With a little under three-and-a-half years to go until the Opening Ceremony of Gold Coast 2018, Prince Imran told insidethegames that despite it still being "early days" in terms of Games preparation, "everything they're doing seems to be okay and geared to making it achievable by 2018".

The Malaysian highlighted the delivery of the Gold Coast Aquatics Centre "on time and in budget" as one of a number of factors that have shown the CGF that Gold Coast is well on its way to delivering a successful Games.

He admitted that "the biggest challenge in terms of infrastructure will be the Games Village", which will likely be something covered by the Coordination Commission, led by CGF vice-president Bruce Robertson, here next week.

"We'll see, but at the moment we are very happy with the fact they know their planning has been very well done and they've moved on," Prince Imran added.

The delivery of the Gold Coast Aquatics Centre on time and in budget is one of a number of factors that have shown the success of Gold Coast 2018 to date ©Gold Coast 2018



By moving on, Prince Imran was referring to the implementation stage of the process as opposed to the bid, which he explained is a crucial step on the path to a smooth and successful Games.

"Basically it's the same team but bigger than that of the bid team," he said.

"So the bid team had already got the concept right and now they have gone on to implement [this concept].

"It was the same in Glasgow where they did the bid then went on to implement the bid.

"In Incheon and a lot of the Asian Games I know, they've changed the bid team and the implementation team - the Organising Committee - and that often causes the problems.

"What they've promised, the concepts which were part of the bid, sometimes haven't come through to the implementation."

This, according to Prince Imran, will be an important issue for both Durban and Edmonton, the
candidate cities for the 2022 Games, with him advising that "the same guys from whoever wins it" should "see it through to the end".

Prince Imran wants to see Gold Coast "portray its best face" during the Games, highlighting its culture as a sun, sand and sea city ©Gold Coast 2018



In terms of the actual delivery of the Games, Prince Imran explained that it was important to "portray your best face" in order to bring the most out of a city and the Games.

"This is definitely a sea and sun and fun type of place, so they've got to get that atmosphere of sea, sand and sun," he added.

"So I'd like to see them working at it.

"The fact that immediately we are here dressed, except from the Glasgow guys, without jackets and ties, is already understanding the environment and the atmosphere of what Gold Coast is all about and I think that is something that will make it different, certainly to Glasgow and Delhi [2010].

"They are basically capital cities, and Gold Coast is not even the capital city of Queensland, Brisbane is.

"So it's a different thing that they need to portray, and that's obviously something they can highlight."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
October 2014: Exclusive: Prince Imran outlines key to Gold Coast success as Glasgow 2014 Debrief starts
October 2014: Gold Coast prepares for Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Debrief
August 2014: Gold Coast can follow Glasgow and transform Commonwealth Games claims Tourism Australia chief
November 2013: Gold Coast 2018 is on course reports CGF Coordination Commission