Ten questions to be answered at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games

Who will win the inaugural women’s rugby sevens event?

In a big win for gender equity in sport, women will participate in the Commonwealth Games in sevens for the first time. Australia is favourite for gold after securing the inaugural women’s Olympic gold at Rio, while they also currently sit 10 points clear of their nearest rivals on the world series standings. Considered the best chance of challenging Australia are trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand, as well as Canada.

Australia, however, should be too strong with co-captains Sharni Williams and Shannon Perry set to fire, and the experience of Emilee Cherry, Ellia Green, Alicia Quirk, Evania Pelite, Emma Tonegato and Charlotte Caslick to shine through. Tim Walsh’s charges will also be keen to send him off in style in his last campaign as head coach, before he takes up the men’s sevens coaching role.

Will Indigenous protests force action on treaties and a national voice?

In 2006, a 60-day camp was held in Melbourne’s Botanical Gardens, known as “Camp Sovereignty”. As Andy Fuller writes for the Conversation, it was here that the term “Stolenwealth” was popularised to refer to the Commonwealth Games. But, as Australia becomes the nation to have hosted the Games more than any other, pertinent Indigenous issues, such as enshrining an Indigenous voice in constitution, have often been neglected in favour of what Fuller terms the “pomp and ceremony of an anachronistic, imperialist and self-aggrandising sporting spectacle”.

“We are trying to open up a discussion with everyday Australians and keep it going,” said Wayne Wharton, Brisbane Aboriginal-Sovereign Embassy leader and organiser of the Gold Coast “Stolenwealth” protests. “We’re talking to the representatives of other countries and asking them to support us in coming up with some sort of agreement about occupation on our land that we share. We are the only people who do not have some sort of agreement and it doesn’t say a lot about our leadership over the last 60 or 70 years.”

Let’s hope the colonial history of the Games will provide a platform on which not just conversations – but real action – can finally take place for Indigenous Australians.

Is lawn bowls the curling of the Commonwealth Games?

In case you’re new to the Games, it might surprise you that lawn bowls is one of its 10 core sports, and has been held at every tournament since the 1930 British Empire Games (with the exception of the 1966 Jamaican event). It may not surprise you, however, that lawn bowls boasts one of Games oldest entrants in New Zealand’s Sue Curran, aged 71. She and partner David Stallard finished fourth in the para mixed pairs at Glasgow four years ago, and will be seeking to go one better onto the podium on the Gold Coast.

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Can Cate Campbell turn ‘greatest choke’ around?

Sisters Cate and Bronte Campbell won Olympic relay gold in the 4x100m freestyle two years ago and will now fight for the Commonwealth crown. Things haven’t been all smooth sailing for Cate, however, who as recently as 2017 took a sabbatical from competition after a disappointing sixth in the 100m freestyle at Rio, which she described as the “greatest choke in Olympic history”. Since then, however, she has broken the 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle Australian records, while she also won gold in the 100m freestyle (52.37 seconds) at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre.

Swimming coach Jacco Verhaeren said Cate’s sabbatical had put her in a better place mentally. “Cate is in a really good space,” he said. “She showed she made the right choice by taking a break from the team last year. That was well thought through for her. I am definitely looking forward to seeing her compete.”

Who will succeed Sally Pearson as hurdles queen?

With Australia’s best medal hope dominating early Games headlines after her withdrawal from competition with an Achilles problem, focus turns to who will succeed her as 100m hurdles champion. The injury means Pearson will be unable to add a third straight Commonwealth gold to her 2012 Olympic and 2011 and 2017 hurdles world titles, but opens the door to a new champion. Home hope will rest with Michelle Jeneke, who qualified after coming second behind Pearson at the Games trials, but more likely there will be another nation’s flag hoisted come medal presentation time a week on Thursday.

Can Kyle Chalmers recover from heart surgery to win freestyle gold?

