<p class="title">GOLDOC chairman Peter Beattie has apologised for a "stuff-up" at the closing ceremony of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games after athletes were marginalised from the television broadcast and a string of officials hogged the spotlight with lengthy speeches.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The athletes entered Carrara Stadium before the broadcast began and spent most of the ceremony cloaked in darkness as Beattie and a number of other dignitaries took to a stage to shower praise on the April 4-15 Games.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Local media slammed organisers for taking the spotlight away from the athletes, and Australia's para-athlete flagbearer Kurt Fearnley said it was "pretty strange".</p>.<p class="bodytext">Beattie said organisers had intended to spare athletes a long wait before entering the venue but had got the broadcasting decision wrong.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The last thing they want is standing in a field for an hour waiting to get into a closing ceremony," Beattie told the Seven Network's 'Sunrise' breakfast show on Monday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"That was clearly a stuff-up. Now, I'm sorry, if I get a chance I'll apologise to Kurt (Fearnley) this morning.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Should they have been part of the actual ceremony that was broadcast? Of course, they should have been."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Images of joyous athletes filing in behind their nations' flags have been a feature of closing ceremony broadcasts at Commonwealth and Olympic Games for decades.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"If you do it and it doesn't get covered on telly, does the tree actually fall? I don't know. It was pretty strange, but what do you do?" Fearnley, who won gold in the T54 marathon, told state media on Monday of the broadcast snub.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I got to carry that flag around, and thankfully my mum and my sister were in the stadium. They did see that moment.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I'm not going to let anything even slightly taint what was an incredible day."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Social media users also criticised the opening ceremony for being too long and featuring too many speeches.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The speeches were too many and too long. I was part of that and I acknowledge it. Again, we got that wrong," Beattie tweeted.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"It is very simple. I should not have spoken."</p>
<p class="title">GOLDOC chairman Peter Beattie has apologised for a "stuff-up" at the closing ceremony of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games after athletes were marginalised from the television broadcast and a string of officials hogged the spotlight with lengthy speeches.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The athletes entered Carrara Stadium before the broadcast began and spent most of the ceremony cloaked in darkness as Beattie and a number of other dignitaries took to a stage to shower praise on the April 4-15 Games.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Local media slammed organisers for taking the spotlight away from the athletes, and Australia's para-athlete flagbearer Kurt Fearnley said it was "pretty strange".</p>.<p class="bodytext">Beattie said organisers had intended to spare athletes a long wait before entering the venue but had got the broadcasting decision wrong.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The last thing they want is standing in a field for an hour waiting to get into a closing ceremony," Beattie told the Seven Network's 'Sunrise' breakfast show on Monday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"That was clearly a stuff-up. Now, I'm sorry, if I get a chance I'll apologise to Kurt (Fearnley) this morning.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Should they have been part of the actual ceremony that was broadcast? Of course, they should have been."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Images of joyous athletes filing in behind their nations' flags have been a feature of closing ceremony broadcasts at Commonwealth and Olympic Games for decades.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"If you do it and it doesn't get covered on telly, does the tree actually fall? I don't know. It was pretty strange, but what do you do?" Fearnley, who won gold in the T54 marathon, told state media on Monday of the broadcast snub.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I got to carry that flag around, and thankfully my mum and my sister were in the stadium. They did see that moment.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I'm not going to let anything even slightly taint what was an incredible day."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Social media users also criticised the opening ceremony for being too long and featuring too many speeches.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The speeches were too many and too long. I was part of that and I acknowledge it. Again, we got that wrong," Beattie tweeted.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"It is very simple. I should not have spoken."</p>