After Usain Bolt caused a storm in Scotland by allegedly suggesting that the Commonwealth Games are inferior to the Olympics, two British athletes are joining in from afar. Zara Dampney and Lucy Boulton are preparing to compete in Rio in 2016 in the beach volleyball event, but their sport of choice has not been allowed into the event currently hosted in Glasgow.
“It is strange to not be a part of it,” Dampney explained after an afternoon of volleyball matches in Covent Garden yesterday, hosted by Fosters Radler. “We watch it on TV and really enjoy it but it doesn’t seem fair: it just seems that we’d fit in well: England, Australia, New Zealand and Canada all have really strong teams, we don’t understand its absence and we think we deserve to be there.”
Beach volleyball became an Olympic sport in 1996 and its residence in Horse Guards Parade proved a highlight of London 2012. Fans are hoping the Commonwealth will change its mind by 2018, when the Games will be hosted on Australia’s Gold Coast — a location even Bolt couldn’t fault.
