It is 1.00am and I have just finished watching the best Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony ever. Better even than the three Games where I was involved helping a competitor. My enjoyment had nothing to do with the events taking place in the stadium. That was the normal history of the planet earth and the host nation’s indigenous people. When are Game’s organizers going to think of something new?

No, this Games’ Opening Ceremony was made by the Duke TV Channel’s commentary. Jeremy Wells, Matt Heath and Mike Lane were genuinely funny; absolutely brilliant. The three hours flew by as they drew our attention to the more formal uniforms of teams from various Commonwealth tax havens and the likelihood of sweating caused by colourful acrylic shirts. Their non-pc reference to yellow Australian confetti being a nod to Cricket Australia’s sandpaper problems and the “terrific pair of pipes” on an Australian lady singer were brilliant. It seemed entirely appropriate when the TV feed from the Gold Coast went blank for twenty seconds just as the New Zealand team entered the stadium.

Well done TVNZ. The Games are off to a brilliant start.

So what happened in the first day of swimming? I was surprised at the low number of entries. Several events could only muster two or three heats. For example the women’s 400IM had 12 swimmers, the women’s 200 freestyle 21 swimmers, the women’s 50 breaststroke 24 swimmers, the men’s 100 backstroke 23 swimmers and the men’s 200 breaststroke 16 swimmers. The women’s 4×100 freestyle relay has only 5 entries. With 16 swimmers progressing to semi-finals, reaching that standard was not too difficult. The test in this meet is not going to be reaching a semi-final or even a final; winning a medal.is going to be the real test. The day one results are shown in the tables below.

There were seven swims in the morning heats. Three of the swims (43%) were PBs. Six of the seven swimmers progressed to the evening semi-finals. Carina Doyle did not progress to the 200 freestyle final.

There were seven New Zealand swims in the evening session. Two of these swims (28%) were PBs. Three of the six swims (Main, Hunter and Perry) progressed to the finals tomorrow night.

The women’s 4×100 free relay placed 4th in a slower than PB time.

For day one, combining both sessions, New Zealand swimmers completed 14 swims and recorded five PBs (35%). Three swimmers progressed to their event finals.

The tables below show each swimmer’s personal best time and the time swum in the Games.

Carina Doyle

Daniel Hunter

Samuel Perry

Bronagh Ryan

Corey Main

Georgia Marris

Helena Gasson

Women’s 4×100 Free Relay

This series of results can be summarised as shown in the table below.