The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

GOLD COAST, Australia — Decked in their aquamarine, gray and black warm-up outfits, swimmer Joanna Evans led the Bahamas delegation into the Carrara Stadium on Wednesday night (Australian time) for the colourful opening ceremonies of the XXI Commonwealth Games.

The 19-year-old Grand Bahamian, who attends the University of Texas at Austin, will also lead the four-member team in the swimming competition at the Optus Aquatic Centre when the competition officially begins on day one.

Other members of the Bahamian delegation on the parade were track athletes Katrina Seymour, Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Anthonique Strachan, Tamara Myers, Teray Smith, Donald Thomas and Michael Mathieu, swimmer N’Nhyn Fernander and triathlete Cameron Roach, along with coaches and officials Roy Colebrooke, John Bradley, Sarah Knowles and Donald Roach and medical staff Dr Rickey Davis, Cottrice Robinson and Cordero Bonamy.

Coming in order of region, the Bahamas was the last of seven in the Americas that came in third behind Europe and Africa. The Bahamas trailed St Helena. The Americas was led by Belize and followed by Bermuda, Canada, the Falkland Islands and Guyana. Asia followed the Americas and then came the Caribbean.

Included in the Caribbean in order were Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The Parade of Nations begins the 11 days of festival of sports and culture and the culmination of almost a decade of work for Australia, which last hosted the games in 2006 in Melbourne and also played host to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. As the host, Australia completed the list of nations in the Oceania group. The Queen’s Baton Relay, which has travelled for 388 days and 230,000 kilometres, completed the longest exchange ever as it made its way into the 35,000 seat stadium. It is a tradition that celebrates the Commonwealth’s diversity, inspires community pride and excites the world about the games.Delivered into the stadium in the kombi, the Queen’s Baton was presented to a local school girl and it was relayed around the stadium by six iconic athletes to be finally presented to The Prince of Wales, who delivered The Queen’s message to the Commonwealth and declared the Games open.

The evening concluded with Deltra Goodrem, a singer, songwriter, performer, actress and philanthropist from Sydney, singing ‘Welcome to Earth’. There was also a celebration of our shared Home and our essential connectivity to everyone and every place, as symbolised by the white whale, Migaloo.

Seven groups of youngsters joined the scene, representing love, freedom, innocence, diversity and optimism as they colour the scene to form the hues of the rainbow. And as expected, the sky was lit up with fireworks, signifying the end of the night and the start of the competition when Evans will be back to lead the charge for Team Bahamas in the women’s 200m freestyle along with N’Nhyn Fernander in the men’s 50m butterfly.

Also in action on day one will be Cameron Roach as the first Bahamian to compete in the triathlon at the Southport Broadwater Park, while Hield and Williams will be returning for another appearance in the squared arena at the Oxenford Studios.