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Original poster

commonwealth games - australia appalling behaviour

85 replies

takeittakeit · 15/04/2018 10:44

The poor scottish marathon runner who collapsed just before the end.

Australia your behaviour ruined the Games

No one there to help him
Taking photos of him lying their distressed.

And your official saying we can not have medics every mile - yes you bloody can.

Am appalled at the pictures coming out - your spectators and officials shame a nation - none of you helped him, comforted him did anything.

Disgusted - even your eventual winner did not even look. True champions care

OP posts:
rubybleu · 15/04/2018 12:54

So every single spectator was Australian? One event “ruins” an entire games?

After Boston marathon, no one in their right mind would let a spectator jump the barriers.

Fairyliz · 15/04/2018 13:02

What the hell has happened to common sense? All of those spectators Just standing there taking photos and doing nothing!
I expect they will all be squawking its not our job, we can't go over the barrier.
Just use your bloody common sense and help a man who clearly is not going to finish the race.

lynmilne65 · 15/04/2018 13:09

Personally have never casted an experion Grin

lynmilne65 · 15/04/2018 13:10

asperion

midsomermurderess · 15/04/2018 13:19

Yes, the article sounds as if it was written by a computer or using a dictate function that couldn't recognise the voice.

BikingBeatrix · 15/04/2018 13:22

I had to laugh though at the very defensive response from the Oz spokesperson. ‘It wasn’t that hot’ etcetera. Aye right, but this is a Scottish boy. What you regard as hot isn’t quite the same in Scotland. Thank goodness he’s okay. It was only his second Commonwealth Games and the first one was on home ground. It’s quite possible he hasn’t run much in properly hot stuff.

TooManyPaws · 15/04/2018 13:24

"Not that hot". Wasn't there also an African runner who also had to have medical attention, from Tanzania or somewhere? Don't tell me that HE isn't used to heat!

Jannilost · 15/04/2018 14:12

Not that hot bloody hell thats like saying alaska in deep winter isn't that cold

takeittakeit · 16/04/2018 01:02

This reply has been deleted

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categed · 16/04/2018 01:20

Worrying that the official help and response took so long. A colleague of mine lost their son running a marathon. It is an endurance sport that even the fittest can become seriously ill doing. Surely questions will be asked as to the placement of medical support for future races. Thank goodness he is recovering now.

Degustibusnonestdisputandem1 · 16/04/2018 01:28

Another Aussie here who is appalled.

Cantbelieveit101 · 16/04/2018 01:49

I was there about 3 kms down the road.

He flew past us and several people mentioned about how he was coping with the heat.

It was 33 degrees where we were standing, unseasonably warm for Autumn.

One of the African ladies also pulled out.

So hard to watch, the people taking photos on their phones disgusted us all.

Floralnomad · 16/04/2018 01:49

The other issue was that of the water bottles , whether it contributed to the issue for this particular runner I don’t know but the fact that they were giving them sealed bottles seemed to be a problem as they were struggling to undo the tops with their sweaty hands . It was particularly noticeable with some of the women runners . Apparently it was only 28* , which on the face of it doesn’t seem too bad but I’ve never seen so many elite athletes finish a race looking so distressed and that’s across all the races including the wheelchair athletes .

Floralnomad · 16/04/2018 01:51

X post there , interesting that you were there and saying it was 33 .

hellokittymania · 16/04/2018 02:01

That's horrible! What is wrong with people today? Not everything needs to be a photo for social media, especially when people are obviously in need of help.

TheClaws · 16/04/2018 02:37

yes it does sum up a nation and the Games

Calm down the hyperbole OP. It absolutely does not “sum up a nation”. What a silly thing to say. The rules state spectators cannot touch a participant. He also refused help. Now, it was clearly obvious when he was on the bridge that he really could not go on and couldn’t make decisions for himself. Assistance should have got to him much faster than it did.

Athletes make a choice to compete whatever the conditions. He obviously wanted to keep going as he was competing for his country. As previous PP have said, for Australia the temperature wasn’t that hot, but for him it was - but you can’t always have ideal running conditions for everyone.

