Earlier today Louise Martin, chair of the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland, First Minister Alex Salmond, athlete Jamie Quarry and Leader of Glasgow City Council Steven Purcell gave a half hour presentation in Sri Lanka, which included several incredible films of Scotland. You can read the text of their speeches blow. WELL DONE GLASGOW!
__
LOUISE MARTIN:
Mr President, Your Royal Highness, Members of the Executive Board, Delegates and friends from across the Commonwealth, it's my great honour to present to you our Bid to stage the 20th Commonwealth Games in the marvellous city of Glasgow, in our beautiful country of Scotland.
SCOTLAND FILM SHOWN TO DELEGATES
Mr President, friends, as you just saw, Scotland is an extra-ordinary country. We believe it's a spectacular place - with a natural beauty that's hard to match anywhere in the world.
I'm so proud to be here today to represent Scotland. To speak on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of Scots who've given their backing to our Bid for the
2014 Games.
Since I first competed as a swimmer in the Games in Perth, I've been lucky enough to have been a part of many wonderful sporting moments.
I've seen medals won, records broken and personal bests shattered.
I've seen talented youngsters I've known all their lives achieve their dreams.
Even watched as my own daughter represented Scotland at the Games in Kuala Lumpur and Manchester.
But in all those years, in all those magical moments, nothing comes close to the pride and honour I feel standing here today.
When we launched our Bid in Melbourne, I said that Glasgow would put on a Games for the athletes. A Games where everyone would have the chance to achieve the incredible. My message to you all here today is exactly the same.
Since that day in Melbourne, I've been privileged to travel the length and breadth of the Commonwealth. To meet you – and to listen to what you had to tell us.
Our travels brought home to us that it's our shared ideals that bind us together. It's our unbridled passion for sport that drives us forward. And, above all, it's the athletes and the Games which are our family treasure.
That's what you told us. That's what sits at the heart of our plans for 2014.
You told us that winning the Games is about more than demonstrating that we can put on an eleven day sports event. It's about being entrusted with your athletes, your Games for the seven years after winning the honour of being the made the host city.
Today our team will show you why we believe we can fully earn that trust.
You'll hear about our country and our people. You'll see our city and its venues. And you'll hear about the passion in Scotland to stage the Games in Glasgow.
But above all, you'll hear what we want to deliver for you. The most athlete-centred
Games ever. A Games that will inspire everyone to greatness.A Games
that will have grown and developed when we pass the baton on to the next host city.
Everyone who comes to Glasgow and Scotland in 2014 will receive a welcome that will be as warm as it's unforgettable. The entire city will throw open its arms to the world.
We've worked hard with you to prepare the Bid and my promise to you is that if you award these Games to us today, we will work even harder to make good on our commitments.
You'll hear more about our world class venues shortly but, for me, the most important part of the Games experience is the village.
Our village is at the heart of our plans. The vast majority of the athletes will be within a 20 minute drive of where they'll compete and train.
We know how important the Opening Ceremony is to the athletes and their families. With our village just 300 metres from the stadium reserved for the Opening Ceremony, every athlete will be able to walk there. Every athlete will be able to take part.
Our village will be a place to live, to prepare and relax. A place to make new friends. It will be a home from home.
But don't just take my word for it, take a look for yourself.
VILLAGE FILM SHOWN TO DELEGATES
Mr President, from the start we've been determined to provide an outstanding Village for the athletes and officials. We believe we've lived up to that commitment.
It now gives me great pleasure to introduce to you, the elected Leader of the City of Glasgow, Steven Purcell.
STEVEN PURCELL:
Mr President, Your Royal Highness, Delegates, I too am immensely proud to be here to represent my city and all the people who live and work there.
Glasgow is a great world city, a place that's changed so much over recent decades, a place that continues to change. Our Village is very much part of that change.
We've been rebuilding and renewing – and now look to the future with confidence. A future, Mr President, that's all about the Games.
Many of you came to see us over the course of our Summer. You saw our venues, you heard about our plans for 2014. But I also trust that you saw how much our people, our greatest asset, want to be a part of our Commonwealth Family.
The people of Glasgow take great pride in our reputation as The Friendly City. We wear our friendliness as a badge of honour. We love to talk and to tell stories. Ask one of us for directions and it's likely that – rather than show you the way, we'll abandon what we're doing and take you there.
Casting your vote for Glasgow means that you'll be giving your Games to a city that will embrace them to the full.
