India news you are more familiar with than me. If you can find, I will admit with a straightforward, though I still think it was a high cost.
BBC - Tom Fordyce: Alternative Commonwealth medal ceremony
Alternative Commonwealth medal ceremony
Post categories: Commonwealth Games
Tom Fordyce | 17:16 UK time, Thursday, 14 October 2010
After 11 days of competition in 17 different sports by 71 nations, the 19th Commonwealth Games has come to an end.
A total of 272 gold medals have been dished out - that's a lot of precious metal. But as a way of reminding ourselves of what Delhi was all about, why don't we dish out a few more?
Most Memorable Moment
For those of us at the JN Stadium, nothing could beat the deafening noise of India's 4x400m relay team - Manjeet Kaur, Sini Jose, Ashwini Chidananda Akkunji and Mandeep Kaur - coming home to take a shock gold.
It was louder than Beijing's Bird's Nest ever was, louder too than even Berlin during Usain Bolt's comparatively greater achievements during last summer's World Championships.
For those across town at the hockey, where India came from 3-1 down with 20 minutes left on the clock to beat England in a nerve-shredding penalty shoot-out, the athletics barely registered. Later that night debate raged about who had experienced the greater slice of sport. We're still arguing.
India beat England in thrilling hockey semi-final (because of rights restrictions this is available to UK users only)
Friendly Games Award for Friendliness
Every attempt to get into a venue involved at least 20 minutes of pat-downs, bag searches, bleeping security arches and wailing metal detectors, often one after another in rapid succession and with frequent duplication.
What stopped this being onerous was the immense politeness and friendliness of every soldier, policeman and security guard you met.
Never before have I had 10 men holding machine-guns waving and smiling at me as I walked by; never before has my 5 live colleague Chessie Bent been saluted by a platoon of riflemen merely for presenting her media accreditation.
Inside the venues it was the same story from the red-and-white shirted volunteers - big smiles and a tangible, genuine sense of pride that the Commonwealths had come to Delhi.
Worst Use Of Non-Sporting Equipment
The 3,000 steeplechase can be an exhausting event. Just ask Papua New Guinea's Sapolai Yao, who decided to use a nearby pot-plant to help him get over a barrier late in the race.
Most watching on were charmed - the exception being the track officials, who disqualified him immediately. Harsh, although probably fair.
Papua New Guinea's Yao gets help in steeplechase (because of rights restrictions this is available to UK users only)
Strictest Security Scenario
That the Games passed off without a single security alert was one of the organisers' great triumphs. Enormous credit is due. Within that bigger picture, however, were some rather draconian measures.
The spectators who had coins and house-keys taken from them were understandably miffed, as was the old man who had his slim paperback book confiscated on the basis that he might use it as a missile, while fans who had their water and sunscreen taken away were then unable to buy any more inside the stadiums.
The most unfortunate individual? The chap halted for attempting to bring three jam doughnuts into the athletes' village. First the security guard made him take a bite from one, to prove it actually was a sugary pastry rather than something less palatable in disguise. With jam still dribbling down chin, he then made him polish off the entire doughnut, just to be sure.
Finally, shaking his head, he pointed to the remaining doughnuts, waggled his finger and took them away, possibly to be destroyed in a controlled explosion. You can never be too careful.
Best Breakthrough Act
Before Monday evening, India hadn't won a Commonwealth track and field gold since the Flying Sikh, Milkha Singh, stormed to the 400m title in Cardiff 52 years ago.
So when Krishna Poonia, Harvant Kaur and Seema Antil made it a home one-two-three in the women's discus, it did more than just lift the roof off the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
Whether that clean sweep will change the perception of athletics in India we will have to see, but history, without doubt, had been made.
Biggest Homeland Hero
I liked everything about freestyle wrestling legend Sushil Kumar, from his brutal demolition of everyone in his path to the way he acted as a conduit for India's long and passionate love affair with the grapple game.
The atmosphere at his fights was spine-tingling, the Delhites' confidence in his abilities absolute. In return, Sushil left no-one in any doubt about his inspiration.
"Fear is something I don't think much about," he said after taking 66kg gold. "I have the blessing of the entire nation, and that gives me the strength to overcome anything."
Pantomime Performer of Fortnight
Please step forward Mr Suresh Kalmadi, chairman of the organising committee, booed at the opening ceremony yet never remotely cowed and producer of remarkable statements on a daily basis. A small selection:
After that opening ceremony: "Yes, Princess Diana was there," he said, before correcting himself. "Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall. Now they have gone off and they appreciated all the efforts made here."
On the small crowds: "We will give tickets to children and the lower in society."
An exchange with the BBC's Matthew Pinsent:
MP - I was at the shooting venue yesterday. This is a question for Mr Kalmadi: There were only 30 spectators. I wondered if you had a comment.
SK - I don't think there were 30 spectators. I was there myself and there were a few hundred. Please, I was there myself so I tell you there were a few hundred.
MP - I can give you the pictures, Sir. We can count them together if you like.
On the cycling road race, as live TV pictures showed the centre of Delhi to be completely empty: ""There were enough people there. There is no shortage of crowds anywhere."
