FOR years, Gold Coast athletes have punched above their weight across all sports.

As a 17-year-old student at Merrimac High School, Grant Hackett upstaged his much older competition to bring home gold at the 1998 World Championships in Perth.

Hackett, who learned his trade swimming up and down Miami Pool under the guidance of Denis Cotterell, was a two-time Olympic gold medallist in swimming’s most demanding event, the 1500m.

And then just 0.69 of a second separated Hackett from sporting immortality.

In 2000, Hackett had begun his domination of the event, defeating another legendary Australian swimmer Kieren Perkins to win the gold medal at the Sydney Olympics.

He added to the tally in Athens before heading to Beijing in August 2008 to make it an unprecedented three-in-a-row.

Unfortunately that wasn’t to be in the 1500m, with Tunisian Oussama Mellouli swimming a tactically smart final to win in 14min 40.84 sec after Hackett — who had been caught up in a stroke-for-stroke battle for most of the race with Canadian bronze medallist Ryan Cochrane — left his run at the Tunisian on the final lap too late.

And now one of Australia’s greatest distance swimmers is back in training, striving to make the Rio Olympics — his fourth Games — and very well could make the 4x200m team.

One of Australia’s few track athletes to dominate her sport in recent years, Sally Pearson, is genuine world class athlete.

The 2011 world champion went on to win the 2012 London Olympic gold medal but it wasn’t until last year’s Glasgow Games that she showed her true grit in overcoming the coaching controversy — and stinging criticism of head coach Eric Hollingsworth — to win gold.

Last but not least in our big three: Adam Scott, who chipped and putted his way to be World number 1 in 2014.

His biggest win was the 2013 Masters Tournament, the first Masters won by an Australian in its 77-year history.

One of sport’s most humble champions, he calls the Gold Coast home and in February announced the arrival of daughter Bo Vera Scott with wife Marie at Pindarra Private Hospital.

9: PREMIER EFFORT

SEPTEMBER 2007 — MARCH 2012

IT takes a fair mix of skill, persuasiveness, ruthlessness and sheer bloody mindedness to ascend to the top of Queensland’s Australian Labor Party.

But Queensland’s first female premier, and the first female premier in Australian history to win the post in a general election, Anna Bligh had all that in spades.

And she was educated at the Gold Coast’s Miami State High School. Born in Warwick in 1960 and growing up on the Gold Coast, Anna Bligh is one of four children raised by her mother, Frances Tancred, on the supporting mother’s pension brought in by the Whitlam Government as a safety net for battlers.

Such experience fuelled Bligh’s support for the underdog and nurtured her prominence in campaigns on issues including public housing, indigenous affairs, victims of crime and women’s rights.

Bligh was elected to the seat of South Brisbane in 1995 and served in the Families portfolio in the first Beattie government in 1998.

She became Queensland’s first female Education Minister in 2001.

Later, when Mr Beattie offloaded some of his portfolio work to Bligh, she took over Finance, State Development, Trade and Innovation, and later Treasury. In order to attain the top job of Premier, Bligh required a combination of toughness, compassion and an ability to deal with and lead what had been considered a `blokey’ state.

“I can honestly say when I was a young girl growing up on the Gold Coast and a student at Miami State High School, the idea that I would ever be in the position I am ... never occurred to me,’’ she said. Bligh attempted to win a second full term as premier in the 2012 state election however, her party suffered the worst defeat of a sitting government in Queensland history. Bligh announced her immediate resignation as leader of te Queensland Labor Party and currently resides in Sydney.

8: SHOP UNTIL YOU DROP

1965-PRESENT

Thank goodness for the Gold Coast pushing the boundaries. The Coast’s obsession with shopping began in 1965, with the city attracting tourism status in trading hours legislation allowing some stores to open Monday to Saturday and on esignated holidays.

And then:

1979: Order expanded to include a wider area of shops in the Gold Coast.

1990: Gold Coast shops allowed to trade late on Thursday nights.

1992: Sunday trading introduced on the Gold Coast — years before the rest of the state.

2010: Beachside strip of the city declared a Coastal Tourism Area, allowing some supermarkets to trade until 10pm.

And now Robina and Pacific Fair are primed to open 15 hours a day, six days a week.

The Queensland Industrial Relations Commission is currently considering allowing all shops in Robina Town Centre and Pacific Fair to open from 7am-10pm Monday to Saturday and from 8am-8pm on Sundays.

The move would add 45 shopping hours a week to the spending schedule of shopaholics and give the Gold Coast the longest trading hours in the state.

Currently only supermarkets along and east of the Gold Coast Highway south of The Spit can open for such extended trading.

The application was made by National Retailers Association CEO Trevor Evans, who said visitors had expectations about trading hours which were not being met.

“This is all about growth, tourism and taking advantage of the Gold Coast’s opportunities, notably the Commonwealth Games,” he said.

“Tourism is incredibly important to the Gold Coast and retail is a cornerstone of what the Coast offers to visitors.”

The application also seeks 8am-8pm trade on Easter Saturday and some other public holidays.

7: CHEERS TO THAT

1988-PRESENT

It’s the brewery that keeps on giving. The brewery site, located at Yatala was established by the Power Brewing Company, which launched Powers Bitter in 1988. Four years later a joint venture between Powers and Carlton & United Breweries was entered into (operated as Queensland Breweries), then in October 1993 Carlton & United Breweries acquired the brewery outright along with the Powers brands.

