Commonwealth Games closing ceremony: Peter Beattie has insulted nation’s athletes

Forget the jocular apologies, it is appalling that wheelchair racer Kurt Fearnley marked the end of his career and virtually no one saw it.

Peter Beattie, left, is responsible for a massive insult to some of the nation’s greatest sporting heroes including Kurt Fearnley, right.

Peter Beattie is falling over himself to apologise for the fiasco that passed as a Commonwealth Games closing ceremony last night.

“We stuffed up,” says Beattie, chairman of the Games organising committee. “Should the athletes have been part of the ceremony? Yes?” he says. “We got it wrong.”

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Beattie, garrulous and charming, is a master at this. Done it throughout his long political career. Apologise and take the wind out of issue. Move on.

The wind must not be allowed to go out of this one.

For Beattie, this is a much bigger blunder than calling NRL team Cronulla the Hawks. This is a massive insult to some of the nation’s greatest sporting heroes at the moment of their greatest triumph.

It is an insult that the Australian team was forced to march in to the stadium at Carrara last night before the closing ceremony began.

It is an insult that the athletes did not appear in the Seven Network’s broadcast of the ceremony. That they were not able to celebrate their achievements at one of our most successful Commonwealth Games in front of the nation. And that we were not able to share in the celebration.

It is particularly an insult that wheelchair racer Kurt Fearnley, perhaps the most admired individual in Australia at the moment, marked the end of his fantastic career by carrying the Australian flag and virtually no one saw it. No one watching on TV and very few in the half-empty stands.

Please remember that @GC2018 has been the most inclusive event that our nation has ever hosted. We can’t let anything distract from that. We did something special on the Gold Coast & it was one of the best weeks of my life. The team, crowds, staff & volunteers nailed it. #kudos

— Kurt Fearnley (@kurtfearnley) April 16, 2018

Instead we got to listen to a series of vacuous speeches — including one from Beattie that we could have done without — and several largely irrelevant artists singing other people’s songs.

Beattie and his organising committee signed off on the format of the ceremony and were aware that the athletes would be snubbed. They must take responsibility.

Seven has blamed the organisers and the host broadcaster, but they must also take responsibility. At the time the athletes were marching into the stadium, largely unnoticed, Seven was broadcasting a cooking show.

Forget the jocular apologies Peter, it’s time to make amends. How about street parades in all our capital cities to welcome home the athletes — funded by the Games organisers and broadcast live in prime time by Seven.

With no speeches by Peter Beattie.

Peter Beattie, chairman of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation, addresses the closing ceremony at Carrara Stadium last night.