Glasgow Games not that friendly

My journey to the Commonwealth Games took me through Amsterdam.

Around the time we disembarked at Schiphol Airport last Thursday morning, 298 people were preparing to board the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines MH17.

I had five hours before my connection to Glasgow, which was enough time to get a glimpse of a city I had never seen before.

I took the train into the city centre and went on a barge tour through the canals, passing several famous landmarks.

It was all too short and I was back at Schiphol before I could blink, comfortably in time to board the plane for Scotland. About half an hour into my flight, MH17 was shot out of the sky over Ukraine.

I didn't know any of the people on board, but watching TV footage of the victims' shattered relatives and friends has been heartbreaking.

The Games in Glasgow may be thousands of kilometres from MH17's barren graveyard, but there are constant reminders.

Yesterday, a minute's silence was held for the Malaysian team during the flag-raising ceremony in the athletes village.

The world of sport is far from perfect, but the standards set there are far higher than in the dirty sphere of politics and war.

From tomorrow, South African athletes will begin competing against the Commonwealth's best in a bid to win medals - the target is 43, though I believe that's over-optimistic. In my book we'll do well to match the 33 we got at Delhi 2010; we should be happy if we equal the 12 golds from four years ago.

Some of the South African stars will get it right, and a few are surely going to falter.

The notion that these Friendly Games, as they are also known, are a poor man's Olympics is not always correct.

Yes, the amateur boxers don't have to face Cubans, Americans or Eastern Europeans. But in athletics there is Kenya, and in swimming there's Australia. It's going to be tough out there.

A lapse in judgment or one delayed reaction can be costly.

If they get it wrong, there's no excuse; they are experts in their disciplines and are supposed to execute their game plans to perfection.

These are people who love doing what they do.

Apparently, the pro-Russia rebels who allegedly shot down MH17 also love doing what they do, or maybe it's their love for Ukraine, or for Russia, or simply their insatiable thirst for blood.

They just weren't very good at what they were doing.

Games athletes are sure to disappoint in the next 11 days, and in some cases there may be fingers pointed at them, their coaches, managers or sports federations.

That is the way the sports world works; at least when somebody does something wrong, nobody dies.

But are we ever going to find out who fired the deadly missile on MH17, and if it's not the same person, the butcher who ordered it?

Will we ever learn who armed the missile-shooters? Or why? Was it for a bag of cash, or fervent nationalism?

If we get the answers to any of these questions, will anything be done? Will there be justice?

You can bet if any athletes here are caught sneezing at the wrong time, they will be sanctioned.

We demand perfection from our sports stars, but we have no such expectations of our politicians.

They are below par because they probably have always been sub-standard.

Surely it's time for change.