The Commonwealth Games must innovate to overcome its most recent crises, according to Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics.
The multi-sport competition had a significant blow last month when Victoria, an Australian state, backed out of hosting the 2026 edition due to rising expenses.
Due to an apparent lack of interest in a spectacle that was seen as losing relevance, it left the Commonwealth Games Federation scrambling to find a suitable successor quickly.
Birmingham, England, was chosen to host the last Games in 2022 after Durban, South Africa, lost the right to host due to a string of missed deadlines and financial issues. Birmingham had to step in to take Durban’s position.
Victoria submitted the only offer for 2026.
Despite this, Coe said he saw a future for an event that regularly draws more than 4,000 athletes from the 54 Commonwealth countries, almost all of which were formerly British Empire colonies.
Without going into specifics, he told The Australian newspaper late on Tuesday that “the Commonwealth Games will survive this, it’s a strong product, and the Commonwealth Games has opportunity to do that.”
“It has promise since it has less branding (restrictions) than the Olympics and sometimes the World Championships.
“I don’t see the Commonwealth Games going away; it currently has a problem, and I’m hoping others are willing to step up,” the speaker said.
Former middle-distance world record holder Coe said that the competition was still an important precursor to the Olympics, especially for track and field.
“There are very strong powerful nations there,” he remarked. “The Commonwealth Games track and field is a strong event: to win a sprint you have to beat Jamaicans; to win an endurance you have to beat the Kenyans.”
“Only around 24 percent of the countries competing in international athletics are Commonwealth countries. The success of the Commonwealth Games is critical for track & field.
Victoria, which was supposed to host the Games across five regional centres, withdrew after asserting that the original Aus$2 billion (US$1.36 billion) cost would likely rise to Aus$7 billion.
