ACT welcomes home Commonwealth Games athletes and officials
Canberra athletes, coaches and support staff who went to the Commonwealth Games in Scotland in July have been acknowledged at a welcome home reception.
Almost 30 Canberra-based athletes competed at Glasgow with 11 bringing home medals.
A further 20 ACT residents went to the games in a support role.
Goalkeeper for the gold medal winning Australian men's hockey team Andrew Charter said it was great to be recognised back home.
"Being based in Perth you sometimes get a little bit disconnected," he said.
"So it's good to get here and see the very important people in Canberra who have given us the credit for the hard work we have done.
"We all have our own desires and motivations but it's always good to see the public and the ministers behind us."
Canberra swimmer Ben Treffers won a gold medal in the men's 50m backstroke and silver in the men's 4x100m medley.
"It has been interesting to come back and see the reception [to the competition] here," he said.
"I have had a lot of things I've got to do, like getting back into university and it's been a pretty busy time with all of that, so it has changed my life in that sense .
"But I'm looking forward to the next thing which is world championships and the trials in 2015."
Ben's father Mark Treffers also won gold in the 400m medley at the Christchurch Commonwealth Games in 1974 representing New Zealand.
ACT Chief Minister Katy Gallagher said the hometown recognition was significant.
"It is a very small but important way of acknowledging the huge effort that goes in from these athletes to actually getting to a meet like Glasgow, but then also the really tremendous way that they all performed," she said.
