0:00:03 > 0:00:06The last time the Commonwealth Games were held in Scotland
0:00:06 > 0:00:08there were sporting triumphs...
0:00:08 > 0:00:14'As Liz Lynch takes the 10,000m gold for Scotland...'
0:00:14 > 0:00:17'Cram gets the gold.'
0:00:17 > 0:00:22'And Tessa - what a great competitor she is proving to be.'
0:00:22 > 0:00:26..disappointments and disasters in the rain.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29Got any flippers?
0:00:29 > 0:00:32A Games full of political drama...
0:00:32 > 0:00:35Nigeria and Ghana have both pulled out of the Commonwealth Games
0:00:35 > 0:00:38which begin in Edinburgh later this month.
0:00:38 > 0:00:39..of big personalities...
0:00:39 > 0:00:43'Her car was pelted with eggs and tomatoes.'
0:00:43 > 0:00:45..and even bigger egos...
0:00:45 > 0:00:48'They are not Mrs Thatcher's Games -
0:00:48 > 0:00:51'they are Edinburgh's, Scotland's Games.'
0:00:51 > 0:00:53..and with some mysterious characters.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56Dreams were fulfilled...
0:00:58 > 0:01:00..and broken.
0:01:00 > 0:01:06I am physically and mentally tired of being pushed around -
0:01:06 > 0:01:07and I can't do anything about it.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12A Games which helped change the fate of a nation.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17Welcome to the story of the Commonwealth Games of Edinburgh,
0:01:17 > 0:01:181986.
0:01:23 > 0:01:28Our story begins in 1970 with the Friendly Games.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31It was the first time that the Commonwealth Games
0:01:31 > 0:01:32had come to Scotland.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35It was the first Commonwealth Games.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38Up until Kingston Jamaica, the previous Games in 1966,
0:01:38 > 0:01:43it had been the Empire Games and the Games went off spectacularly.
0:01:43 > 0:01:45The whole Commonwealth attended.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49It was a kind of sporting age of innocence, if you like,
0:01:49 > 0:01:52and Scotland absolutely surpassed all expectations,
0:01:52 > 0:01:55particularly on the track.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57- COMMENTARY:- 'It's a one-two all the way for Scotland,
0:01:57 > 0:02:01'and Ian Stewart wins from Ian McCafferty.'
0:02:02 > 0:02:05Winning gold for Scotland to the cheers of the crowd -
0:02:05 > 0:02:08this was the stuff of dreams.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11For one young girl living in a council estate in Dundee,
0:02:11 > 0:02:14it was the start of a journey that would change her life.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18REPORTER: 'The atmosphere is depressing,
0:02:18 > 0:02:19'transport into Dundee expensive,
0:02:19 > 0:02:23'and a Whitfield address has almost become a stigma in itself.'
0:02:24 > 0:02:27I was from a very underprivileged background
0:02:27 > 0:02:28and I think kids from my block
0:02:28 > 0:02:31didn't get an awful lot of opportunities.
0:02:31 > 0:02:33I was 16 at the time, I'd just left school,
0:02:33 > 0:02:36and I was working in a jute factory.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38I was working from like half five in the morning
0:02:38 > 0:02:40to five o'clock at night.
0:02:40 > 0:02:42So, you know, I was kind of running
0:02:42 > 0:02:45to prove that you could get out of the ghetto, sort of thing,
0:02:45 > 0:02:46and to become something.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49And it was a big drive in me to prove just how good I could be.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58More than 9,000 miles away in Cape Town, South Africa,
0:02:58 > 0:03:02another young girl shared that dream and ambition.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07I was brought up in the northern suburbs of Cape Town
0:03:07 > 0:03:10and my father was a physician, a doctor,
0:03:10 > 0:03:13my mum used to drive me every day to swimming from there.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18It was a very normal upbringing,
0:03:18 > 0:03:23sort of, I'd say, middle-class, South African home
0:03:23 > 0:03:27and, yeah, I've got wonderful happy memories of growing up.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31I had a coach that coached me when I was 16, a guy called Harry Bennett,
0:03:31 > 0:03:35and he actually said to me that I would win the Commonwealth Games.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38So, from a 16-year-old, I had a belief that I was going to do it
0:03:38 > 0:03:42and it will be my calling, and that I will be world-class at it.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46But I've got to do the work now to enable me to get there.
0:03:48 > 0:03:50From the time that I was ten years old,
0:03:50 > 0:03:52when I realised that, you know, I had something,
0:03:52 > 0:03:55and my coach, he was very encouraging.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57He always said to me, you know, "You're going to be a champion,"
0:03:57 > 0:04:00so I believed him and we sort of foolishly, as children,
0:04:00 > 0:04:02thought it would just happen.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07This background did install a lot of the, you know...
0:04:07 > 0:04:11"I have to run for you," you know, "the people of Whitfield.
0:04:11 > 0:04:12"I have to run for mum and dad."
0:04:12 > 0:04:17You know, and I always had to have the sort of drive behind me
0:04:17 > 0:04:20to show just what I could do.
0:04:20 > 0:04:22I think there was a certain amount of natural talent
0:04:22 > 0:04:27that happened at that stage, but obviously what followed after that
0:04:27 > 0:04:28was a lot of hard work, you know?
0:04:28 > 0:04:31Things don't happen without hard work.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36But hard work would not be enough for Annette Cowley -
0:04:36 > 0:04:37she had a problem.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39She was living in a pariah state.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50Since 1948, state-enforced legislation
0:04:50 > 0:04:52segregated Black people from Whites
0:04:52 > 0:04:54in all forms of South African life...
0:04:55 > 0:04:59..prompting internal resistance and violence.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04Black South Africans were forcibly removed from their homes
0:05:04 > 0:05:06and deprived of basic human rights.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12Almost 30,000 people were reported dead -
0:05:12 > 0:05:16the outside world looked on in horror.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19The fact that the South African government did what they did
0:05:19 > 0:05:23with apartheid wasn't relevant to my family, because it wasn't our belief.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27Our belief system was that we would have loved change in this country,
0:05:27 > 0:05:30and we would have loved to have seen equal rights
0:05:32 > 0:05:34But while apartheid continued,
0:05:34 > 0:05:37it didn't matter what view Annette Cowley took
0:05:37 > 0:05:41or how hard she trained - it would never be enough.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45Even though we didn't necessarily believe in what our country stood for
0:05:45 > 0:05:47at the time, we were obviously put into that pot.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49Whether you were Black or White,
0:05:49 > 0:05:52you weren't allowed to compete for South Africa.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00The sporting ban imposed on South African athletes was global.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04International competitions, like the 1984 Olympics,
0:06:04 > 0:06:05were strictly off-limits.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11Enter onto the world stage Zola Budd,
0:06:11 > 0:06:14the barefoot running sensation from South Africa.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19Her escape route - a UK passport,
0:06:19 > 0:06:22secured because her grandfather was English.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24It was a flag of convenience for Budd,
0:06:24 > 0:06:28and for a British team desperate to boost their medal chances.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33# The world is a stage
0:06:33 > 0:06:40# The stage is a world of entertainment... #
0:06:40 > 0:06:43The sudden appearance of this young, White South African
0:06:43 > 0:06:46running in a Great Britain vest was not lost
0:06:46 > 0:06:48on some of her Olympic team-mates.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53Zola was for Zola.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55She would never have given up
0:06:55 > 0:06:57her citizenship as a South African.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01She was going to go back to where she came from -
0:07:01 > 0:07:04but it was just the knowledge of feeling that, you know,
0:07:04 > 0:07:06why should you get it?
0:07:06 > 0:07:11And, you know, another person who was as good, probably even better,
0:07:11 > 0:07:14would not get the opportunity, mainly because they were Black.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17'Barefooted, she's much happier barefooted.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20'And the world champion caught her there, now this is the danger.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22'And Decker's down!
0:07:22 > 0:07:25'Oh, the world champion and one of the favourites
0:07:25 > 0:07:27'is now flat-out on the in-field.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29'And Mary Decker out of the race.'
0:07:31 > 0:07:35DOUG GILLON: Zola Budd came here, prior to the 1984 Olympics,
0:07:35 > 0:07:38basically on a ticket to win Britain a gold medal.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41But there was a great feeling
0:07:41 > 0:07:45that giving this girl a British passport just so that she could run
0:07:45 > 0:07:49because her country had broken all the rules of morality and decency...
0:07:49 > 0:07:52you know, there wasn't a great deal of sympathy for her.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55'And the booing has started around the arena.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59'Well, this little girl's career seems to be followed
0:07:59 > 0:08:02'by nothing but controversies, and drama as well.'
