The historic first day of beach volleyball at the 2018 Commonwealth Games (full recap here) almost wasn’t for the women’s team from Grenada. That’s after a transportation snafu sent the pair of Thornia Williams and Renisha Stafford to the Anna Meares Velodrome, the cycling venue, instead of the beach volleyball venue – 100km (61 miles) away. The team was given a police escort back south and arrived in time for their scheduled match.
The pair would eventually make their way back to Coolangatta, where the beach volleyball is held, and would lose their match to Scottish pair Lynne Beattie/Melissa Coutts 21-8, 21-11.
“This is the worst thing you want as an organising committee, to have athletes being distracted in any way,” Commonwealth Games organizing committee chief Mark Peters said. “Even being on a bus for an hour longer than you should is a distraction – it’s not acceptable.
“We spoke to them again this morning and they just want to focus on the sport now. They’re playing again tonight and we look forward to supporting them.”
In spite of the snafu and extended travel time, everyone involved was ready to move on – including the driver, who will remain on duty. Grenada faces Australia on Saturday, and said they’ll arrive 2 hours early for that match.
Each athlete bus will now have a navigator.
2018 is the first year where beach volleyball, considered an “optional sport” at the Commonwealth Games, will be held.
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