From the school children inspired by watching the world's best compete in their city, to the fifteen thousand people who we know will sign up as volunteers, this will be a team effort on a grand scale.
We take pride in our successes and love to see the city and our sons and daughters do well.
But we also love to look after our guests. To make them feel welcome.
To make them feel a part of our city.
Glasgow cherishes its involvement in the Commonwealth. The values that every person in this room holds dear are our values.
We're proud of the way we've taken a lead in the worldwide fight against oppression. Former President Mandela, who has the freedom of our City, recognised this when he chose Glasgow to be the first foreign city to visit after his release from captivity.
Our people have spread out around the globe. Doctors, engineers and teachers have established their roots in every corner of the Commonwealth. Taking with them a respect for humanity, a belief in equality and a determination to fulfil their destiny.
We've been welcomed into homes and families right across the world.
Now it is our turn to welcome you, the Commonwealth Family into our city, our home.
A home that will be the right size, the right scale to be transformed into a celebration of sport, culture and our Commonwealth.
A home that's full of energy, full of warmth and generosity. A home that always has room for guests, especially the Games family.
The venues in which the athletes will compete have already attracted numerous World, Commonwealth and European Championships.
Award the Games to Glasgow and you'll ensure even more world class facilities for the athletes – but also, crucially, for the future generations who'll continue to use them.
Here's a glimpse of how the venues will look in 2014…
VENUES FILM SHOWN TO DELEGATES
Now that film showed you – courtesy of computer animation – how our venues will APPEAR in 2014.
But you've seen for yourselves that more than 70% of the buildings are already in place TODAY.
Mr President, delegates. We promised you an athlete-centred bid.
It's with great pleasure that I can now introduce to you medal winning decathlete Jamie Quarry –– to tell you how the athletes shaped our bid.
JAMIE QUARRY: Mr President, Your Royal Highness.
It's my honour to speak on behalf of the Scottish Athletes' Commission. We're
20 current and former athletes who've
fed their experiences into the Glasgow bid.
As the Bid took shape, we gave our view on a variety of areas – such as accreditation, transport and the cultural programme. We also spent a lot of time advising on the Village and the Venues – the result of which you have seen today.
And we travelled. We visited you in your own countries and discussed with you what makes a great Games. I was fortunate enough to be in East Africa and I had an incredible time. It was an experience I'll remember forever.
I was struck by the welcome we received and humbled by the hospitality.
And although the countries we visited are diverse in terms of size and population, the people – and the athletes in particular - all share the same concerns and the same hopes and dreams.
It's one of the greatest honours in the world to represent your country. But you can only do it with the support of family and friends.
Mine were always there for me. Taking me to training, cheering me when I won and picking me up when I lost. When I was scared or nervous, they always said one thing to me:
"Son, you can only do your best. And a little bit more." It's this little bit more that helps you reach the top. It's this little bit more which shatters personal bests and breaks world records.
Our Team also want to do that little bit more for you. To make sure that every athlete who comes to Glasgow in 2014 has the chance to do themselves, their country and their families proud.
A Games is all about stories and memories. Everyone you meet in the village has their own tale to tell – about where they came from, about what they hope to achieve, or the sacrifices that have been made by so many on their behalf.
I have my own story – and it's one with a happy ending. I was lucky enough to stand on that podium in 2002 with a medal round my neck - watched by my family and friends, beaming with pride. I did it for them.
Our team will do it for you.
This next film is not my story. But it could be the story of any one of the athletes that come to the Games in 2014.
inspirations film shown to delegates
When you see what it means to families, it's a huge responsibility.
Everybody in Scotland understands that – from communities across the country to the Leader of the Scottish Government.
(PAUSE)
It's my pleasure to introduce to you, Scotland's First Minister, the Right Honourable Alex Salmond.
FIRST MINISTER: Mr President, Your Royal Highness, Delegates, Friends it is a genuine pleasure to be here in Sri Lanka and let me thank our hosts both for their exemplary courtesy and their wonderful hospitality.
When I had the opportunity to meet most of delegations in Scotland over the summer months, two common threads were immediately apparent - dedication to sport and a belief in the strength and unifying force of these Commonwealth Games.`
Delegates, I know that Louise Martin and her team have been working with you to develop Glasgow's Bid for 2014. Believe me Louise certainly keeps us up to the mark in local Government in Glasgow and national Government in Scotland. Frankly Louise leaves us with no choice but to follow the lead of the Commonwealth Federation!