0:08:02 > 0:08:05ANNETTE COWLEY: We were all glued to that story in South Africa.
0:08:05 > 0:08:07It was one of the biggest things ever
0:08:07 > 0:08:10because, you know, our main goal as athletes at that level
0:08:10 > 0:08:12was to go to the Olympic Games.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14I think it's any athlete's dream.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17If you're at the top of your game that's kind of where you want to go.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19So I think it set the ball in motion, you know,
0:08:19 > 0:08:23for people considering this sort of thing.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26# Welcome
0:08:26 > 0:08:28# Welcome to the wonder
0:08:28 > 0:08:32# Welcome to the race for victory
0:08:32 > 0:08:34# That's about to start... #
0:08:35 > 0:08:38Los Angeles put a Hollywood spin on sport -
0:08:38 > 0:08:43spectacular, glitzy and generating a whopping, out of this world,
0:08:43 > 0:08:45400 million dollar profit.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48There had been nothing like this before.
0:08:49 > 0:08:54In Edinburgh, Commonwealth Games organisers started to dream.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57They'd already organised a successful Games -
0:08:57 > 0:08:59so just how difficult could it be?
0:09:00 > 0:09:03Edinburgh was entitled to imagine
0:09:03 > 0:09:06that they could recreate 1970.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09That was the fond hope, and it was not an unreasonable hope.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13The 1970 Games, essentially, were organised by a chap
0:09:13 > 0:09:15called Willy Carmichael
0:09:15 > 0:09:21who was seconded from the Edinburgh town council's cleansing department,
0:09:21 > 0:09:23and he ran the Games from his kitchen table.
0:09:23 > 0:09:28I mean, all that the city fathers needed to do in 1970 was -
0:09:28 > 0:09:31and this is an exaggeration, but it kind of explains what went on -
0:09:31 > 0:09:34all that they had to do was to get the money together
0:09:34 > 0:09:35for the beer and the sandwiches.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40Since 1970, a lot had changed -
0:09:40 > 0:09:43including the Government's views on funding big events.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46For many, many years it had been assumed
0:09:46 > 0:09:49that anything that happened in Britain, Scotland or England,
0:09:49 > 0:09:51had to be funded by the taxpayer.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53And increasingly the Government of the day were saying,
0:09:53 > 0:09:55"Look, no, that's just not right.
0:09:55 > 0:09:57"You shouldn't expect the taxpayer to fund everything."
0:10:02 > 0:10:05At the head of this government, Margaret Thatcher.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09Single-minded, determined, the Iron Lady.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13Her domestic policies had prompted the bitter miners' strike...
0:10:15 > 0:10:18..while internationally the country had gone to war
0:10:18 > 0:10:19over the Falkland islands.
0:10:21 > 0:10:26The Commonwealth Games of 1986 was to become another battle front.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29But the problem that Edinburgh had, they met -
0:10:29 > 0:10:32and it's a dreadful cliche, but I'll say it anyhow -
0:10:32 > 0:10:34they met a perfect storm.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38They met the perfect storm of a Thatcher government.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41The lady's not for turning.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45The more that she was asked to support the Commonwealth Games
0:10:45 > 0:10:47and to support the Commonwealth,
0:10:47 > 0:10:50the more she set her mind against it.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53This was essentially a genuine difference of view
0:10:53 > 0:10:57within the Commonwealth as to how you best dealt with South Africa.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00Some countries, mainly the African and Asian countries,
0:11:00 > 0:11:03wanted very, very harsh economic sanctions.
0:11:03 > 0:11:05Other countries, including the United Kingdom,
0:11:05 > 0:11:07said, "No, you've got to have a dialogue with these guys
0:11:07 > 0:11:09"if we're going to get peaceful reform."
0:11:09 > 0:11:11And that created a difficulty.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20At the centre of this "difficulty" - Mrs Thatcher.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22It fell to the Commonwealth Secretary General,
0:11:22 > 0:11:25Sir Sonny Ramphal, to seek a resolution.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30You have to remember it was a particularly vigorous moment
0:11:30 > 0:11:32in the campaign against apartheid,
0:11:32 > 0:11:35and here was Mrs Thatcher, when all the world
0:11:35 > 0:11:41recognised that sanctions were a particularly effective means
0:11:41 > 0:11:46of bringing apartheid to an end, refusing to do it,
0:11:46 > 0:11:51and refusing... Taking a strong ideological stand...
0:11:53 > 0:11:56..on the side of South Africa.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00Why do you want to stop many, many Black South Africans
0:12:00 > 0:12:03from earning their living decently and looking after their families?
0:12:03 > 0:12:05Why, as a matter of morality,
0:12:05 > 0:12:07do you have people who have good jobs, comfortable homes,
0:12:07 > 0:12:10who will be entertained in expensive hotels
0:12:10 > 0:12:13to sit round a table and say, "As a matter of morality,
0:12:13 > 0:12:16"we are going to decide that you in your hundreds of thousands
0:12:16 > 0:12:18"shall lose your jobs
0:12:18 > 0:12:21"in a country where we know there is no social security,
0:12:21 > 0:12:24"so we will add poverty and unemployment
0:12:24 > 0:12:25"to the rest of the problems"?
0:12:25 > 0:12:28What is moral about that? To me it is immoral.
0:12:28 > 0:12:35Mrs Thatcher's reasons were bound up with British interests,
0:12:35 > 0:12:40British investment and therefore British assets in South Africa.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43She was close to South Africa.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47To White South Africa.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56Mrs Thatcher's refusal to impose sanctions against South Africa -
0:12:56 > 0:12:59and her view that the imprisoned Nelson Mandela
0:12:59 > 0:13:02was associated with terrorism - was fiercely opposed in Edinburgh.
0:13:02 > 0:13:07- Smash apartheid now! - Stop the hangings, free Mandela!
0:13:07 > 0:13:11Nelson Mandela, Madiba, was our hero.
0:13:11 > 0:13:15He stood for justice and he stood for everything that we believed in,
0:13:15 > 0:13:21so for him, a freedom fighter, to be called a terrorist
0:13:21 > 0:13:23was really upsetting.
0:13:23 > 0:13:26Edinburgh's record on apartheid was first-rate,
0:13:26 > 0:13:28but that actually didn't count for very much
0:13:28 > 0:13:32when Mrs Thatcher, who was a hugely divisive Prime Minister
0:13:32 > 0:13:37in my opinion, had set her stall so firmly against economic sanctions,
0:13:37 > 0:13:40against the Pretoria regime.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43I wanted the whole country to rise up and say no,
0:13:43 > 0:13:46but they still voted for her to come back in,
0:13:46 > 0:13:51which meant to me... It implied this, the country, not the whole country
0:13:51 > 0:13:57but the "state" supported the, the regime, the apartheid regime.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04The arrival of South African runner Zola Budd
0:14:04 > 0:14:09to race in Edinburgh in 1985 sparked controversy.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12The city's high profile stand against apartheid
0:14:12 > 0:14:15hit the headlines once more.
0:14:15 > 0:14:16Channel 4 were
0:14:16 > 0:14:18the televising company,
0:14:18 > 0:14:22and, in keeping with the standard contract,
0:14:22 > 0:14:25Edinburgh had agreed to provide a clean stadium -
0:14:25 > 0:14:26ie, no advertising.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29But up on the electronic scoreboard there was a sign,
0:14:29 > 0:14:32"Edinburgh against apartheid".
0:14:32 > 0:14:35And so, with minutes to go before the meeting started,
0:14:35 > 0:14:37Channel 4 pulled the plug.
0:14:37 > 0:14:38TEST-CARD BUZZ
0:14:38 > 0:14:41The meeting was catastrophic for Edinburgh
0:14:41 > 0:14:45because international athletics was then taken off the schedule.
0:14:45 > 0:14:47So that was Zola's contribution to that.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54Edinburgh's very public display of opposition
0:14:54 > 0:14:57against South Africa's apartheid regime
0:14:57 > 0:15:00was clearly aimed at the UK Government's position -
0:15:00 > 0:15:04and it soon found support from an unexpected quarter.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07The Queen takes, and then took,
0:15:07 > 0:15:10being the head of the Commonwealth very seriously,
0:15:10 > 0:15:14and she had excellent relations with all the leaders of
0:15:14 > 0:15:15the Commonwealth,
0:15:15 > 0:15:18and particularly with the former colonies in Africa.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21And it was quite clear to us as this story developed
0:15:21 > 0:15:26that the Palace itself, although not meant to take a view on anything,
0:15:26 > 0:15:30actually had largely sided with those in the Commonwealth
0:15:30 > 0:15:32that wanted to ramp up sanctions,
0:15:32 > 0:15:37and particularly sporting sanctions, against apartheid South Africa.
