Canberra's own Robert 'Deek' de Castella was the first baton bearer at the start of the official journey of the Queen's Baton Relay. The two-time Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist and four-time Olympian made Canberra his home in the early years of his professional career.
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"It's been a huge community part of my life," he said, "[it's] a very important city to me because it's something that I love and cherish very much."
Mr de Castella spends his time promoting healthy and active lifestyles for children through SmartStart for Kids, as well as mentoring Indigenous Australians through the Indigenous Marathon Foundation. In 2014 he was awarded Officer of the Order of Australia for his service to the community and to marathon running.
"I'm a firm believer in what goes around comes around," he said. "Life is not about taking, it's about giving and the great thing is the more you give the more that comes back to support you."
Starting the Queen's Baton Relay at the AIS was the perfect synergy between where Mr de Castella did most of his training and his own Commonwealth Games experiences.
"It's a great honour to start off the official journey of the Queen's Baton Relay," he said. "It's wonderful to do it here on Ngunnawal country… and it's great also to have seven of our IMP Indigenous Marathon Project graduates all being part of the Baton Relay around the country, so it's a really special occasion."
Despite the changes at the AIS since Mr de Castella was an athlete, and later director, he believes it still promotes excellence for Australians.
"The AIS is not what it used to be and I'm a little bit saddened by the change in the model for high performance sport that is currently in place," he said. "The AIS embodies excellence and it's not just excellence in sport, it's excellence in human kind and inspires people to be better."
The Queen's Baton Relay reminded Mr de Castella of his years as an athlete and he believes the Commonwealth Games is an important event for Australia.
"It does take me back to my races," he said. "It's great for Australia to be able to celebrate our athletes."
