film industry, based mainly in the Indian city of Mumbai, which was previously known as Bombay, with a playful reference to Hollywood, the centre of America’s film industry
- icon: something or someone that is very famous or popular, especially being considered to represent particular opinions or a particular time
- Simple Minds: one of Scotland’s most successful bands, having achieved six No. 1 albums in the UK with frontman Jim Kerr, Simple Minds formed in Glasgow in 1977 and had a huge global hit in 1985 with Don’t You (Forget About Me), featured in the Gen X classic film The Breakfast Club
EXTRA READING
Rose Davies wins, Jess Hull grins
QUICK QUIZ
- Who was the flag-bearer for Australia at the closing ceremony?
- Which song is arguably considered Australia’s unofficial anthem?
- Which big name Australian artist performed at the closing ceremony?
- Australia’s netball team the Diamonds were knocked out of gold medal contention by which nation?
- Which Indian city will host the next Commonwealth Games?
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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Athlete trading cards
Choose one or two of your favourite athletes who competed at the Commonwealth Games. Create an athlete trading card on this person. On your card include the following details:
Name
- Sport
- Event
- Medal/s won (if any)
- Three interesting facts
- Drawing or photograph
- A motivational quote from the athlete or from the article
Make it look as professional as possible and have a class trading session!
Time: allow 25 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education, Visual Arts, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking
2. Extension
“Winning isn’t the only measure of success in sport.”
What other measures of success do the Commonwealth Games athletes demonstrate that young kids can learn from?
Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking
VCOP ACTIVITY
Athlete profile
It’s time to shine a spotlight on our Commonwealth Games athletes. Create a template for a character profile that you can fill in with all the information you want to know about some of Australia’s athletes. Make sure the layout has subtitles, and perhaps questions under each subtitle, to help others fill it in.
Extension: Let’s test your layout. Can you use the character profile layout and fill it in with information about yourself? Check to see if you included enough categories. Will the class learn a lot about you, or do you need to add more sections? Share your fact file with your class, so they can learn more about you.