0:15:37 > 0:15:44I'm in an area of guesswork when I talk about the relations between
0:15:44 > 0:15:47the Queen and Mrs Thatcher,
0:15:47 > 0:15:50but if I had to guess...
0:15:50 > 0:15:57I would say that... the debacle over the Edinburgh Games
0:15:57 > 0:16:02would have caused... a rift between them,
0:16:02 > 0:16:04a distancing between them,
0:16:04 > 0:16:07because the Queen knew what I was doing.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12- Good evening, Your Majesty. - You've had a very long day.- Yes...
0:16:12 > 0:16:14'There was a rift between the two most important
0:16:14 > 0:16:17'and two most famous women in the land,
0:16:17 > 0:16:19'and that was a great story,'
0:16:19 > 0:16:23because it started to hint and indicate that there were
0:16:23 > 0:16:27bigger differences than just the future of South Africa between
0:16:27 > 0:16:29the Queen and the Prime Minister,
0:16:29 > 0:16:32that the Queen and the royal family had been...
0:16:32 > 0:16:35not that keen on the miners' strike, had thought
0:16:35 > 0:16:38that the Thatcherite approach to things
0:16:38 > 0:16:41would rip apart the social fabric of the country,
0:16:41 > 0:16:43and that a kind of radical government
0:16:43 > 0:16:45was not good for the nation.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55And now there was good reason for Palace concern.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57In the months leading up to the Games,
0:16:57 > 0:17:01the spectre of a boycott by Black Commonwealth nations was raised.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03But the Iron Lady was not for turning,
0:17:03 > 0:17:07and the spectre very quickly became a reality.
0:17:07 > 0:17:12I remember once pleading with her to "save your Games",
0:17:12 > 0:17:15because after all they were Commonwealth Games
0:17:15 > 0:17:16being held in Britain,
0:17:16 > 0:17:20and she answered me very sharply,
0:17:20 > 0:17:23saying, "They are not my Games, they're yours."
0:17:23 > 0:17:26And I came to believe in the end
0:17:26 > 0:17:29that she really didn't mind if the Games were boycotted,
0:17:29 > 0:17:32if Edinburgh paid the price.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36Edinburgh she saw as her political enemy.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51For the Edinburgh organisers, dreams of profit and surplus
0:17:51 > 0:17:54disappeared as quickly as sponsors.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03And to make matters worse,
0:18:03 > 0:18:06there was no great rush at the Games' box office
0:18:06 > 0:18:08to snap up the hottest ticket in town.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11An awful lot of people thought, "This is going to be very, very easy.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14"I mean, look at Los Angeles, they've made 400 million profit
0:18:14 > 0:18:17"and all you've got to do is just ring up a few businesses,
0:18:17 > 0:18:20"and they'll cough up the money, and it'll be absolutely no problem."
0:18:20 > 0:18:22I can assure you it's not actually like that.
0:18:22 > 0:18:28With a financial calamity looming, decisive action needed to be taken.
0:18:28 > 0:18:29The ball was on the slates,
0:18:29 > 0:18:32the Games weren't actually going to take place.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35And they had to make a decision as to how they were
0:18:35 > 0:18:37actually going to fill the financial gap.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40Kenneth Borthwick, the Games chairman,
0:18:40 > 0:18:44went through the Financial Times, picked out about 30 companies,
0:18:44 > 0:18:48big companies in the UK, who he and the organisers thought
0:18:48 > 0:18:52might support the Games financially, and fired off letters to them.
0:18:52 > 0:18:57One of the people he wrote to was... was Robert Maxwell,
0:18:57 > 0:19:01the publisher of the Daily Mirror and the Daily Record in Scotland,
0:19:01 > 0:19:04and as it turned out he was the only one that replied.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07MUSIC: "Notorious" by Duran Duran
0:19:12 > 0:19:15# ..No, no, notorious... #
0:19:17 > 0:19:21At his first press conference, the newly installed Games Chairman,
0:19:21 > 0:19:25Robert Maxwell, explained how he was going to save the Games.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29Listen, Jerusalem was not built in a day.
0:19:29 > 0:19:30We've got quite a few weeks left,
0:19:30 > 0:19:34we are going to do our business as you would expect me to do.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38He stepped in. He was the knight in shining armour.
0:19:38 > 0:19:40He was Mr Moneybags as well,
0:19:40 > 0:19:42he was the man that would get it done.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45He had run businesses, he knew how to get value for money.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49He'd re-do the contracts, he'd be the front figure for it all
0:19:49 > 0:19:55and just his dynamism and charm and power would sweep all before him.
0:19:55 > 0:19:57And it meant he got onto the television
0:19:57 > 0:20:00and the front pages of the papers every night.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04For him it was a wonderful opportunity to grandstand.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08Terry, before you start, would you allow me,
0:20:08 > 0:20:10on behalf of the Commonwealth Games,
0:20:10 > 0:20:13on the occasion of your birthday,
0:20:13 > 0:20:16which your audience very rightly celebrated,
0:20:16 > 0:20:19to present you with a pink bottle of champagne
0:20:19 > 0:20:22in recognition of the great pleasure you give to millions of people.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25- Oh, that's very kind of you. Thank you, Robert. - APPLAUSE
0:20:25 > 0:20:28'It was the gift that just kept on giving.
0:20:28 > 0:20:30'You know, Bob Maxwell,'
0:20:30 > 0:20:31to an extent -
0:20:31 > 0:20:34but this isn't really what I mean - he was an idiot.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38And you could goad him into being even more of an idiot.
0:20:38 > 0:20:40And he spoke in headlines.
0:20:40 > 0:20:45I mean, everything he said at that time was just headline gold,
0:20:45 > 0:20:46so it was fantastic.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48I loved it.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51Do you think it's some way to becoming Robert Maxwell's Games now?
0:20:51 > 0:20:55Well, I mean, that's...going from the ridiculous to the sublime,
0:20:55 > 0:20:57or the other way around.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00They are the Games of 50 nations.
0:21:00 > 0:21:033,000 sportsmen and women are attending it.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06Five years of preparations have gone into it.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10I have been called in to play a small part to help this task,
0:21:10 > 0:21:12and I'm honoured and proud to do so.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15MUSIC: "The Final Countdown" by Europe
0:21:19 > 0:21:24In the midst of this chaos, athletes began arriving in Scotland.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28But some were still finalising their plans, including the Bermuda team.
0:21:28 > 0:21:30I was going through the summer
0:21:30 > 0:21:35and preparing for the Commonwealth Games, running close to 10...
0:21:35 > 0:21:3710.4s, 10.3.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41Um...my expectation was to make the final.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45Bill's team colleague, Victor Ruberry,
0:21:45 > 0:21:47was also looking forward to competing in Edinburgh.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51For my hundred breast, I was one of the faster ones in the Commonwealth.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55I think I was in the top six, matter of fact, maybe even fourth,
0:21:55 > 0:21:59but the other three ahead of me were all the fastest in the world,
0:21:59 > 0:22:01second fastest, you know.
0:22:01 > 0:22:03Some really... some really strong swimmers.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06So I felt good that I had a chance of getting into the finals at least.
0:22:06 > 0:22:12Some athletes were, you know, taking a year off to prepare.
0:22:12 > 0:22:13Er...
0:22:14 > 0:22:18Boycott wasn't even in the conversation, initially.
0:22:18 > 0:22:24I would say just within the two-week span of going to Edinburgh
0:22:24 > 0:22:27was...the issue of boycott came up.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33But the issue of a boycott was of little concern
0:22:33 > 0:22:36to the world's fastest middle-distance runner.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38So I wasn't really getting hung up too much
0:22:38 > 0:22:40on who wasn't going to be there.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44Nothing was troubling me - it was really unusual.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48I was...kind of waiting for something to happen,
0:22:48 > 0:22:49even catch a cold or something,
0:22:49 > 0:22:53because the weeks leading up to it, training was fantastic,
0:22:53 > 0:22:56I ran two or three preparation races which were great.
0:22:56 > 0:22:58In fact, I was having to hold myself back.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05The teenage South African Annette Cowley
0:23:05 > 0:23:07was also training hard and making progress.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11Her times were fast - fast enough to win
0:23:11 > 0:23:13a medal at the Commonwealth Games.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17But to escape the apartheid sporting ban
0:23:17 > 0:23:20she would have to take the same route as Zola Budd.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24Annette Cowley had an English mother and a UK passport, which meant
0:23:24 > 0:23:26she could compete for England.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29But first she would have to qualify.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31'They're coming into the last 5m
0:23:31 > 0:23:32'and it's going to be Annette Cowley.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36'Annette Cowley's going to be first, Nicola Fibbens is going to be second.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39'Who's going to be third? I would say it was Annabelle Cripps, and it is.'
