The Commonwealth Games are coming to Glasgow in July 2014.Following the roaring success of the London 2012 Olympics the spotlight is on these Games and excitement levels are high. Sports journalist Brian Oliver brings these often overlooked Games to life with fantastic stories of the athletes who have competed over the years. He delves into past games for the best tales, and interviews the key protagonists to unveil the highs and lows of this eccentric sporting competition.
Read the sad tale of Emmanuel Ifeajuna, the first ever black African, in any sport in any international event, to win a gold medal. High jump gold in 1954, a national hero in Nigeria, receptions on his return, his picture on the on the front of school exercise books. After the Commonwealth Games he joined the army, and in 1966 co-led a coup. He shot the Prime Minister dead (and a few others) but the coup failed and he escaped, driven over the border to Benin, dressed as a woman. Exiled in Ghana, where he was welcomed, he came back to fight for Biafra in the civil war, tried to broker a peace deal, was accused of treachery and shot by firing squad.
The 1986 Games in Edinburgh were on the verge of going bust and might not have happened but for the intervention of Robert Maxwell and, later, a very strange Japanese billionaire fascist. There was a mass boycott over a South African rugby tour, but amazingly the gold medalists included Ben Johnson, Lennox Lewis, Steve Redgrave, Steve Ovett, Steve Cram and Sally Gunnell. The Maxwell stories are fantastic. He fed his invited VIP guests at one function on Kentucky Fried Chicken straight from the bucket, and he never did put in much money.
The Emigration Games - the 1974 Games in Christchurch, New Zealand, were so good, and so happy, that 12 British competitors said they would emigrate. Britain was horrific back then and in 1974 there was a three-day week, 17% inflation, two general elections and a lot of deaths in IRA bombings. Six of those 12 actually did emigrate, and we'll talk to all of them still alive.
A fascinating insight into the human tales of endeavour, success and failure.
