Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games

On the 18th of March 2006, the Aussie diving team finally headed down to Melbourne and to the Commonwealth Games Village. We were the last of the Australian teams to move into the village. The diving team were all put into a big house, it's was great! It had 6 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and a lounge room. My roomies were Sharleen and Melissa, and we scored the biggest and best bedroom in the house. Our house was on Cade Way and it was one of the old red brick buildings that was part of the old psychiatric hospital. Below is our house and my bed!

Australia post ran a Commonwealth Games Letter Link program where school children write letters to Australian athletes competing at the games. I was surprised when I found out that I received a letter let alone 348 which was the total of all my letters. Below is a photo of about 100 letters. I have finally replied to all of my letters!

Below is some of the houses at the village and the dining hall.

On the 22nd of March, Sharleen and I had the women's 3m synchronised event (my one and only event). It was the first diving medals to be awarded at the games and the first ever synchronised event to be held at the Commonwealth Games. We were team six out of six, and very nervous and very excited. The crowd was amazing, it was great to see my parents, sister, Marty, Elke and Ian in the stands. Sharleen and I dove very well, not only were our individual dives solid but the synchro was spot on! We were placed 1st after round three and we didn't move from there! In the end we scored 296.07, which was 22 points ahead of the second placed Canadians and 25 points ahead of the English girls.

At the village there was a Wall of Fame, where every event and every medallist are put up on a massive board, it looked fantastic, but it was even better because I was up on the board!

I had heaps of photos taken with other divers and other athletes. Here are some of them. Below is a photo of me with Cathy Freeman, and on the right is Sharleen and me with Brad Pitt!!!

Below is me with Tony Ally who carried the flag for England at the opening ceremony. Also Katie and Anna Meares the cycling champs.

Above is the shooting Commonwealth and Olympic gold medalist Suzanne Balogh. On the right is Champion backstroker Sophie Edington with Matt and me.

On the 26th we had the Closing Ceremony, and it was awesome, I was so excited to be at the MCG. When we got there the Scared Weird Little Guys were doing the warm up which included a Mexican wave with camera flashes which looked amazing. Then it was on with the show, it included: footballers with ballerinas, circus performers, kids on trampolines, Tivoli girls with sweetheart lollies, Casey Donovan, John Farnham and 1000 Dame Enda's!

On the 27th we had the parade through the Melbourne CBD. Sharleen, Scott and myself lead the parade of athletes which was really fun, and we couldn't believe how many people turned out.

Below is a gift from Australia Post and the Royal Australian Mint for the Gold Medallists. It's very nice, except one of my coins has turned a little.