0:23:39 > 0:23:43I swam in my main events, which was 100m and 200m freestyle,
0:23:43 > 0:23:46and won both of those, and qualified to compete
0:23:46 > 0:23:49at the Commonwealth Games, making the English team.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52It was a moment that I felt very proud and very happy
0:23:52 > 0:23:55because it was the first time that I knew I could go
0:23:55 > 0:23:58and compete for my country, you know, my adopted country.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02Even though I didn't live there, that was my heritage.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06And I think I felt a sense of relief being able to know that
0:24:06 > 0:24:09I could compete and finally do what I needed to do.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16The path to Edinburgh and the dream of gold
0:24:16 > 0:24:20was also well under way with the former jute worker from Dundee.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24Liz Lynch was beginning to make her mark on the track scene,
0:24:24 > 0:24:28running times that made her a real prospect for a medal.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31But she was entering unknown territory.
0:24:31 > 0:24:35The 10,000m was introduced at the Commonwealth Games in 1986.
0:24:35 > 0:24:37I had to work out how I was going to qualify for that.
0:24:37 > 0:24:42So the first qualification was the UK trials, which was the first time
0:24:42 > 0:24:44a woman, a British woman,
0:24:44 > 0:24:47had had the 10K championships at the trials.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49And I won the trials, lapped everybody in the field.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52And that's when I knew that I was in good shape.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55There was great excitement about the fact that we could get
0:24:55 > 0:24:59a Commonwealth gold, and I remember sort of feeling...
0:24:59 > 0:25:03feeling quite a lot of pressure from that point of view, knowing that
0:25:03 > 0:25:07my time was the best and, going into the Games, that it could happen.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09So... But I was very focused and very positive.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19Final preparations for the Games were under way -
0:25:19 > 0:25:22then, all of a sudden, everything started to disintegrate.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26MUSIC: "Don't Leave Me This Way" by The Communards
0:25:29 > 0:25:32'Britain today felt the first reprisals from Black members
0:25:32 > 0:25:35'of the Commonwealth over our policy on South Africa.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39'Nigeria and Ghana have pulled out of the Commonwealth Games,
0:25:39 > 0:25:41'which begin in Edinburgh later this month.'
0:25:41 > 0:25:43'Good evening. Uganda announced tonight
0:25:43 > 0:25:45'that it's boycotting the Commonwealth Games.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48'It's the third Black African country to stay away...'
0:25:48 > 0:25:52'Malaysia is the sixth country to decide against coming to Edinburgh,
0:25:52 > 0:25:54'and would have brought 11 athletes...'
0:25:54 > 0:25:56'Bangladesh has become the tenth nation
0:25:56 > 0:25:58'to withdraw from the competition...'
0:25:58 > 0:26:02'The boycott spreads - nine more Commonwealth states
0:26:02 > 0:26:03'are out of the Edinburgh Games...'
0:26:03 > 0:26:05'An ultimatum was sent to Mrs Thatcher
0:26:05 > 0:26:08'demanding a definite promise of sanctions...'
0:26:08 > 0:26:10'The Commonwealth Secretary General has made an appeal
0:26:10 > 0:26:12'to save the Edinburgh Games.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15'Sir Shridath Ramphal has urged compromise from Britain
0:26:15 > 0:26:18'and from the countries planning to boycott the Games.
0:26:18 > 0:26:23Well, I tried to broker a compromise, and the form it took
0:26:23 > 0:26:30was of a statement to which both Africa and Mrs Thatcher,
0:26:30 > 0:26:34and the rest of the Commonwealth, could subscribe,
0:26:34 > 0:26:37er...which...
0:26:37 > 0:26:44allowed for the condemnation of apartheid,
0:26:44 > 0:26:48but also allowed for the role of sanctions.
0:26:48 > 0:26:50There was fury in the Commonwealth,
0:26:50 > 0:26:52particularly in the Black African countries,
0:26:52 > 0:26:55that Britain alone could stand in the way
0:26:55 > 0:26:59of a robust Commonwealth response to South Africa.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03And a robust response mattered to the Commonwealth for two reasons -
0:27:03 > 0:27:05one, it was an African country,
0:27:05 > 0:27:08and that upset Black Africa more than anything,
0:27:08 > 0:27:10and secondly it had once been in the Commonwealth.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14It had been part of that family of nations and had now become a pariah.
0:27:14 > 0:27:20I got African agreement and, had she come on board,
0:27:20 > 0:27:23we would have got the statement
0:27:23 > 0:27:31but, you know, quite frankly I came to believe at that point
0:27:31 > 0:27:36that Mrs Thatcher didn't really want this statement.
0:27:36 > 0:27:41She wasn't going to pay a price to save the Games.
0:27:41 > 0:27:45Maybe she didn't even want to save them.
0:27:52 > 0:27:56The number of boycotting nations continued to grow by the day.
0:27:56 > 0:27:58The Games were facing cancellation.
0:27:58 > 0:28:00And there was a shock in store
0:28:00 > 0:28:02for the two White South African athletes,
0:28:02 > 0:28:04Zola Budd and Annette Cowley.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07The chairman of the Commonwealth Games Federation
0:28:07 > 0:28:09has said this morning that the banning
0:28:09 > 0:28:12of the South African-born Zola Budd and Annette Cowley
0:28:12 > 0:28:15from the Commonwealth Games was totally justified.
0:28:15 > 0:28:17Mr Peter Heatly said no political pressure
0:28:17 > 0:28:19was brought on the federation.
0:28:19 > 0:28:24The decision was arrived at not as a matter of expediency,
0:28:24 > 0:28:29certainly not with any emotional or political intent,
0:28:29 > 0:28:34it was purely as sportsmen playing to our own rules.
0:28:36 > 0:28:38Well, I think they were sacrificed, weren't they?
0:28:38 > 0:28:42The Games organisers, in a cowardly fashion in my opinion,
0:28:42 > 0:28:45threw them to the lions essentially,
0:28:45 > 0:28:50as a sacrifice, hoping that this would get the boycotting nations,
0:28:50 > 0:28:53principally the African nations, back on board.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56Zola Budd has been banned from the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh
0:28:56 > 0:28:59later this month, is that good or bad news for Commonwealth sport?
0:28:59 > 0:29:02I have heard... I have heard that too, it is a matter for those
0:29:02 > 0:29:06who run the Commonwealth Games and not a matter for government.
0:29:06 > 0:29:08Zola Budd accepted her fate.
0:29:09 > 0:29:13But Annette Cowley held on to her dream of Commonwealth gold.
0:29:13 > 0:29:16She took her case to the High Court in London.
0:29:16 > 0:29:19Her counsel argue that Miss Cowley is here, that eventually
0:29:19 > 0:29:21she intends to stay in this country,
0:29:21 > 0:29:24and that's reason enough for her to be part of the English team
0:29:24 > 0:29:26at the Commonwealth Games.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29On the other hand, counsel for the Commonwealth Games Federation
0:29:29 > 0:29:31describe Miss Cowley merely as a visitor,
0:29:31 > 0:29:34since she only came to this country 60 days or so ago.
0:29:34 > 0:29:37What do you think is going to happen tomorrow?
0:29:37 > 0:29:41It's in the hands of my club at the moment, and the association.
0:29:41 > 0:29:43Are you hopeful that you'll compete?
0:29:43 > 0:29:46Yes, I am.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50At that stage, the...there was such a circus in the media that
0:29:50 > 0:29:54I remember being very, very scared about cameras following me
0:29:54 > 0:29:55wherever I went.
0:29:55 > 0:29:58I remember going into the Commonwealth Games village
0:29:58 > 0:30:00and going into my room and looking around the room
0:30:00 > 0:30:03to see if there were any cameras that somebody had planted,
0:30:03 > 0:30:07because of just how big the... the story became at the time.
0:30:14 > 0:30:16As the opening ceremony approached,
0:30:16 > 0:30:20the number of boycotting nations grew.
0:30:20 > 0:30:21One of those was Bermuda.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26I think people were all types of emotions,
0:30:26 > 0:30:31from anger...to shock, upset, sadness. After that,
0:30:31 > 0:30:33what else could we do?
0:30:33 > 0:30:35Is there something that we could do?
0:30:35 > 0:30:38And that's when the next plan went into play,
0:30:38 > 0:30:41where we had a protest sheet
0:30:41 > 0:30:43saying that Bermuda athletes want to compete.