I felt terrible for him and upset that help hadn’t got to him sooner - but it doesn’t sum up all of Australia and Australians. That’s just ridiculous.

coconuttella · 16/04/2018 03:01

I didn’t expect the other chap to stop running but from the TV pictures he seemed to not even acknowledge the chap was sprawled in the road

Yabu. The runner going past was the last person to be responsible in such a situation . He was at his physical limit hurtling last him and in no state to assess the situation unlike the organisers and the paramedics. Making a gesture was hardly going to make people think... “oh I thought he was ok lying on the road, but because the passing runner pointed at him briefly and showed a momentary expression of concern on his face we must help him” Hmm

coconuttella · 16/04/2018 03:04

That's horrible! What is wrong with people today? Not everything needs to be a photo for social media, especially when people are obviously in need of help.

I agree... there always seem to be plenty of self-absorbed voyeurs at moments such as these.

coconuttella · 16/04/2018 03:06

yes it does sum up a nation and the Games

I agree it was appalling, but you undermine your point by extrapolating so absurdly.

RedDwarves · 16/04/2018 03:08

Another day, another mumsnet thread bashing Australians.

Snore.

mogulfield · 16/04/2018 03:26

I’ve been really impressed with these commonwealth games, the Gold Coast and its people have put on a great games.
But I was watching the marathon live whilst doing a night feed and it was uncomfortable to watch poor Callum. He should have had medical assistance sooner and if I was one of the crowd I would have tried to catch him, bollocks to what his wishes would have been. Especially when he smashes his head on the barrier Sad
So many lessons identified... have a medic with the runners, it was such a small field of runners you wouldn’t need many to sort this provision. Also if your country is hotter than the sun, start the marathon very early.
I went on a running camp in Cyprus and we never did set off for long runs any later than 7am.

incywincybitofa · 16/04/2018 03:32

He looked unfit to finish by the time he collapsed and it was his second fall for him to be allowed to continue would be almost inhumane. The very valid point is raised that two minutes is a very long time for medical aid to arrive, had this been a cardiac arrest rather than heat stroke things could have ended very differently and we would be questioning whether he might have been saved had help arrived sooner.
Whether this incident summed up the games or not, the closing ceremony took these games to a new low.

GinIsIn · 16/04/2018 03:36

I just want to point out that officials at events such as these are, for the most part, not usually from the host country. They are made up mostly of people from around the world from the governing bodies of various sports. The crowd would also not be made up of people from the host country.

It is fine to say that people are arseholes, and that there were mistakes made here, but not to blame it all on the host country.

NotBadConsidering · 16/04/2018 03:46

OP YABU to criticise Shelley. His interview was done minutes after finishing his own gruelling race and he would have had no idea how serious it was until much later. When he ran past there was someone in a green first aid uniform, a Games official, a police motorcycle and other staff. It's completely unreasonable to expect Shelley to stop and make sure all those people were doing their job properly. If he'd have stopped or even slowed down to "show humanity" his own race would have been over and there would have been two athletes in need of medical assistance, a long way from where it was situated.

cueominousmusic · 16/04/2018 03:50

takeittakeit yes it does sum up a nation

No, it doesn't.

I recently fell over in a large shopping centre in the west of Sydney. I'm not that old, but am not overly mobile due to RA. The number of people, both shoppers and those who worked in the shops, who rushed to help me, without being aware of my lack of mobility, went a long way to restoring my faith in human kindness. They sorted out the strongest looking men to lift me up safely and had a chair waiting for me to sit on. They also just melted away without waiting for thanks, as soon as the centre's security/first aid turned up.

So, in the Commonwealth Games' incident, you are looking at a specific situation, where people are probably warned to not touch the athletes, particularly because of situations like this: The Jim Peters' decision was probably the right one in that situation, but as onlookers, not an official, most people would feel that they were not qualified to make such a decision.

I do agree that taking pictures was just plain nasty and unnecessary, but that has become endemic, not to a particular country, but society as a whole.