BBC Sport Commonwealth Games blog

Sleep-deprived Melbourne signs off

• Sarah
• 28 Mar 06, 12:18 AM

It is the end of the blog as we know it and I feel tired - so dozy I managed to sleep through a pneumatic drill outside my window this morning. Still, of course, I have enough energy left to round-up the Melbourne Games - so here goes.

Melbourne Highs: The MCG was such an awesome venue and to see it full - and it wasn't always - on three nights of athletics was incredible. Asafa Powell's 100m win was so easy it left you lukewarm but Craig Mottram's battle with Augustine Choge in the 5,000m was thrilling. The sound of 80,000 Australians urging him on until the end showed how much they wanted their local hero to win. One Australian turned to me when Mottram was passed on the top bend and said: "Don't worry, he'll come back at him,". He didn't but what a race anyway. Jana Pittman's 400m hurdles gold was memorable for totally different reasons, though again the crowd played a huge part in the drama. When she was on the start-line, my stomach was fluttering because I just did not want her to lose because of the amount of stick she had been receiving in the media. The tension was thick but she was cheered all the way round and even with Brits in the field I was pleased she won because I think she can now move on.

I also got very attached to life at the Aquatics Centre even though I would spend most of my time running between my seat in the stand and the mixed zone to speak to the athletes. The funny thing is when you watch the swimmers go through the water, there is often lots of splashing but they don't appear to be going that fast. Then you see the finish time and you realise just how pedestrian you must look in your local leisure centre and how brilliant the elite swimmers are. One of the swimming highlights remains the poolside haka presented to gold medallist Moss Burmester by his team-mates.

Melbourne Lows: Injuries to many of the home nations' best medal hopes took some of the excitement out of the Games. Gymnast Beth Tweddle (ankle), diver Leon Taylor (shoulder) and athletes Paula Radcliffe (foot), Tim Benjamin (knee) and Jason Gardener (back) to name a few. I will also disappointed to see Northern Ireland's athlete Jame McIlroy under-perform but maybe Melbourne came too soon for him.

Melbourne Surprise: I think weightlifting is now one of THE best spectator sports. The drama, the sweat, the pain - the Britpop musical interludes. When is the next weightlifting event on in the UK?

Melbourne Mistakes: If you are my boss look away now. Rushing down to speak to the athletes is one of the best things about coming out and reporting on live sport BUT sometimes you do get muddled up. I think I already mentioned England baskeball player and New Yorker Fab Flournoy, accusing me of asking a ridiculous question when I asked him if he considered himself to be English. I also squashed Asafa Powell's hand with my elbow when he was leaning on the railings doing his post-race interviews. And when I was speaking to Welsh table tennis player Adam Robertson, I kept calling him Nathan (obviously I had another racquet sport in mind). When I apologised Adam said: "I thought I would just answer anyway."

The Melbourne Stalker Award While Prince Edward was on Matt's trail, I seemed to be followed by Australian Prime Minister John Howard. He was there at the swimming, hockey, cycling, netball, athletics ....

Melbourne Moment: The England-Scotland one-two in the men's 4x200m swimming relay was just sensational. The home nations knocked the Australian favourites out of it and then went head-to-head right down to the final metres. Similarly, the Scotland-England one-two in the men's cycling team sprint was another brilliant game of cat-and-mouse to watch and I think deep down everyone wanted the Scots to win.

There were also plenty of times when you could not take your eyes off the underdog. In the men's 5,000m the tiny Papa New Guinean Sapolai Yao was still finishing by the time Craig Mottram had done his post-race interviews but he was clapped all the way. It was a similar story in the pool, particularly watching the Sri Lankans in the relays. And everyone was talking about the weightlifters who fell over backwards, fell with the bar trapped on their neck or just dramatically let the weight roll forward towards the judges.

Melbourne madness: The most bizarre moment for me was when Prime Minister Tony Blair said hello to me when I was working at the MCG. A few minutes later, Michael Johnson came over to chat about his column for the website and said "Hey honey," and totally out-smoothed the PM. MJ for PM, anyone?

And on that note, I sign off to catch more sleep.