0:30:43 > 0:30:47I don't know where we got the paint and everything, but we pulled sheets
0:30:47 > 0:30:49off the beds from the dormitories and painted them.
0:30:49 > 0:30:51We hung them out. It was a way of protesting.
0:30:51 > 0:30:55We felt that we were pawns, that we had no say in any of this,
0:30:55 > 0:30:57yet we were the ones who'd spent our lives,
0:30:57 > 0:30:59our money, preparing to represent our country
0:30:59 > 0:31:01and then, all of a sudden, we were being pulled out.
0:31:01 > 0:31:10The idea came up, "Why don't we call the Premier of Bermuda?"
0:31:10 > 0:31:14Which we did, and the question was put to him,
0:31:14 > 0:31:18if the Bermuda athletes decided to compete,
0:31:18 > 0:31:21would the Bermuda government support us?
0:31:21 > 0:31:26And he responded by saying, yes, the Bermuda government would
0:31:26 > 0:31:31support the team going out and marching in the opening ceremonies.
0:31:35 > 0:31:39We stormed out of the village, getting ourselves dressed,
0:31:39 > 0:31:41trying to put our ties on and everything else,
0:31:41 > 0:31:46so that we can get our spot for the opening ceremonies.
0:31:46 > 0:31:51And we marched then just before the host team that day.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54'And Bermuda reinstated to the Games. There's been rumours all day
0:31:54 > 0:31:57'about what they were going to do.
0:31:57 > 0:31:59'First they were in, then they were out,
0:31:59 > 0:32:02'and finally they were in again,
0:32:02 > 0:32:06'and here they are, reinstated in the parade, marching out of order,
0:32:06 > 0:32:08'but they rushed back to get changed.'
0:32:08 > 0:32:13Walking into that stadium and how the crowd responded to seeing
0:32:13 > 0:32:16the Bermuda team was nothing but a...
0:32:18 > 0:32:20To me it was remarkable.
0:32:20 > 0:32:22That was also an emotional moment.
0:32:24 > 0:32:29'And the loudest roar of all will be reserved for Scotland.'
0:32:29 > 0:32:33MILITARY STYLE DRUMBEATS
0:32:34 > 0:32:37As soon as the bagpipes started playing it was like
0:32:37 > 0:32:39every hair on the back of your neck stood up.
0:32:39 > 0:32:41And when we were marching into the stadium,
0:32:41 > 0:32:43the crowds were going crazy.
0:32:43 > 0:32:45And I just thought to myself,
0:32:45 > 0:32:47"This is immense.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50"I've never experienced this." And I didn't prepare myself for it.
0:32:50 > 0:32:54And it was just an absolutely fantastic experience.
0:32:59 > 0:33:05And I now declare the 13th Commonwealth Games open.
0:33:05 > 0:33:07CHEERING
0:33:07 > 0:33:11# I'm ready for the action
0:33:11 > 0:33:14# Where all the people gather round
0:33:14 > 0:33:17# Many nations, lots of people
0:33:17 > 0:33:20# Waiting to be found... #
0:33:22 > 0:33:24I felt a sense of huge relief!
0:33:24 > 0:33:26The Games had happened.
0:33:26 > 0:33:29The majority of countries were taking part.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32People had, for all practical purposes, forgotten the fact
0:33:32 > 0:33:34there were a number of countries not represented.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37A little bit of nerves for very obvious reasons.
0:33:37 > 0:33:41It could have gone pear-shaped but fortunately it was OK on the day.
0:33:45 > 0:33:49But Bermuda's involvement in the Games was short-lived.
0:33:49 > 0:33:51When the athletes returned to the village,
0:33:51 > 0:33:53they were ordered to return home.
0:33:54 > 0:33:56I am physically and mentally tired
0:33:56 > 0:34:01of being pushed around and can't do anything about it.
0:34:04 > 0:34:07And, when I got the word today...
0:34:07 > 0:34:09just couldn't do anything.
0:34:09 > 0:34:11I'm just tired.
0:34:11 > 0:34:13'I believe we left that day.'
0:34:13 > 0:34:17I believe we, um, packed our bags and left the village
0:34:17 > 0:34:20and caught a late flight back to Bermuda.
0:34:20 > 0:34:24MUSIC: "Walk Of Life" by Dire Straits
0:34:33 > 0:34:36The competing nations were reduced from 59 to 27.
0:34:44 > 0:34:45Despite the impact of the boycott
0:34:45 > 0:34:48and the financial calamity it had caused,
0:34:48 > 0:34:51the lady who had turned her back on the Games
0:34:51 > 0:34:53decided to pay them a visit.
0:34:53 > 0:34:56I think you know my programme and I'm very happy with it.
0:34:56 > 0:34:57Excuse me.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00'Obviously, she was a strong supporter of the Commonwealth Games,'
0:35:00 > 0:35:03strong supporter of the fact they were to be Scottish Games.
0:35:03 > 0:35:05She was very worried as to what was happening
0:35:05 > 0:35:07and of course, as Secretary of State for Scotland,
0:35:07 > 0:35:09I kept her fully briefed on that
0:35:09 > 0:35:11and it was raised at Cabinet on several occasions.
0:35:11 > 0:35:14That would have been what she would have expected
0:35:14 > 0:35:15and that's what happened.
0:35:15 > 0:35:17They are not Mrs Thatcher's Games.
0:35:17 > 0:35:19They are Edinburgh's, Scotland's Games,
0:35:19 > 0:35:22the Commonwealth's Games - nothing to do with her.
0:35:22 > 0:35:27Except, of course, if I end up with a deficit, then clearly
0:35:27 > 0:35:31she can look forward to receiving some bill from this organisation.
0:35:31 > 0:35:33I think that when Maggie came to the Games
0:35:33 > 0:35:39it was kind of like she was trying to hijack the Games to her own...
0:35:39 > 0:35:41er, gain, sort of thing. To show that, you know,
0:35:41 > 0:35:44everything was supportive and everything was OK.
0:35:44 > 0:35:45And I think that a lot of people
0:35:45 > 0:35:47sort of thought, "Well, we're not going to support,
0:35:47 > 0:35:51"and we're here for sport and that's what we're going to do."
0:35:51 > 0:35:53And so we tried to stay out of the politics of it.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56She was ignored by the athletes at the village,
0:35:56 > 0:35:58despite the best efforts of her media minders
0:35:58 > 0:36:01to kind of set up, you know, media opportunities
0:36:01 > 0:36:05with glad-handing, you know, happy athletes in tracksuits.
0:36:05 > 0:36:06They couldn't find any.
0:36:06 > 0:36:08She wasn't a fan of Scotland
0:36:08 > 0:36:11and Scotland certainly wasn't a fan of hers.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14But she must have known that she was going to be in for
0:36:14 > 0:36:16a pretty rough ride.
0:36:16 > 0:36:19NEWSREEL: 'Her car was pelted with eggs and tomatoes.'
0:36:22 > 0:36:25Thatcher, if nothing else, was very brave.
0:36:25 > 0:36:27I mean, she was very brave to come to Edinburgh,
0:36:27 > 0:36:30to spend an obligatory day visiting the Games,
0:36:30 > 0:36:31because she had no interest
0:36:31 > 0:36:33whatsoever in sport, none whatsoever.
0:36:39 > 0:36:40With the Games under way,
0:36:40 > 0:36:43it was time for the stars of track and field
0:36:43 > 0:36:45to become sporting heroes.
0:36:45 > 0:36:46SHE YELLS
0:36:49 > 0:36:51The 800m provided the home nation with
0:36:51 > 0:36:53an opportunity to strike gold.
0:36:54 > 0:36:58'Tom McKean, who was running for Scotland, had a great chance
0:36:58 > 0:37:01'and I knew that I had a tough race to run.'
0:37:01 > 0:37:06So when I was standing on the start line, I didn't really have a plan.
0:37:06 > 0:37:10That sounds crazy, cos I always had a plan in the 1,500.
0:37:10 > 0:37:13The problem for me in the 800 was the guys were always quicker
0:37:13 > 0:37:15through the first 100-150m than me.
0:37:15 > 0:37:19'Steve Cram. Well, he is the competitor supreme.
0:37:19 > 0:37:21'The World champion, the European champion,
0:37:21 > 0:37:25'the Commonwealth champion at 1,500m, and now going for gold at 800m,
0:37:25 > 0:37:27'his second event.
0:37:27 > 0:37:29'The fastest man in the world this year.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34'Away they go, McKean on the inside,
0:37:34 > 0:37:38'then Cram, Hoogewerf, Forbes, Elliot, Scammell of Australia,
0:37:38 > 0:37:40'Edwards of Wales, and Hoogewerf, the Canadian champion,
0:37:40 > 0:37:44'has gone off very, very quickly as they approach the breaking point now.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47'Steve Cram is going to settle down in last position.'
