Athletes light up Gold Coast as XXI Commonwealth Games begins

After years and months of preparation, thousands of athletes from 71 nations will today ignite the city of Gold Coast as the XXI Commonwealth Games begins in Australia.

Singer songwriter Delta Goodrem is set to headline the Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games.
The opening Ceremony today will officially welcome thousands of fans, athletes and officials for the XXI Commonwealth Games.

This will be a momentous day for the Gold Coast as the biggest event in its history begins and sets the tone for 11 amazing days of world-class sporting competition.

There’ll be spectacular, uplifting and surprising moments of theatre, breathtaking visual effects, dancing and music.

As a showcase of culture, colour, unity and diversity, the Opening Ceremony will epitomise the spirit of the Gold Coast and Queensland.

Carrara Stadium will be the centre stage for glamour, theatre and entertainment as the venue for the Opening Ceremony.

The Commonwealth will become one for the Parade of Nations, the Competitors’ Oath and the finale to the Queen’s Baton Relay.

Ceremonies have taken GC2018 Project and Artistic Director David Zolkwer to all parts of the world, but no city has affected him quite like his experience on the Gold Coast, setting the scene for Opening and Closing spectaculars with a unique difference.

Zolkwer has been creating ceremonies that celebrate the places and the people that make them extraordinary for two decades and tonight the world is set for a show like no other.

He has worked on the Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, as well as the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and he was the Creative Director for the Celebration Sites for The Royal Wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton too.

You’d think he’d have seen it all, but living and working on the Gold Coast has been different for Zolkwer.
He’s felt at home.

“Although I’ve done a good number of shows and ceremonies in the past, it’s always been a sense of I’m visiting, I’m there to do a job,” Zolkwer told GC2018.com.

“I think this is the first time I felt like I was actually living here, because the Gold Coast demands that you live here.”

When planning for the ceremonies started in early 2016, Zolkwer, along with a team of local creative collaborators, travelled all over the state, meeting groups and communities to get a feel for what it meant to be a Gold Coaster, Queenslander and an Australian.

According to Zolkwer, it’s an important part of designing a ceremony that will embody the spirit, culture, attitudes and outlook of a place.

But the Gold Coast was different.

“[With a ceremony] the starting point might be, ‘we’re coming to the Gold Coast so we’ll tell stories about the Gold Coast and it will all be about surfing and the hinterland,’” he explained.

“Actually, the Gold Coast is uniquely qualified to not play the usual ceremonies game, with looking inwards and backwards.It’s a fantastic place to look forwards and outwards.