As our athletes fly out for Delhi we’d rather they didn’t

While cancelling the Games at this late stage would be unprecedented, many Australians have been suggesting we should pull out of the Games.

Pathetic of Adelaide echoed what many online readers were saying in a comment to Adelaide Now: “As a country I would not be sending my sportspeople to the Games. Not only is the work going on a joke, but the chances of terrorism etc is extremely high. A Commonwealth Games medal is not worth any person’s life.”

Another reader, Jules, added: “It is stupid to expect the athletes to make a balanced decision. They have been training for these Games for years. They are looking at things through rose-coloured glasses. I sense trouble in the next few weeks. I just hope I’m wrong and it’s not a repeat of Munich.”

Many commenters were also critical of the decision to choose Delhi to host the Games considering the poverty in which millions of its people live.

This was not helped by revelations of Delhi’s Underbelly and that it sealed the hosting rights after its delegates offered all nations in the Commonwealth Games family about $140,000 for training schemes if the city was chosen.

Stellar wrote to The Courier-Mail: “It’s morally irresponsible to allow a country plagued with such poverty to bid for the Games. The money they have spent in the attempt to host the Games could have been much better spent on their community needs - which are desperate.”

Rebecca Ryan of Brisbane, posting on news.com.au, thought Games organisers had failed to provide the most basic of accommodation standards for athletes: “I’m all for diversity and I accept that when you are in another country we should somewhat adapt to the lifestyle. However, when they cannot meet basic hygiene standards (third world or not), it is unacceptable to expect athletes to compete let alone live in conditions that even a dog shouldn’t have to endure. The officials should be ashamed of themselves if they let this go ahead.”

Andrew S of Sydney was one of the few who defended India’s hosting of the Games, writing on news.com.au: “India is a magnificent country but it is desperately poor. It is unfair for rich Western countries to now criticise their efforts. For anyone who has travelled through India, this situation should come as no surprise. Get on with the Games and get over the dirty toilets.”

But Lara was not convinced the problems could be overlooked so easily, commenting to The Canberra Times: “Well with crumbling structures, filthy unfinished accommodation, lack of proper sanitation, monsoonal rains, 100 per cent humidity, dengue fever running amok and an 80 per cent threat of a terrorist strike/s, good luck. I have been there, and take it from me, it won’t get any better any time soon.”

With such a damaged reputation even before the first event has been run, Delhi has a long way to go to prove its critics wrong and avoid hosting the worst Commonwealth Games in history.