0:37:47 > 0:37:49On the first lap, you then make some decisions,
0:37:49 > 0:37:52because if you've six, seven or eight guys in front of you
0:37:52 > 0:37:54then you're now thinking,
0:37:54 > 0:37:56"OK, I've got to get into a better position than this."
0:37:56 > 0:37:59So you're just waiting for the right opportunity to expend
0:37:59 > 0:38:03the right amount of energy to sort of move through the field.
0:38:03 > 0:38:05'And Cram beginning to move.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08'It's Elliot of England in front, Scammell in second place,
0:38:08 > 0:38:11'and Cram goes through now into third place, McKean not responding.'
0:38:11 > 0:38:14It looks as though I'm accelerating and going past people.
0:38:14 > 0:38:18It's just that if you compare down the back straight my 100m to theirs,
0:38:18 > 0:38:22I'm just maintaining the same pace, but for them it was a lot slower.
0:38:22 > 0:38:23So inevitably it looks like
0:38:23 > 0:38:26they're going backwards and I'm going right through them.
0:38:26 > 0:38:28'He's destroyed this field in a matter of yards.'
0:38:32 > 0:38:35For me, that last 100m was a dream.
0:38:35 > 0:38:38I was hitting the track hard, I was still really striding out,
0:38:38 > 0:38:40I almost felt as though I didn't want the race to finish,
0:38:40 > 0:38:44because I knew I was still running really strongly.
0:38:44 > 0:38:46I knew that it was one of those occasions
0:38:46 > 0:38:50where nobody was coming past, and it was a great feeling.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53'Cram gets the gold.
0:38:53 > 0:38:54'McKean of Scotland the silver,
0:38:54 > 0:38:57'Elliot of England the bronze.
0:38:57 > 0:39:03'1.43:22, the fastest time in the world this year.'
0:39:05 > 0:39:08Every now and then you do something and go, "Wow. That was pretty good."
0:39:08 > 0:39:11And I think that's how I felt at the end of that race.
0:39:11 > 0:39:13I knew I had done something personally to me
0:39:13 > 0:39:15which was important, because I'd won a gold medal,
0:39:15 > 0:39:18and it was the way in which I'd done it as well. It just felt so good.
0:39:22 > 0:39:24Over at the javelin final,
0:39:24 > 0:39:27an epic battle was under way between two great rivals.
0:39:28 > 0:39:30Fatima Whitbread threw first.
0:39:32 > 0:39:33SHE YELLS
0:39:33 > 0:39:35'Oh, she's really got behind that.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38'That's a big throw, and that's just short of 70m,
0:39:38 > 0:39:40'and I reckon that's the gold medal.'
0:39:40 > 0:39:42TESSA SANDERSON: Fatima, oh!
0:39:42 > 0:39:45I thought, "Oh, my God, Sanderson, she's stuffed you now."
0:39:45 > 0:39:47I really did, I thought "This is it." You know, "I'm dead."
0:39:49 > 0:39:52Just got myself focused together and just remembered
0:39:52 > 0:39:53all that I'd been taught.
0:39:53 > 0:39:57All that I know came up. Launched my javelin. It felt good.
0:40:00 > 0:40:02But do you know what was brilliant?
0:40:02 > 0:40:04The roar in the crowd.
0:40:04 > 0:40:07It felt even a little bit more different than the Olympics,
0:40:07 > 0:40:09because it was like everybody was going,
0:40:09 > 0:40:11willing my javelin out.
0:40:11 > 0:40:13Up there in that arena,
0:40:13 > 0:40:14and it was like, "Whoooo!"
0:40:14 > 0:40:16The noise was just incredible.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19When I saw it land I thought, "That's got to be it."
0:40:19 > 0:40:22And it was it, and it was the winning throw.
0:40:22 > 0:40:24Well, hurrah!
0:40:24 > 0:40:27I felt fantastic. Yeah, this is happening.
0:40:27 > 0:40:28No regrets, nothing.
0:40:28 > 0:40:32I love it, thank you, Scotland, this is great.
0:40:35 > 0:40:40'Sheer, utter dismay for Fatima Whitbread.
0:40:40 > 0:40:43'She led it with 65m 60cm,
0:40:43 > 0:40:45'went to 68m 54cm,
0:40:45 > 0:40:47'and I would think that most people in this stadium
0:40:47 > 0:40:50'thought, "Well, that's it." Just as I thought, "That's it."
0:40:50 > 0:40:52'But Tessa Sanderson had different ideas.'
0:40:54 > 0:40:57I saw Fatima, she was sitting down on the side
0:40:57 > 0:41:00and I felt a little bit for her in a sense,
0:41:00 > 0:41:03because I thought that competition was going to be hers,
0:41:03 > 0:41:06because, after that throw she'd done, it was a good throw.
0:41:06 > 0:41:10But it's just that, you know, it was mine, again.
0:41:10 > 0:41:12And I have to tell you, I loved it.
0:41:19 > 0:41:21And there were other memorable moments.
0:41:24 > 0:41:28Steve Redgrave won gold in every event he contested in the rowing.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33'The victory wave from Steve Ovett again
0:41:33 > 0:41:36'as he wins his first-ever Commonwealth title,
0:41:36 > 0:41:37'and wins it easily.'
0:41:37 > 0:41:39The Edinburgh weather played its part.
0:41:45 > 0:41:48And the Games took its fair share of knocks.
0:41:50 > 0:41:52ENDOFROUND BELL RINGS
0:41:52 > 0:41:55But in the end, it lived up to its reputation as
0:41:55 > 0:41:58a way of bringing together the people of the Commonwealth.
0:41:58 > 0:42:02MUSIC: "Calling All The Heroes" by It Bites
0:42:10 > 0:42:14Daley Thompson, the world's greatest all-round athlete,
0:42:14 > 0:42:16almost brought the Games down on his own.
0:42:22 > 0:42:24The main sponsor, Guinness,
0:42:24 > 0:42:25threatened to pull the plug
0:42:25 > 0:42:28when he scratched out their name from his running vest
0:42:28 > 0:42:30because he was sponsored by a rival.
0:42:30 > 0:42:33Lucozade - the refreshing glucose drink.
0:42:40 > 0:42:43It was a Games full of highs and lows.
0:42:43 > 0:42:45Of triumph and heartbreak.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48On the final day, the home nation had only one gold
0:42:48 > 0:42:50in the bowls and badminton.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53Scotland's hopes were on the girl from Dundee.
0:42:53 > 0:42:56My race was last on the track
0:42:56 > 0:42:59and people were coming back to the village crying and disappointed
0:42:59 > 0:43:03and it was really, really, really hard just to keep the focus.
0:43:03 > 0:43:04I remember one of them...
0:43:04 > 0:43:07I think it was Hilda Everett who was the women's team official,
0:43:07 > 0:43:09and she came back and she said,
0:43:09 > 0:43:11"Well, Liz, you know, you're our last chance."
0:43:11 > 0:43:15And I just felt the weight of the nation on my shoulder
0:43:15 > 0:43:18and it was something that I didn't want or envisage.
0:43:18 > 0:43:20And I just thought,
0:43:20 > 0:43:23"Yeah, I am the last chance of a gold medal here."
0:43:23 > 0:43:27And, yeah, I just remember leaving the room and thinking,
0:43:27 > 0:43:29"I'm going to do it."
0:43:29 > 0:43:31'Liz Lynch is in a great position there.
0:43:31 > 0:43:34'I think she's even tempted to take the pace on here somewhere,
0:43:34 > 0:43:38'because she's running strongly, she looks very, very comfortable,
0:43:38 > 0:43:42'and she's going to have to make a move here at some point.'
0:43:42 > 0:43:45I actually knew from about 1,000m out,
0:43:45 > 0:43:462½ laps to go,
0:43:46 > 0:43:48that I was going to win it,
0:43:48 > 0:43:50because I felt really easy.
0:43:50 > 0:43:53It was kind of like a two-lap victory run
0:43:53 > 0:43:55and it was just really amazing
0:43:55 > 0:43:58because the whole of the stadium was...
0:43:58 > 0:44:00You just heard the noise,
0:44:00 > 0:44:04and it just got louder and louder every step you took,
0:44:04 > 0:44:08so it was a pretty amazing race for me.
0:44:08 > 0:44:09CROWD CHEERS
0:44:09 > 0:44:12'Is this the right thing to do? We'll soon know.
0:44:12 > 0:44:15'They've got 800m left and Audain is not responding.