Fans from around the world have attended the Games in Delhi
Most Colourful Character
There was also everything to like about Australian diver Matthew Mitcham.
Not only was he one of the few openly gay athletes at the Games, and entirely comfortable in his position as role model ("I want to do the best job I can because I believe it is important to have someone who is happy to be themselves") but he had a back-story to make nonsense of the stereotype of the one-dimensional professional sportsman.
Mitcham once paid off his debts by working as a clown, diving from a tower into a small tank to amuse children (memo to Tom Daley: be thankful for Lottery funding). He also once dressed up as a unicorn to go to a Lady Gaga concert in Sydney. Who said champions had to be boring?
Villain of the Games
Choose Nigeria's Damola Osayemi, stripped of her gold medal from the 100m after testing positive for methylhexaneamine, and TVNZ's anchor Paul Henry for repeatedly mispronouncing Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit's name live on air. When the New Zealand prime minister has to get involved, you know it's gone too far.
Most Improved Performers
Prior to this, India's previous best medal haul at a Commonwealths was the 30 golds and 73 overall won in Manchester eight years ago. In their own capital they blew that away, finishing second in the medal table for the first time with 38 gold and 101 in total.
For a nation which only won its first individual Olympic gold two years ago, it was a stunning and seminal performance. The challenge when the celebrations here die down: can it continue that improvement at London 2012 and Glasgow 2014?
Best Facial Expression
If sporting success is all about passion and desire, nothing illustrated that quite as vividly as the look on Mark Lewis-Francis's chops as he made up a huge deficit on the anchor leg of the 4x100m relay final to secure England gold.
Eyes out on stalks, jaw jutting forward, there wasn't even a thought that Jamaica's five metre lead couldn't be overhauled. The celebrations as he dipped on the line to take gold told a similar tale.
Most Notable Numbers
Forget the finishing times for the men's 100m or scores for Tom Daley's final dive; the most impressive stats came at from the kitchens at the athletes' village.
Each day, 36,000 meals were cooked for athletes and volunteers. Among the items consumed each day: 800 pizzas, 12,000 eggs, 4292 assorted muffins, 1457 croissants, 3268 parathas, 363 kg bananas, 800 kg chips and 800 kg potato wedges. After all, exercise does make one hungry.
Easiest Headline To Write
Hats off to Aussie husband and wife Jared and Claire Tallent, who underlined the appropriateness of their names by taking gold in the men's 20km walk and silver in the women's. Sub-editors around the world gave silent praise.
Best Performance From Local Wildlife
Some would nominate the stray dog that appeared in the athletics stadium mid-session and, to loud applause, ran a quick 200m before disappearing down the officials' tunnel. Others preferred the cobra that was lying in wait for four South African swimmers in their room at the athletes' village.
For me it has to be the langur monkeys, brought in to get rid of the smaller monkeys with barely a thought given to the parable of the old woman who swallowed a fly. What if the langurs began to misbehave, we wondered - would they then release tigers, and then elephants.
Oh we of little faith. The langurs, rented from expert trainers and kept on tight leashes at all time, performed their bouncers' role superbly. Except for the one that scratched a BBC colleague on the hand as it tried to steel his BlackBerry. Five anti-rabies injections later, he's still smiling.
Least Visible Star
We heard so much about Shera, the Games' tiger mascot, before the Games. So where he/she/it went during competition? My first sighting was at the boxing on the penultimate night. My final one was during a short segment on Indian television. And that was it. Berlino, we shall never see your like again.
Most Embarrassing Blunder
At the start we had collapsing bridges, scoreboards falling down and India's bantamweight boxer Akhil Kumar narrowly escaping injury when the bed in his room at the Games Village collapsed under him.
A week in the official Commonwealth Games website had USA, Philippines, Korea, Japan and Great Britain all listed as participants.
At the end, New Zealand's Stuart Farquhar threw 77m in the javelin final, only to find officials initially recording it as 72m. We all make mistakes, but many of Delhi's were entirely avoidable.
Most Unlikely Urban Myth
With so many tales doing the rounds, it was inevitable that some would become inflated or completely fabricated.
The most eyebrow-raising: the 10 metre diving board actually being 10.7m high; the African athlete spotted drinking from the swimming pool; and my personal favourite, English athletics coach George Gandy being stopped in the street and hailed as a descendant of the great Mahatma. Truly remarkable.
Most Important Turnaround
For the first few days, the crowds at the various venues were so poor they could barely be described as spartan.
Fewer than 30 people watched Indian hero Abhinav Bindra win the country's first gold of the Games, while only around a tenth of seats at the national hockey stadium were taken for the Indian women's team's first match. The cycling road races around central Delhi were almost entirely bereft of spectators.
Over the final few days, however, the situation was turned on its head. Weightlifting was watched by partisan thousands, the hockey semi-final between England and India thousands more.
A look back at the best and worst moments of the 2010 Delhi Games [UK users only]
Even better, the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium went from having acres of empty blue seats to near its 60,000 capacity for the final two nights of athletics. It brought Delhi's Commonwealths to a crescendo that those present on those nights will struggle to forget.
