No one-site athletes' village is 'very sad' but a mature move
BIRMINGHAM 2022 organisers have scrapped their £500m. athletes’ village plan in an unprecedented decision that threatens to dampen the experience for Guernsey’s Commonwealth Games hopefuls.
Instead, the Commonwealth Games Federation have committed to an alternative ‘campus’ model providing housing on three different sites.
This is yet another effect of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the new model will see 1,600 athletes and officials housed at the NEC Hotel Campus, 1,900 at the University of Warwick, and 2,800 at the University of Birmingham.
But Guernsey Commonwealth Games Association chairman David Harry is relatively unfazed by the abandonment of the original Perry Barr site.
Looking beyond the inevitable disappointment, Harry gave organisers a verbal pat on the back for making the decision nearly two years before the grand occasion.
‘It’s very sad that there’s not going to be a normal village ... but it will not stop the Games from being run well and the CGF have definitely thought about things that need to be put in place,’ he said.
‘With the exception of reducing the athletes’ experience of being in a Games village with world-class athletes, it really will not make a huge amount of difference.
‘When the Games were last held in England, for Manchester 2002, the accommodation was at Manchester University, so using a university building for accommodation is a tried-and-trusted method.
‘It’s a much more professional and mature attitude than just waiting to see if it’s going to go ahead and building a house of cards.’
More in Thursday's Guernsey Press.