0:44:15 > 0:44:17'And listen to this crowd.'
0:44:17 > 0:44:20CHEERING
0:44:23 > 0:44:25My dad was a really funny character.
0:44:25 > 0:44:27He had this thing in his head
0:44:27 > 0:44:30that he was a jinx if he watched me running.
0:44:30 > 0:44:32So when I was running the race,
0:44:32 > 0:44:34he actually left the stadium.
0:44:34 > 0:44:38He went behind where all the seating was and walked out,
0:44:38 > 0:44:41because he couldn't watch it, he was so nervous.
0:44:41 > 0:44:43'Approaching the bell.
0:44:43 > 0:44:47'And possibly approaching gold for Scotland.'
0:44:47 > 0:44:49BELL RINGS
0:44:49 > 0:44:52Either Mum or an aunt went and shouted to my dad and said,
0:44:52 > 0:44:54"You need to come and see this
0:44:54 > 0:44:56"because she's winning it and she's winning it easily."
0:44:56 > 0:45:01'As Liz Lynch of Dundee Hawkhill Harriers
0:45:01 > 0:45:05'takes the 10,000m gold for Scotland
0:45:05 > 0:45:09'and smashes the British record by an enormous margin.'
0:45:11 > 0:45:13So he actually did come back in
0:45:13 > 0:45:15and watched the last sort of couple of laps,
0:45:15 > 0:45:17which was really amazing for him.
0:45:17 > 0:45:19Because even when he watched races in the house
0:45:19 > 0:45:22he would walk out of the room, he wouldn't watch them on the telly.
0:45:25 > 0:45:27It's really special, actually, seeing that now,
0:45:27 > 0:45:29because my dad's no longer with me
0:45:29 > 0:45:33and it really brings home just how close and how proud he was
0:45:33 > 0:45:35and he just kept repeating to me all the time,
0:45:35 > 0:45:37"You've did it, you've did it. My wee lass has done it."
0:45:37 > 0:45:39'What a great moment for this girl
0:45:39 > 0:45:42'and what a great moment for the host nation.'
0:45:42 > 0:45:44'When she delivered this gold medal
0:45:44 > 0:45:46it salvaged Scottish pride
0:45:46 > 0:45:48and it announced a new name.
0:45:48 > 0:45:50Every Games produces new heroes.
0:45:50 > 0:45:54So Liz Lynch, Liz McColgan as she became,
0:45:54 > 0:45:57was very definitely THE big heroine
0:45:57 > 0:46:00of those Games in 1986.
0:46:04 > 0:46:08The Commonwealth Games was the best moment in my running career,
0:46:08 > 0:46:11simply because I could never relive the emotions of that day.
0:46:11 > 0:46:15You know, I had a whole stadium packed that was shouting for you,
0:46:15 > 0:46:18I had my family, my friends, my parents.
0:46:18 > 0:46:21And I think just the whole emotions of receiving your medal
0:46:21 > 0:46:23and winning your race,
0:46:23 > 0:46:25it was just so immense.
0:46:25 > 0:46:28And I always thought that when you won that was how you would feel.
0:46:28 > 0:46:30Nothing ever lived up to that experience
0:46:30 > 0:46:32on that day in 1986 in Edinburgh.
0:46:35 > 0:46:38CHEERING
0:46:46 > 0:46:48Despite a 32-nation boycott,
0:46:48 > 0:46:51the Games had taken place.
0:46:51 > 0:46:55Liz McColgan had won gold. Her dream had become a reality.
0:47:00 > 0:47:03But what of the teenage Annette Cowley,
0:47:03 > 0:47:05the South African swimming for England?
0:47:05 > 0:47:08She had the fastest times in the Commonwealth,
0:47:08 > 0:47:09a gold medal within her grasp.
0:47:12 > 0:47:14Almost 30 years later,
0:47:14 > 0:47:17she returned to Edinburgh and to the Commonwealth Pool,
0:47:17 > 0:47:21scene of the 100m freestyle final,
0:47:21 > 0:47:22her main event.
0:47:22 > 0:47:25That was a very important part for us,
0:47:25 > 0:47:27for weeks before a big race,
0:47:27 > 0:47:29to swim the race over and over in our minds
0:47:29 > 0:47:32until we had actually perfected every stroke,
0:47:32 > 0:47:34every little inch of the race.
0:47:36 > 0:47:37Take your mark.
0:47:38 > 0:47:41By the time I stood on the block, I was incredibly confident
0:47:41 > 0:47:45because I knew I'd trained harder than anybody,
0:47:45 > 0:47:48and also mentally I was so incredibly well prepared.
0:47:50 > 0:47:52'They're away.
0:47:54 > 0:47:58'And Angela Harris, in lane number three for Australia, looking good.'
0:48:03 > 0:48:06I was always the kind of person that liked to go out hard,
0:48:06 > 0:48:08but you have to be focused on what you're doing
0:48:08 > 0:48:10and not what everybody else is doing.
0:48:10 > 0:48:14You have to focus on, really, what you've prepared for.
0:48:14 > 0:48:16'Fibbens has taken over.
0:48:16 > 0:48:20'Fibbens first to touch. 27.3. A good turn by Nikki Fibbens.
0:48:20 > 0:48:23'The girl to watch just one lane down though,
0:48:23 > 0:48:25'Jane Kerr, in lane four, from Canada.'
0:48:26 > 0:48:28I was very seldom first at the turn,
0:48:28 > 0:48:31but there was nobody who would touch me on the way back.
0:48:31 > 0:48:32I wasn't going to let them.
0:48:33 > 0:48:35'This is going to be a really fingertip finish!
0:48:41 > 0:48:44'It is Jane Kerr of Canada who gets it!
0:48:44 > 0:48:46'Angela Harris is second
0:48:46 > 0:48:48'and Nikki Fibbens is third.
0:48:48 > 0:48:50'But what a race that was.
0:48:50 > 0:48:53'The winning time 57.62.'
0:48:56 > 0:48:58No gold, no medal -
0:48:58 > 0:49:00no final, even, for Annette Cowley.
0:49:01 > 0:49:05Her dreams shattered - not in the pool,
0:49:05 > 0:49:07but in the High Court just before the race.
0:49:11 > 0:49:16Her bid for reinstatement to the Games thrown out.
0:49:16 > 0:49:18The Cowley ban was the biggest story in town.
0:49:21 > 0:49:24You know, you've got to have a certain amount of understanding
0:49:24 > 0:49:25and everything happens for a reason,
0:49:25 > 0:49:29although I'm just very disappointed. But I understand.
0:49:29 > 0:49:31'There were cameramen tripping over each other
0:49:31 > 0:49:35'cos everyone wanted the front-page pic and the story.
0:49:35 > 0:49:36'And I just remember thinking
0:49:36 > 0:49:39'"All I want to do is swim a race, you know?"
0:49:39 > 0:49:42'It really was very, very tough and very disappointing.'
0:49:46 > 0:49:48Soon after her return to South Africa,
0:49:48 > 0:49:51Annette Cowley turned her back on swimming.
0:49:54 > 0:49:57In Edinburgh, as the Games drew to a close,
0:49:57 > 0:50:01the self-proclaimed saviour popped up once more.
0:50:01 > 0:50:03Robert Maxwell was like a jack-in-the-box.
0:50:03 > 0:50:07He kept on springing out of the box and shouting, "Surprise!"
0:50:07 > 0:50:11So we're all sitting in the ballroom at the Sheraton hotel.
0:50:11 > 0:50:14Maxwell emerged stage-right,
0:50:14 > 0:50:17followed by a small Oriental gentleman.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20And he's a good friend of Britain's,
0:50:20 > 0:50:22the Commonwealth, and of sport,
0:50:22 > 0:50:25and I'd ask you to give a hand
0:50:25 > 0:50:28to this young man who travelled all the way from Japan to help us.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31APPLAUSE
0:50:31 > 0:50:36- DEREK DOUGLAS:- Maxwell introduced this person as Ryoichi Sasakawa.
0:50:36 > 0:50:39Yet another person who was going to be the financial saviour
0:50:39 > 0:50:45of the Games. This multimillionaire was going to use millions of pounds
0:50:45 > 0:50:47from his Sasakawa Foundation
0:50:47 > 0:50:52to put £2 million into the Games coffers.
0:50:52 > 0:50:55I will make my application in a formal manner
0:50:55 > 0:50:59to the Sasakawa Organisation in Japan
0:50:59 > 0:51:01and I am quite satisfied
0:51:01 > 0:51:04that we will be positively received.
0:51:04 > 0:51:09Sasakawa had provided 1 million to pay for the fireworks display
0:51:09 > 0:51:11at the 1984 Olympics' closing ceremony.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15But there were more sparks to come from the Japanese businessman.