Chalmers broke onto the national scene after a surprise 100m freestyle gold in Rio. In 2017, Chalmers then had to deal with the shock diagnosis of supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), a heart condition that can cause heart rate to increase dramatically, and forced him to sit out the entire 2017, as well as undergo surgery. Since then, however, the freestyle swimmer has been in stunning form, claiming his maiden national 100m and 200m titles at the Gold Coast trials, and looks primed to regain his crown. What a story that would be.

Can Mark Knowles or his fellow athletes ‘restore pride in Australian sport’?

It’s the scandal that has overshadowed any hype that may have been afforded to the Games, and even Australia’s official flag bearer has weighed in on cricket’s ball tampering affair. “It is an opportunity for us, not [only to] redeem ourselves... but to show the type of people we are and the way we go about our sport, the way that we win, but also the way that we lose,” he said.

Admittedly, Knowles is more familiar with winning than losing – he has more than 300 caps for the Kookaburras, including three Commonwealth golds, and an Olympic gold in Athens in 2004. The same is true of Australia’s hockey teams in general. The men’s team have never lost, winning all five previous Commonwealth Games tournaments. The Hockeyroos, meanwhile, have also won four of five Commonwealth gold. However, both national teams came up short with quarter-final exits at Rio two years ago, prompting wide-scale rebuilds for both sides.

With Anna Meares’ departure leaving a gaping hole, is Steph Morton ready to step up?

All didn’t exactly go to plan for Australia’s cycling team at the Rio Olympics, with just one silver and bronze to show for years of effort and millions in funding. And, with Anna Meares’ retirement, there’s a gaping hole left to fill – take this in: Meares is a three-time Olympian, two-time Olympic champion, five-time Olympic medallist, 10-time world champion and five-time Commonwealth Games champion.

The most likely person to step up in Meares’ absence is Morton, who won three golds at this year’s track nationals and silver in the women’s sprint at the cycling world championships in March. She and her Australian team-mates were in scintillating form at the event, with Cycling Australia sending only four of their top athletes to compete because of a commitment to the Commonwealth Games. That bodes well for a dominant performance to vanquish some of the demons of Rio.

Can the Diamonds live up to their reputation?

Australia’s netball team will start in Pool A, facing a familiar nemesis in former-Diamonds boss Norma Plummer, who is coaching South Africa, as well as a confident Jamaica, Barbados, Fiji and Northern Ireland. They’ve managed to avoid their closest rivals, in New Zealand, who Australia defeated to take out the Constellation Cup late last year, as well as third-ranked England.

That should ensure them a spot in the final, and anything less than gold is considered by most to be a failure for the Diamonds given the strength of their side. The Australian squad includes five Commonwealth gold medallists from Glasgow: captain Caitlin Bassett, Kim Ravaillion, Caitlin Thwaites, Madi Robinson and ex-skipper and new mother Laura Geitz, who hasn’t played for Australia since 2015.

While most might previously have tipped the Ferns to meet Australia in the final, it seems many pundits are instead backing a rapidly-improved Jamiaca, or the Roses, to face off against the Australians. Write off the Ferns at your peril.

Will inevitable debate over the relevance of the monarchy prompt action on a republic?

In February, over 52% of Australians surveyed said they wanted a republic, with only 22% preferring the monarchy. In sobering news for monarchists, the poll was taken after the engagement of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, with ceremonious occasions typically swaying public sentiment in favour of the Royals. The tide also seems to be turning generationally: perhaps unsurprisingly, support for the monarchy is highest among those aged 65 years and over, with 36% disagreeing that Australia should become a republic.

For once, Australia also seems to have bipartisan support on the issue, with Bill Shorten promising that Labor will hold a national vote on Australia becoming a republic if they win the next election, while Malcolm Turnbull is also openly in favour of an Australian republic. The obvious question is: why not now? Monarchists will be hoping Prince Charles and Camilla’s arrival on the Gold Coast on Wednesday – to a 21 gun salute at Old Government House – will help stem the bleeding.