BBC Sport Commonwealth Games blog

Goodbye from Melbourne

• Matt
• 27 Mar 06, 05:12 AM

The Commonwealth Games are over and already Melbourne's attentions have moved on to Formula One and this weekend's Australian Grand Prix. But I thought I'd use my last blog entry of the Games to look back at some of my highs and lows of the last two weeks.

High: Watching Dean Macey finally win a major championship gold - in the decathlon - was superb and surprisingly emotional. It wasn't just his achievement that was captivating but the interview I did with him afterwards.

Worth a mention: There were a host of events that caught the eye, gymnastics and synchronised diving among those that surprised me having never seen them live before. But the other stand-out moment was when the Kenyan rugby sevens squad joined in with a perfect rendition of the Tongan haka. Rarely did an Aussie crowd go so nuts throughout the Games.

Low: I'd talked to Chris Hoy and a lot of the British cycling boys in the build-up to the action in the velodrome. All the talk had been that Hoy was destined to win gold in the men's kilometre time trial and that England's Jason Queally was the only real rival. In the end, they were both trumped by Australian Ben Kersten.

Best event: The mountain biking in a national park about 50km out of town where competitors raced in glorious sunshine. Kangaroos crossing the racing line actually caused brief delays to the women's race.

Worst event: The women's 1m springboard final - from the first round of divers you could call the gold to bronze, such was the difference in standard. I've got to confess I actually nodded off during it and was busted doing so on the big screen apparently.

Best interview: Turks and Caicos shooter Bradley Taylor, who had swapped his life as a New York prison officer to compete in Melbourne. He was so excited about the prospect of an interview he brought the whole of the Turks and Caicos team with him. For what it's worth, Viv Richards was a close second.

Favourite volunteer: Les the bus driver, who took me on a private tour of the city on my return from the athletes' village, and broke into occasional song.

Least favourite volunteer: Scary spice, as she became known, at the weightlifting venue. She scared the hell out of me and kept me and my colleagues on edge throughout the competition.

The Melbourne stalker award: Prince Edward - whenever I turned up at a venue he seemed to follow five minutes later.

Favourite commentator: The guy at the afternoon session of the weighlifting. He would have given John Motson a run for his money in terms of anorak information. He had magical snippets - that one Canadian lifter enjoyed moose hunting, while a Sierra Leone competitor was a London PE teacher.

Most out of my depth moment: When I led the gymnastics interviews in the mixed zone in front of 20 other journalists from around the globe.

Most comedy moment: Having 200-odd Australians laughing at me after getting busted by the police for crossing the road at a red light.

Best athlete's name: Swissroll Ngozo - he actually changed his name because of his love of swissroll.

Anyway, just want to finally say thanks to those of you who read the blog over the last couple of weeks.