0:51:15 > 0:51:17- DEREK DOUGLAS:- It subsequently became clear
0:51:17 > 0:51:20that this man had spent a couple of years
0:51:20 > 0:51:22in Allied prisoner-of-war camps
0:51:22 > 0:51:25as a suspected war criminal.
0:51:25 > 0:51:27You literally could not make it up.
0:51:27 > 0:51:30All around the pay phones in the Sheraton hotel
0:51:30 > 0:51:32you could hear journalists saying to their news editors,
0:51:32 > 0:51:35"You are not going to believe this, but...!"
0:51:35 > 0:51:38So, of all my memories of the Commonwealth Games,
0:51:38 > 0:51:40the production of Ryoichi Sasakawa,
0:51:40 > 0:51:43a suspected Japanese war criminal,
0:51:43 > 0:51:46as a saviour of the Commonwealth Games, is...
0:51:46 > 0:51:50Is the best, and still makes me smile to this day.
0:51:50 > 0:51:52And I should add that, of course,
0:51:52 > 0:51:55he didn't actually put his hand in his pocket at all.
0:51:55 > 0:51:58FANFARE
0:52:00 > 0:52:02On 2nd August 1986,
0:52:02 > 0:52:05the Queen brought the curtain down at Meadowbank Stadium.
0:52:07 > 0:52:13I proclaim the 13th Commonwealth Games, Edinburgh, 1986 closed.
0:52:15 > 0:52:18But the story doesn't end there.
0:52:18 > 0:52:21The Scotland standard-bearer had a problem,
0:52:21 > 0:52:24and who else should come to the rescue?
0:52:24 > 0:52:28Glory be, the saltire came off the flagpole
0:52:28 > 0:52:30that he was carrying
0:52:30 > 0:52:33and there was Robert Maxwell trying to salvage Scotland's dignity.
0:52:33 > 0:52:37It seemed to me a microcosm of the way the Games had gone,
0:52:37 > 0:52:40in terms of, you know, his involvement.
0:52:40 > 0:52:42It was just utterly pathetic,
0:52:42 > 0:52:45but derisorily amusing, I felt.
0:52:45 > 0:52:47Did you put any of your own money into it?
0:52:47 > 0:52:49Yes, I have put...
0:52:49 > 0:52:51I've put some personal money,
0:52:51 > 0:52:53but a great deal of money,
0:52:53 > 0:52:56about a quarter of a million pounds in cash from the Daily Mirror,
0:52:56 > 0:53:01and about £1 million in advertising to help launch the national appeal,
0:53:01 > 0:53:06which by the way, so did the Express, the Financial Times,
0:53:06 > 0:53:10the Daily Mail, and even The Sun did carry one free advertisement,
0:53:10 > 0:53:11for which I must thank them.
0:53:11 > 0:53:14However grudgingly. However grudgingly!
0:53:14 > 0:53:17ANDREW NEIL: The moment the Games ended, we put on our best
0:53:17 > 0:53:20investigative journalists to find out what had really happened.
0:53:20 > 0:53:22And before long we discovered,
0:53:22 > 0:53:25A, that he had put none of his own money into it at all,
0:53:25 > 0:53:27that was something he never did.
0:53:27 > 0:53:31That a lot of small businesspeople had been unpaid,
0:53:31 > 0:53:35that companies were going bust because they hadn't been paid,
0:53:35 > 0:53:37contracts were not being adhered to,
0:53:37 > 0:53:42and that, in fact, he had been a bogus saviour of the Games
0:53:42 > 0:53:45and in the end created more problems than he had inherited.
0:53:47 > 0:53:51Robert Maxwell headed back to his newspaper empire in London,
0:53:51 > 0:53:55leaving the Edinburgh organisers to pick up the tab.
0:53:55 > 0:53:56Take care!
0:54:00 > 0:54:03He left behind a debt of £4.9 million,
0:54:03 > 0:54:06almost one third of the Games' entire budget.
0:54:11 > 0:54:15Controversy plagued the Edinburgh Games of 1986,
0:54:15 > 0:54:18as sport crossed swords with politics
0:54:18 > 0:54:20in the struggle over apartheid.
0:54:21 > 0:54:22But which prevailed?
0:54:22 > 0:54:26How are the Edinburgh Games remembered by those who took part?
0:54:26 > 0:54:30STEVE CRAM: The Commonwealth Games to me was such an important event.
0:54:30 > 0:54:34For those of us who were brought up on it, watching it as a kid,
0:54:34 > 0:54:36you sit glued to your television going,
0:54:36 > 0:54:38"Wow, that could be me one day."
0:54:38 > 0:54:41And then, a few years later, it is.
0:54:41 > 0:54:44And you realise how important those moments are.
0:54:44 > 0:54:47Yes, to yourself, but someone sitting watching it
0:54:47 > 0:54:49somewhere in some part of the world
0:54:49 > 0:54:52is probably thinking, "I'd like to be Steve Cram." It's great.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56As sportsmen, the wanting, the hunger,
0:54:56 > 0:54:59of wanting to do well in your sport no matter what.
0:54:59 > 0:55:02And that's what the majority of us wanted to do
0:55:02 > 0:55:04and I was lucky in getting there
0:55:04 > 0:55:07and in achieving what I set out to achieve.
0:55:07 > 0:55:10Winning the gold medal completely changed my life.
0:55:10 > 0:55:13I went from Little Miss Nobody
0:55:13 > 0:55:15to everybody wanting a piece of you.
0:55:15 > 0:55:17When I won, it gave me that opportunity to say,
0:55:17 > 0:55:20"The doors are open now and I can just go forward
0:55:20 > 0:55:24"and live my dreams." And that's what it did for me.
0:55:29 > 0:55:32The Games demonstrated that the pursuit of sporting excellence
0:55:32 > 0:55:35could not be halted by politics.
0:55:35 > 0:55:38But the boycott and the Budd and Cowley controversy
0:55:38 > 0:55:42had focused attention again on the humanitarian scandal of apartheid.
0:55:43 > 0:55:45By the time of the next Games in Auckland,
0:55:45 > 0:55:47it would pay dividends.
0:55:47 > 0:55:51REPORTER: 'There's Mr Mandela. Mr Nelson Mandela, a free man,
0:55:51 > 0:55:54'taking his first steps into a new South Africa.'
0:56:00 > 0:56:01With the end of apartheid,
0:56:01 > 0:56:04the sporting ban on South Africa was lifted.
0:56:04 > 0:56:09It was a move that resurrected Annette Cowley's sporting ambitions.
0:56:09 > 0:56:13The 1992 Barcelona Olympics was her target.
0:56:13 > 0:56:15I thought, "Right, after all this,
0:56:15 > 0:56:18"I'm sure I'll be able to compete for South Africa."
0:56:18 > 0:56:21So obviously my dream of the Olympic Games hasn't died.
0:56:21 > 0:56:24I get back into the pool, get myself a sponsor,
0:56:24 > 0:56:28I resign from my job to go back and swim full-time.
0:56:28 > 0:56:30And, erm, I swam very well
0:56:30 > 0:56:33at the South African national championships,
0:56:33 > 0:56:35did my best times ever,
0:56:35 > 0:56:38but apparently the selectors were told at the time
0:56:38 > 0:56:42that they weren't allowed to pick me because I'd swum for England.
0:56:42 > 0:56:44Do you feel you've got over it?
0:56:44 > 0:56:46Oh, tough.
0:56:49 > 0:56:51SHE CRIES
0:57:09 > 0:57:12Reconciliation goes on in South Africa
0:57:12 > 0:57:15and sport plays an important role in that process.
0:57:28 > 0:57:30As a world-class swimmer,
0:57:30 > 0:57:33but also a sporting symbol of apartheid,
0:57:33 > 0:57:36is Annette Cowley now reconciled with her past?
0:57:37 > 0:57:40When you look back and, you know,
0:57:40 > 0:57:42with a bit more wisdom as we get older,
0:57:42 > 0:57:47I understand that we were just part of such a bigger thing.
0:57:49 > 0:57:52If we had to be political pawns at the time,
0:57:52 > 0:57:55it was hard, but it's very rewarding to know
0:57:55 > 0:57:58that it's contributed to change in our country.
0:58:02 > 0:58:06I think sport's the most incredible thing for binding people
0:58:06 > 0:58:08and for making change.
0:58:11 > 0:58:14Although you want to say it wasn't a win for us maybe,
0:58:14 > 0:58:19but in the long run it was a win for everybody, for this country.
0:58:20 > 0:58:22The people of South Africa won in the end.