And thus we fully embrace both parts of that vision – dedication to sport and a belief in these Games.
BECAUSE THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES REALLY DO MATTER TO SCOTLAND.
They matter because they are the only multi sport Games in which our nation competes, as ourselves, as 'Scotland'.
And they matter because membership of the Commonwealth sits at the heart of the internationalism which defines our country.
Scotland has taken part in every Games since 1930. And we've watched as they have grown and developed over those years. From Hamilton, through Kingston, Kuala Lumpur and Melbourne - these Games have changed beyond recognition and changed for the better.
Much of that change has happened under your leadership, Mr President.
Working with you, it is time to take the Games to a new level.
Every delegate at this Assembly – and the millions waiting for the result of your deliberations – is committed to securing the position of the Commonwealth Games as one of the biggest and most prestigious sporting events in the world.
Those Games, like the countries of the Commonwealth, are ever changing - yet always constant in their emphasis on international friendship, camaraderie and sporting excellence.
Like the Games, Scotland is changing. This new Scotland stands reinvigorated by the restoration of our own Parliament. The people of Scotland have a renewed sense of national confidence. We are an old nation but in that sense we are young – reborn with a wish to participate and contribute to the wider world.
That sense of possibility, of a dynamic nation keen once again to reach across the world is the foundation of this bid. The honour of hosting the twentieth Games would represent a new chapter for Scotland – an opportunity to welcome the entire Commonwealth and to deliver a Games which reflects our vision for our country – inclusive, exciting, dramatic.
Scotland is united behind this bid – every single political party and every part of the nation. Every Scot is excited by what Scotland can give to the Games and about what these Games can give to Scotland.
AND BE IN NO DOUBT – SCOTLAND WILL DELIVER.
As you've seen with your own eyes, and as indeed your own Evaluation Commission reported, the finance has been agreed, more than 70 per cent of the facilities are in place – not as computer graphics or plans on paper – they exist right now in bricks and mortar. Our infrastructure is already well capable of supporting world class events.
DELEGATES SCOTLAND IS READY.
But as Louise, Steven and Jamie have said, at the heart of the Games must always be the athletes. And it's this group of people that we care about most.
Because it's the athletes - and what they do on the pitch, on the track or in the pool - that has the power to inspire.
Last year, I witnessed something extraordinary happen back home in Scotland.
Commonwealth Games fever gripped the nation, even although the action was taking place thousands of miles away in Melbourne.
Viewing figures for the Games were incredible; the results were front page news. Despite the time difference, hundreds of thousands of people across our country tuned in to watch the action.
The television signals that beamed out from Australia and the flow of information and pictures over the Internet, illustrated to me the incredible, unifying potential of these Games.
But, Mr President, those signals and that information did not reach everyone. I know from speaking to you, that some of our Commonwealth family were unable to receive the television coverage of the last Games or at least coverage tailored to their own athletes.
And that's something that we want to work with you to change.
As we saw in the film from Montserrat to the Maldives to Mozambique.
From the Solomon Islands to Singapore to St Vincent - we want children and young people from every nation to be inspired and families from all over the Commonwealth to share in the joy of watching loved ones compete.
So today let me be clear about my commitment.
Award these Games to Glasgow and we will use the technology for which Scotland is renowned to take the story of these Games to every single member of the Commonwealth.
And delegates, if any doubt our resolve, I ask you also to remember – it was a Scot who invented the television in the first place!
That's why as sign of our commitment to that communication, this presentation is being broadcast live on our website, on the world wide web.
Delegates, you know that athletes often prepare their whole lives for one moment of achievement. Supporting the Glasgow bid means guaranteeing that those special moments are available to every single member of this Commonwealth family.
People united in celebration of sport.
People united by our shared ideals of Equality, Humanity and Excellence.
People's lives enriched by being a part of our city. Being a part of our home, being a part of our country.
Mr President, Delegates, Friends. That is our vision for the Commonwealth Games in 2014.
It's a vision that can inspire. It's a vision that Glasgow and Scotland can deliver.
As Scotland's First Minister I ask you to give us your endorsement.
But let us have the very last word from the people of Glasgow – a friendly City bidding to host these friendly Games.
'Glasgow's Message'
LOUISE
Ladies and Gentlemen, Glasgow 2014