The Commonwealth is perhaps the most nostalgic organization in the world, homesickness in its purest form. For Britain, it is the fantasy that it is still an empire (which is of course not true), a global leader with enormous diplomatic weight (which is true, but only up to a point). And for the former colonies, it is the feeling of having a voice and a vote in a large and important organization, a kind of mini-United Nations, even if it is with the old metropolis at the helm.
It is not that King Carlos III did anything wrong, and it is not that his mother was the joy of the garden, but charisma is not his forte, and the Commonwealth has been weakened after the death of Elizabeth II. Now the Caribbean nations are lining up to abandon an institution that exudes colonialism from every pore, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recognizes that becoming a republic is only a matter of time (rather a short time), and if Canadians do not consider the same, it is simply to be different from its all-powerful neighbor to the south, as a sign of its own identity. Americans don't have a king (except for the exiled Enrique de Montecito, in a broad sense), and they do.
What future awaits the Commonwealth remains to be seen, but the Commonwealth Games are undoubtedly very dark after Victoria (Australia) has abandoned the organization of the next edition (2026), which she had been awarded. And that Alberta has renounced the one of 2030, for which it was the only candidate, after Hamilton, in the Canadian province of Ontario, also stood out, and that is the equivalent of Athens, because the original competition. It completely passes from hosting the centenary act. In all cases, the alleged reasons are budgetary, it is a sports festival that costs taxpayers too much, and it is not the Olympic Games in terms of global media interest.
Victoria (the capital Melbourne) had some grandiose Games in mind, with the construction of facilities and an Olympic village, so that the cost skyrocketed to almost two million euros, and in the end the provincial government got scared. Better to dedicate the money to bridges, roads and government subsidized housing, which give more votes. The future, say the experts, is for them to be less ambitious, athletes to be housed in university pavilions, there to be fewer and more innovative modalities, such as three-on-three basketball. Athletics is competitive, with the British, Canadians, Kenyans, South Africans and Jamaicans, but in many sports the level is quite modest.
Last-minute cancellations are not a great novelty, because already in 2022 the English city of Birmingham had to take over after Durban (Natal, South Africa) did not find the necessary money. They were low-cost Games (about one billion euros), but the ones that have had the greatest public attendance (one and a half million tickets were sold), televised live to 132 countries around the world and with the participation of 4,600 athletes from 72 countries.
Finding an organizer for 2026 is not going to be a breeze, unless England, as the colonial power and leader of the Commonwealth, decides to save them once again. Brisbane could consider them a dress rehearsal for the 2032 Olympics, but the prank would cost them dearly. Which means there's London left, and not much else. Behaving like the metropolis carries a price, and no one has said that nostalgia is cheap, even less that of an entire empire.
