Gold Coast 2018 Fires Head of Sport

(ATR) In a week dominated by positive news about next year’s Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, a question mark remains over why organizers decided to at this time, terminate without notice the GC2018 Head of Sport.

Experienced sports administrator Anita Palm has steered the GC2018 sports department for the last three years, and was at the end of last week advised that she would not have the opportunity to see out her contract and deliver the Games.

"It has been a privilege and I consider it a great responsibility to have led sport for the GC2018," Palm said.

"I have worked with confidence and persistence for sport and the athletes over the past three years in a challenging bureaucracy. The Sport Director position is highly political and in some respects a poisoned chalice.

"I wanted to make a difference for the Gold Coast Games and I believe I have. I will proudly sit back and watch the sport team I have nurtured deliver a really special Games."

With a strong media presence in the Gold Coast this week to mark the countdown to the Games, the GC2018 executive have taken every opportunity to laud achievements such as gender equity and the increased Para-Sports program, driven by Palm and her team. With these significant achievements to her name, the decision to terminate her employment and the timing of this decision raises eyebrows.

GC2018 chief executive Mark Peters told Australia’s Fairfax Media that there was no political motivation behind Palm losing her job, but that a restructure of the sport area was instead being undertaken.

What becomes of this restructure will no doubt come to light over the coming months but in the meantime the responsibility will fall on the Executive General Manager (Sport and Operations), a role created a couple of months ago and filled by former CEO of Fox Studios, Nancy Romano.

Romano comes into the role without a background in either sport or major events, so it remains to be seen what she will bring to the table to deliver the complex sports programs built by Palm and promised by the GC2018 executive.

Written and reported by Alice Wheelerin Gold Coast

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