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_GAMES COUNTDOWN

By BRIAN DAVIS
& DEANNA BINDER
n a cold and
windy afternoon
in a football
stadium in the
foothills of the Rocky
Mountains, a 12-year-old
figure skater from Calgary

@ named Robyn Perry

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bounded the steps to the
altar of the Olympic
cauldron to the rising beat
of native drums, and
stretched to reach the edge
of the cauldron. Then, as
the crowd roared, she ig-
nited the flame...

A Games experience is some-
thing special. New facilities,
increased economic activity,
the thrills of competitive per-

formance . . . These are the

obvious benefits of hosting a
major international event.

It is, however, the inspira-
tion left behind in the hearts
and memories of those who
participated that is the real
legacy:

Valerie Barnes will confirm
this. She had no intention of
leaving the comfort of her
Saanich home to travel to
Auckland, New Zealand, for
the 1990 Commonwealth
Games. Then her youngest
daughter, Anne, made the

~Canadian swim team and her

three older children chipped
in for a surprise ticket for
Mom to New Zealand.

“T was excited about going,”
says Barnes, “but apprehen-
sive about travelling alone.”

She found out, however, that
even a lone foreigner sur-
rounded by a throng of par-
tisan hometown supporters
can have a great time.

Barnes was also surprised to
realize that even those in the
smallest villages were aware
that the next Commonwealth
Games were in Victoria.

“There was an Hnglish
teacher I met. She had
travelled all that way just to
see one of her students com-
pete. She was having such a
good time that she said she
was going to come to Victoria
for the next Games.

“The whole thing was a very
stirring, very emotional ex-
perience,” says Barnes. “Sure
you can see it on television,
but you just can’t imagine
what it’s like to be there.”

For some people, involve-

4@ ment in an international

Games is an experience they

‘want to repeat again and

again. Felix and Kathleen
Ernst of Victoria have been to
three Olympic Games —
Montreal, Los Angeles and
Calgary — to the Goodwill
Games in Seattle and to the
World Cup of soccer in Ger-
many.

It would have been much
easier, and much cheaper, to
have stayed in their Fairfield
home to watch to proceedings
on TV, they say, but then they
would have been missing out
on all “the atmosphere, the
cosmopolitan feeling and the
opportunity to meet interest-
ing people from all over the

A GAMES EXPERIENCE:
Memories and more in store for Victoria

world.”

The Ernsts, who have taken
their three sons along with
them to three of the Games

VW

Victoria 94

XV Commonwealth Games

they have attended, add that
the main drawing card for
them is the sports. “Seeing all
those top-level athletes from
all those different cultures is
really inspiring,” says Felix, a

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college instructor.

Roy Smith and his wife Jo-
Ann, who have secured the
North American licence for
souvenir headwear for the 94
Games, regret missing the
1978 Edmonton Common-
wealth Games when they
moved to Victoria.

“Everyone we knew back in
Edmonton told us that the
Games were the highlight of
their lives there, that they
even outdid their Stanley
Cups and Grey Cups. This
time we're going to be a part of
it all.”

One person who certainly
didn’t miss out on the XI Com-
monwealth Games was Dr.
Maury Van Vliet. Dr. Van
Vliet, a member of the Victoria
Commonwealth Games Board
of Governors, and a Victoria
resident, was the president
and chairman of the 1978
Games in Edmonton.

“Putting on a Games such as

‘this is a big operation,” says

Van Vliet, “and the details
seem to reach on into infinity.
“But, in the final analysis, it
really helps to unite a com-
munity. ’ve no doubt what-
soever that the 94 Games in

DR. MAURY VAN VLIET

SUSAN BRICE invites you to TALK IT OVER.
Weekday mornings from 10:00 to 12:00p.m.

Susan brings her views and the views of experts to C-FAX listeners.
And she opens up the phone lines for your calls and conversation.

It’sa fresh new perspective on local events. Provincial politics.

National and international stories.
Topics that will make you want to TALK IT OVER.

Whos sot her?

Just the Fax.

Victoria’s Original Fax Machine.

Victoria will be a magnificent
event.”

According to John May, the
public relations and market-
ing manager for Auckland city
council, “hosting this year’s
Games was more spectacular
than we ever expected. It was
worth every penny spent and
every minute worked on it. It
united not only a city but a
whole country, and made us
realize just what a city and a
country can achieve through a.
combined effort.”

“Since New Zealanders are
such great travelers, you bet-
ter prepare yourself for a Kiwi
invasion when your time
comes,” May warns.

Brian Davis is a Victoria
Commonwealth Games
Society volunteer. Deanna
Binder is Manager of Com-
munications for the Victoria
Commonwealth Games
Society.

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