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Team Jersey were watched by billions of people around the world tuning in for the 2018 Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony, which marks the start of top level sporting competition.
Each of the 71 nation teams from around the globe, including Jersey and our neighbour Guernsey, walked out onto centre stage at a very wet but warm Carrara Stadium for the official launch of one of the biggest sporting events in the world.
The 33 athletes from Jersey, as well as supporters from the island who were in the arena and those watching from home, were treated to a colourful and mesmerizing show with over 4000 performers.
Stunning
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) April 4, 2018
Watch live on @BBCOne, @BBCRedButton or online now
https://t.co/JBbjcXooIX#bbcgoldcoast #GC2018 pic.twitter.com/K6LE9goDRG
The ceremony was unlike previous opening shows, which normally showcase the history and culture of the host nation to show how different they are.
Instead, the artistic director, David Zolkwer, who’s worked on the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games and the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, decided to use the official launch as a way of uniting Australia with the rest of the world.
The show explained this connection with the start of the ceremony showing how Earth used to look 335 million years ago when there was a single supercontinent called Pangaea.
A stunning representation as the continents drift apart and the land as we now know it begins to form. #7CommGames #GC2018 pic.twitter.com/8paW1Dgphk
— 7CommGames (@7CommGames) April 4, 2018
The Opening Ceremony also marked the final leg of the Commonwealth Games Baton, which has carried a message from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth calling all Commonwealth athletes to come together for a friendly competition, around the world including Jersey where it spent two days in the island.
But not all of the Jersey competitors were able to take part in the opening ceremony. Triathlete Ollie Turner and swimmers Gemma Atherley and Harry Shalamon watched the show from the comfort of the games village as they are all competing on the first day of the games. Ollie told Express; "We decided to rest our legs before the event as we don’t want to be fatigued (...) but sitting in the village chill out area cheering on Team Jersey as they come through."
Pictured: Swimmers Harry Shalamon and Gemma Atherley watch the opening ceremony from the athletes village with triathlete Ollie Turner as they are competing within a few hours.
Jersey is competing for medals and personal best performances in eight different sports including Lawn Bowls and Shooting, which Jersey almost broke their 24-year medal dry spell in the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Fullbore shooter Barry Le Cheminant returned to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow 2014 after a 28-year break. He, along with fellow shooter Daniel Richardson, were in with a chance of a medal after the first day of competing, as they held the top two places on the scoreboard. But strong winds on the second day of the event meant they dropped points in the 900 and 1000 yard rounds, with Le Cheminant finishing four points off a bronze medal in seventh and Richardson coming 16th.
Pictured: Jersey Sport CEO Catriona McAllister with Jersey Commonwealth Team Officials at the Carrara Stadium for the opening ceremony. (Catriona McAllister)
All medal hopes then laid on the shoulders of women’s pairs bowls Lindsay Greechan and Katie Nixon who reached the bronze medal playoff. But their opponents, Northern Ireland, clinched the victory with a 15-14 win, ending the pair’s, and Jersey’s, dream of a medal.
But could 2018 be the year Jersey end the 28-year medal draught?
The 33 strong Jersey Team is made up of a mix of Commonwealth Games debuts and veterans:
Athletics Badminton
Sam Dawkins Alex Hutchings
Elliot Dorey Elise Dixon
Zane Duquemin Emily Temple-Redshaw
Matt Bignall
Cycling Gymnastics
Kim Ashton Bonita Shurmer
Helen Ralston Rachelle Flambard
Jack Rebours Dan Lee
Ollie Lowthorpe
Dan Halksworth Shooting
Rhys Hidrio Sarah Campion
Nikki Holmes
Lawn Bowls Andy Chapman
Chrissie Grimes Barry Le Cheminant
Rachel Macdonald David Le Quesne
Doreen Moon Cameron Pirouet
Joan Renouf
Eileen Vowden Triathlon
Derek Boswell Ollie Turner
Ross Davis
Malcolm De Sousa Swimming
Gemma Atherley
Harry Shalamon
Lead photo supplied by Commonwealth Games Association of Jersey
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