Sally Pearson’s departure has left a giant hole in the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games

SYDNEY 2000 had Cathy Freeman. Brisbane ‘82 had Raelene Boyle and Matilda. Gold Coast 2018 can bank on ... anyone?

SYDNEY 2000 had Cathy Freeman. Brisbane ‘82 had Raelene Boyle and Matilda. Gold Coast 2018 can bank on ... anyone?

When news of Sally Pearson’s injury swept the Gold Coast early on Thursday locals felt like theatregoers who had arrived at The Phantom of the Opera to be told the Phantom was having a night off.

That’s how much of a gap she will leave.

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Sally Pearson at the Main Press Centre announcing her decision to withdraw from the Commonwealth Games.

It’s not the gold medal that matters. It’s the poetic threads behind it that will be missed.

The images of mum and hubby as she celebrated a gold a few kilometres away from where she once caught two buses to training would have been showstoppers.

Australia will probably win 50 or more gold medals, so many that it actually dilutes the impact of each of them.

There will be so much gold it’s hard to tell what really sparkles — which is where Pearson stood apart because hers would have been rolled gold, and she’s a local.

Pearson during a lighter moment at Thursday’s media conference. Picture: Alex Coppel.

When all the hype and hoopla fades from a Games there are normally just one or two iconic images that remain as historical bookmarks that live in the memory for ever.

And they can come from anywhere like Andrew Lloyd bursting through the pack to win and incredulous gold in the 5000m in Auckland, 1990.

Games need signature moments more than they think they do.

Some Games lack them. Can you remember your favourite Australian Commonwealth Games moment from Delhi 2010? No, neither can I.

As exceptional as the Gold Coast opening ceremony was some felt the one thing it lacked was the singular dam-busting moment that enchanted the nation.

Hometown hero Pearson with the baton. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT

When the news broke of Pearson there were conspiracy theories abounding about the timing of the withdrawal but there was no sinister plot at play.

It was a big story but a simple one.

Her temperamental Achilles heel was screaming “nooooooo” so loudly on the track on Tuesday that she could not even do a half-paced run through.

Pearson on the track in the week before the Commonwealth Games

She kept it secret so not to take of the gloss off the opening ceremony. End of story.

With Pearson gone, the challenge for the rest of Australia’s athletes in all sports is to provide the enchanting moment of these Games.

It could come from anywhere. It may not come at all.