A decade on, many fond memories remain of Glasgow 2014

Ten years ago, the country, and particularly Glasgow, came alive for the 12 days of the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

In some ways, it seems like it was only yesterday but in others, it feels like a lifetime ago.

The Scottish gold medal-winning performances are the first thing that come to mind.

On the very first day of action, there was the Renicks sisters, Kimberly and Louise, who both won gold on the judo mat less than an hour apart to get Scotland’s medal tally off to a glittering start.

Also on day one, there was a gold rush in the pool for Scotland, started by Hannah Miley who successfully defended her 400m individual medley title before her win was followed by one of the biggest upsets of the Games when Ross Murdoch defeated his compatriot, Olympic medallist, poster boy of the Games and heavy favourite for the 200m breaststroke title, Michael Jamieson. 

And there was Charlie Flynn, the boxer whose patter, including the phrase “I’m buzzing like a jar of wasps”, made him a household name across the country.

Charlie Flynn won gold in the boxing ring in 2014

There were others, too, who may not have won gold but still stick in the memory. 

Lynsey Sharp’s heroic silver medal in the 800m having spent the night before on a drip was the absolute definition of fighting spirit.

And there was 13-year-old Shetlander, Erriad Davis, who won gold in the pool in the 100m SB9 breaststroke. Davis has Perthes Disease, which means one of her hips doesn’t work and so, not being able to run, she took up swimming. Good choice.

There was plenty of other highlights outside of Scotland’s success too, of course.

For the first week-and-a-bit, the sun shone unflinchingly.

The Opening Ceremony was weird and wonderful and the ginormous squad of volunteers were lauded across the Commonwealth for what they brought to the Games and for contributing so greatly to the general feel-good atmosphere that enveloped Glasgow for a fortnight.

And the public turned out in droves, ensuring there was barely a spare seat to be seen for the entirety of Glasgow 2014.

In a sporting sense, it’s hard to look further than Usain Bolt who may have played a mere ten second part in the Games by anchoring Jamaica to gold in the 4x100m relay but despite the brevity of his appearance, the presence of the world’s greatest superstar at the time ensured Boltmania beset Glasgow.

It would be folly to pretend Glasgow 2014 was entirely without its flaws, however.

There was the disasterous idea to include the demolition of the Red Road flats in the Opening Ceremony. That idea, following considerable backlash, was, thankfully, binned.

There was the outbreak of norovirus in the Athletes’ Village just days before the start of the Games which threatened to disrupt things quite drastically but, to the relief of the organisers, was stopped without doing too much damage.

And there was the break in the tropical weather in the final days of the Games, which ultimately saw the cycling road races being contended in monsoon conditions.

Glasgow 2014, inevitably, suffered from comparisons to London 2012 which, only two years prior, has been hailed as the greatest Olympic Games ever staged.

A Commonwealth Games in Glasgow was never going to be able to compete with the clout of the Olympics, nor the budget of the London Games but the fact that Glasgow held its own, given it’s limitations when compared to the Olympics, says everything about the success of Glasgow 2014. 

It’s funny to think back to those Games just ten years ago and consider how different the landscape is now.

Glasgow 2014 was an event that was well-planned and almost perfectly executed.

Almost to a person, everyone left Glasgow wholeheartedly believing the Commonwealth Games were in a good place.

It didn’t seem an outlandish assumption.

After Glasgow, the Games wee headed to Australia’s Gold Coast for the 2018 edition of the Commonwealth Games and there is no safer pair of hands than Aussie hands.

But now, in 2024, the Commonwealth Games is but a shadow of what came to Glasgow a decade ago.

The palaver as the Commonwealth games Federation tries everything it can to secure a host for the 2026 Games has been painful to watch and suggests that, sooner or later (probably sooner) the Commonwealth Games will be no more.

The struggle to find a host for the next edition of the games, in just two years time, is a clear warning of just how precarious a thing these major sporting events are.

If you’d asked anyone at the closing ceremony of Glasgow 2014, as Kylie Minogue belted out her grestest hits, if they thought the Commonwealth Games would be no more any time soo, they’d have kaughed in your face.

It seemed a preposterous suggestion.

Yet, here we are.

It remains to be seen if the Commonwealth Games can have life breathed back into it.

Perhaps, with enough will, vision and commitment, it can be rescued from the berink of death.

Certainly, thinking back tonthe triumph of Glasgow 2014 a decade ago, it would be intensely sad to think that was one of the last-ever editions of the Commonwealth Games.

As a sporting entity, the Commonwealth Games has many, many problems but Glasgow 2014 showed, in the most brilliant way that it can bring so many benefits to a city both immediate, and longer-lasting. 

Whatever happens in the long-term with the Commonwealth Games, we should never forget those 12 days when Glasgow came alive in the most delightful way in 2014.