During the joint venture phase a $30 million packaging line was installed, largely to keep up with demand for VB (Victoria Bitter). By February 2005, a $170 million expansion was dusted off, which increased overall capacity to some 450 million litres per annum.

These days Abbotsford (in Victoria) and Yatala vie for the title of Australia’s largest single brewery.

Part of the 2005 expansion included major environmental initiatives with greatly enhanced water and energy efficiency, and a reduction in atmospheric emissions.

Fosters claim that the Yatala plant is ‘arguably the most water efficient brewery in the world, with a water/beer ratio of around 2.3 litres/litre of beer’.

Besides producing the company’s major brands including VB, Carlton Draught, Crown Lager and Pure Blonde, the Yatala brewery makes Kilkenny Draught under licence.

Employing hundreds of staff, the brewery is branching into cider but has since stopped the popular brewery tours.

6: HEALTH HEARTLAND

With a growing number of people in the region, healthcare became an important issue in the South Coast through the early 20th century.

The State Government bought the Nerang Street site that would become the Gold Coast Hospital in 1922 and it began offering medical services soon after.

It paid just £1737 for the land.

The existing facilities eventually proved too small and a new tower was built on the site through the late 1970s and early 1980s which came to dominate the Southport skyline.

It closed in 2013 when the new $1.76 billion Gold Coast University Hospital was opened at Parklands.

Parkwood has become a health heartland with Griffith University at its centre.

A unique Health and Knowledge Precinct has developed with the opening of the $150 million Griffith Health Centre.

The precinct is also now home to the Menzies Health Institute Queensland and the Queensland Academy for Health Sciences.

5: SKY’S THE LIMIT

2005-PRESENT

It was good while it lasted. Q1 — an abbreviation of Queensland Number One — lost its title as the world’s tallest residential tower to the 348-metre building The Marina Torch in Dubai on 29 April 2011 but it remains the tallest building in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere when measured to the top of its spire.

Construction started in 2002 and was completed in 2005 at the cost of $255 million.

The landmark building was recognised as one of Queensland’s icons during the state’s 150th birthday celebrations.

For a short time, an apartment in the building, which was bought for $9 million by a Japanese restaurateur, was the most expensive ever paid for in Queensland.

In 2010, an application to construct a walkway around the outside of level 78 was lodged with the council and ultimately approved.

Skypoint is an observation deck at levels 77 and 78 and is Australia’s only beachside observation deck, towering 230m above Surfers Pardise beach.

4: BY JIMBO

1923-1952

It’s worth noting that Jim Freeman Cavill came to Surfers Paradise when he was 61 — but gee wizz, Cavill was to become the Coast’s prototype self-made man.

His Gold Coast story really took off with the purchase of 25 acres of land at Elston. In 1925, he built a hotel, the Surfers Paradise Hotel, postal services were revived and refreshments and accommodation provided for visitors in the area.

Cavill was heavily involved in the early promotion of Elston, and lobbied hard for the name change to Surfers Paradise (the same as his hotel). The Elston area was slow to take off, but when it finally did, the local newspaper men labelled it the Gold Coast and in 1958 it became the official name for the town.

Cavill Avenue, and its extension, the Cavill Mall, in Surfers Paradise were named in honour of James ‘Jim’ Cavill; previously it had been named Meyer’s Ferry Road or just Ferry Road.

Cavill died at the Surfers Paradise Hotel on 5 March 1952 and was buried in the Southport cemetery.

3: LET THERE BE LIGHT

July 20, 2014

IT took nearly 20 years of planning to get a light rail on the Gold Coast.

From the late 1990s until the late 2000s, numerous different governments argued over the rapid transit system and whether it would be a light bus or rail option.

The Rudd Government finally funded it in 2009 and construction began in 2011.

This September 2013 edition shows the first trams arriving in Australia after being shipped from Germany.

The $1.2 billion system first took passengers on July 20, 2014. It has since transported more six million passengers between Griffith University at Parkwood and Broadbeach.

2: WE OWN THIS TOWN

January 11, 2011

The scourge of the Gold Coast’s outlaw motorcycle gangs hung over the city for years, with increasing brazen displays of public violence. A crackdown began after the April 2012 Robina shooting but it was not enough to stop the violence, which hit its peak in late 2013. The October 2013 Broadbeach bikie brawl sparked a major crackdown from the Newman Government which hit back at gangs who boasted “we run this town”. Within months, the clubs had mostly gone underground and shut down their public clubhouses.

The Labor Government is reviewing the laws and has flagged changes to legislation passed by the Newman government.

The laws are expected to be reviewed by the end of the year.

1: AND THE WINNER IS ...

November 11, 2011

It was the moment the Gold Coast had waited years to hear.

The announcement the Gold Coast had won the 2018 Commonwealth Games was celebrated with cheers of elation at Southport’s Broadwater Parklands, while over in St Kitts and Nevis, Premier Anna Bligh and late Mayor Ron Clarke, who spearheaded the bid, were ecstatic.

The Bulletin revealed Cr Clarke, an Olympian, had sealed the deal through his friendship with fellow sportsman Kip Keino.

The Games will be held between April 4-15 and construction is well under way on many venues.