Commonwealth Games: Jana Pittman reveals plan to save 2026 Games after Victoria pull out
World champion hurdler Jana Pittman has unveiled a radical plan to save the 2026 Commonwealth Games, after Victorian Premier Dan Andrews’ announced the decision to pull out.
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World champion hurdler Jana Pittman wants the rest of Australia to save the Commonwealth Games with a radical plan for each major city to take on different sports.
Pittman said she was “devastated” by Victorian Premier Dan Andrews’ decision to pull out of the 2026 Games but urged organisers to get creative in saving the event which was the highlight of her own glittering career.
The mother of six, who is also a doctor, wasn’t critical of the decision to prioritise health and education ahead of sport which has been Andrews’ spin on the controversial decision but said the Games also played an important social role in society.
“Why can’t this be the start of the new Commonwealth Games, out of this heartbreak let’s turn that around and have the rest of Australia step up,” Pittman said.
“They are probably correct, the Commonwealth Games are actually too expensive and it has had its day to some degree but without it little kids dreams don’t come true, people don’t chase and see opportunity as worthwhile.
“These days so many of our kids are looking at social media and influencers as their drive to success and their drive of what they think is important whereas an elite athlete shows class, determination, hardship, it is a really great role model.
“If we don’t have championships every two years so many sports that don’t get coverage are going to become unprofessional, they won’t be able to afford to keep going because they don’t get the coverage to be elite athletes.
“We have got rising obesity rates in kids and too many vapers. The broader aspects of not having championships, absolutely, we can’t sacrifice health budget and education and if you can’t afford it then cancel the Games.
“But surely there has got to be a way to reduce the costs dramatically and allow us to have one.”
Pittman said each major capital city in Australia already had the infrastructure in place to be the home of different sports in what she called the “Australia Commonwealth Games’ ‘.
“It has to be redesigned and rebooted because it’s getting to a point where if nobody bids for it then it’s over,” she said.
“If they change the dynamics and the economics of it, spread the load across various cities then it can work. It should be a continent or a country that holds the Games now, not a city or region.
“You could have track and field in Sydney, swimming in Melbourne, cycling in Queensland, women’s cricket in Adelaide.
“These events all generate a lot of income for local industry and communities around them. There has to be a way to make it work.”
Pittman, a two-time world champion, won the 400m hurdles gold medal at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games.
“It was the highlight of my career, the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, winning in front of my home crowd and being able to experience that,” she said.
“It (the Commonwealth Games) is actually what got me into the sport. Watching Jane Flemming win a Commonwealth Games gold medal (in Auckland in 1990), I was then like `Mum I want to go to Little Aths’.
“That was literally the start of me going down to track and field, otherwise I probably would never have got involved.”
CANADA TO HONOR2030 COMM GAMES COMMITMENT
—Julian Linden
The obituaries for the Commonwealth Games can be put back in mothballs, where they belong.
Like Mark Twain, the death notices trumpeting the ‘Friendly Games’ are dead have been greatly exaggerated.
International organisers are still hopeful a replacement for 2026 can be found after Dan Andrews shamelessly reneged on his promise that Victoria would host the Games in the hope it would give him a political boost.
He was wrong because it has backfired in his face – but regardless of whether a new host for 2026 is found, the multi-sport event isn’t done with yet.
Canada has already committed to hosting the 2030 Games to mark the 100 year anniversary of the inaugural event at Hamilton.
Those plans haven’t changed with the Canadian swim team at the world championships in Japan affirming their commitment to keeping the Games alive.
“In Canada, the Commonwealth Games is held close to its heart,” Canada’s high performance director John Atkinson said.
“Canada staged the First Empire Games, as they were then called before they transitioned to the Commonwealth Games, and Canada are still working towards that for 2030.
“The bid committee are obviously deep in their planning.”
Victoria’s announcement has infuriated swimmers the world over, who have always loved the competition and unique camaraderie of the Commonwealth Games, treating it almost as a mini-Olympics.
Atkinson himself has had a long personal involvement, having previously worked with the British and Australian teams before taking over Canada’s national head coach.
He worked in Australia from 1994 to 2000 and firmly believes the Commonwealth Games remain an integral event for all the countries involved.
“I think that the Games provide a fantastic opportunity to be in a Games environment and to learn from the experiences that you get at a Commonwealth Games to take yourself forward to the Olympics.
“We obviously went to the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, had a fantastic visit to Australia, came away with medals, the athletes, the fantastic Games experience and I think there is a place for it,” he said.
“I think it has to rationalise where it sits in the overall swimming calendar so that you can get all your world class athletes across all the different sports there.
“So what happens in 2026 will be challenging, less than three years to potentially find a host when originally planned to be in the southern hemisphere back in March.
“It‘s very complicated. Even if you can get a host in the northern hemisphere, with all the other events that are going on, I hope something can be worked out.”
Canadian butterflyer Maggie Mac Neil, the Olympic and world champion, added the Commonwealth Games to her collection when she beat Emma McKeon last year.
The 23-year-old won five medals at Birmingham last year and said one of the reasons she liked the Commonwealth Games so much was because of its inclusion.
“I‘ve always wanted to go to the Commonwealth Games and it definitely lived up to all expectations last year,” she said.
“It provides something unique that we don‘t get to experience at a lot of Games is that the para and the able bodied are able to come together and they just bring such a great atmosphere and it’s so great to be able to compete and hang out with them.
“I think that would be a real shame if they were to not get that opportunity.”
Originally published as Commonwealth Games: Jana Pittman reveals plan to save 2026 Games after Victoria pull out
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