Roman Travers: I hope the Commonwealth Games have a long future

Author: Roman Travers,
Publish Date: Sat, 1 Aug 2026, 10:32am

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Zoe Hobbs wins the women's 100m final at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Photo / Photosport

I haven’t spent that much time watching the Commonwealth Games taking place in Glasgow, but what I have seen has been incredible. They all come to an end on Monday morning our time, having begun back on July 23rd.

There’s been a great deal of ongoing discussion about the viability of the Commonwealth Games, and whether or not they’re finically viable, with the bigger Olympic Games to compete with.

All in all, I have to say that my thinking on that has changed over the past few weeks. Once again, we’ve been treated with a fabulous exhibition of our finest athletes. I’ve loved catching some of the events and seeing competitors that I’ve never heard of – let alone seen competing until these games.

In terms of the Comm Games future, we’re constantly faced with questions that confront us in terms of what is and what isn’t affordable, but ultimately, it’s fantastic to have something as joyful as an international completion to focus on – or to distract us from the often-overwhelming aspects of everyday life.

I did use the word international, which I know isn’t strictly true with the Comm Games, but its right up there on the world stage with many great sporting nations. And it only feels like tall poppy syndrome to follow any comment about the Comm Games with “but it’s not an international event”.

We’ve had the Football World Cup to get stuck into, the Tour De France as well – and the Commonwealth Games.

If I had the time to watch them all, I would. It’s also been great that good chunks of those competitions have been free to view, much like the days of old when I grew up watching all of the sport New Zealand competed in – for free. Albeit on a clapped-out early rendition of colour TV.

Do you remember the excitement of knowing that Dick Quax, John Walker, or Allison Roe were running in any of the Games? I don’t think that collective excitement and enthusiasm has disappeared, I just think that life has become a whole lot busier for most of us.

I don’t know of anyone who’s been able to glue themselves to all of the Comm Games, but I think we’re all still celebrating some of the big wins for Kiwis when we get the chance to talk about it all with friends on the phone, or mates over a coffee.

Zoe Hobbs and her amazing 100 metre gold medal was a real highlight for me. Zoe made history, producing the run of a lifetime to claim a stunning gold medal in the women’s 100m final.

The 28-year-old sprinter led from start to finish, crossing the line in a national record time of 10.93 seconds. The performance also established a new Oceania record and cemented Hobbs’ place among the greatest athletes New Zealand has produced. That’s just one amazing highlight in the mix of fabulous New Zealand wins for me.

My youngest daughter once ran at national level, and I loved watching her incredible determination to be the best runner she could be. I share that same sense of joy when I see our determined athletes smashing records and personal bests at these Commonwealth Games.

David Liti the weightlifter was another. Liti set a Games record by lifting 223kg to become a two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist.

So yes, although I haven’t been able to see a whole bunch of events from theses Commonwealth Games, I really hope that they have a long future.

In a climate where money is being pulled from so many aspects of life deemed to be unaffordable or frivolous, I sincerely hope that successive governments see the value in supporting our athletes to be the best that they can be.

Whether or not they do is entirely out of your —or my— control, but all we can do is cheer loudly and keep celebrating our victorious competitors in the hope that they will a Commonwealth Games to aim for in 2030.