The Commonwealth Games: History, Fun Facts, Resources
The Commonwealth’s unique and distinctive sporting event held every four years
The Commonwealth Games is a multisport gathering of sporting competitors from British Commonwealth countries that takes place every four years. The first meeting, known as the “British Empire Games”, was in August, 1930.
List of Venues of the Commonwealth Games
1930 Hamilton, Canada
1934 London, England
1938 Sydney, Australia
1950 Auckland, New Zealand
1954 Vancouver, Canada
1958 Cardiff, Wales
1962 Perth, Australia
1966 Kingston, Jamaica
1970 Edinburgh, Scotland
1974 Christchurch, New Zealand
1978 Edmonton, Canada
1982 Brisbane, Australia
1986 Edinburgh, Scotland
1990 Auckland, New Zealand
1994 Victoria, Canada
1998 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2002 Manchester, England
2006 Melbourne, Victoria
2010 Delhi, India
The original name of the Commonwealth Games was British Empire Games. Despite the war years that intervened, the event grew to become a symbol of the British Commonwealth, a diversity of nations with past, and present, with connections to Great Britain, the superpower of the 19th century.
Although the Commonwealth Games has become known as “The Friendly Games,” and despite the nature of its colonial roots, it is intended to be more fun and less strict than the Olympic Games.
The Early British Empire Games
The first Games event held in Hamilton, Canada, was considered a success. There were 11 countries competing with around 400 athletes. The sports included athletics, boxing, bowls, diving and swimming, rowing and wrestling. Two gold medals were awarded: one in rowing, another in wrestling.
Succeeding Games occurred in London and Sydney, after which the war intervened. The first post-war British Empire Games in 1950 was held in Auckland, gaining more crowds although competition was still modest, with 12 nations sending teams.
In 1954, at Vancouver, the Games had a name change, becoming the British Empire and Commonwealth Games. It was also accepted globally, while still retaining the distinctive “gathering” of the imperial masters and former colonies. This time, 18 nations competed, with winning performances from the Caribbean and African athletes.
The British Commonwealth Games
By 1966, the Games traveled to Kingston, Jamaica, the “Empire” was removed from the name, becoming the British Commonwealth Games. The Commonwealth had also included member nations that had not been British colonies, and the venues were held in countries other than the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The 1970 Games at Edinburgh was a turning point with significant changes, including political concerns. Participants included many newly independent countries and those that had taken new names in the post-colonial era. In particular, countries who have produced sporting stars became easily recognizable including Kenya, Ghana, Guyana, Tanzania, and Trinidad-Tobago.
In Christchurch, 1974, a meeting of delegates voted to drop the word “British” from future games, and the Games simply became “Commonwealth Games.”
Late 1990 and October 2010
In 1990, the second time the Commonwealth Games was held in Auckland, smaller competing countries like Nauru and Bangladesh won medals. Auckland’s theme was set to “multi-cultural goodwill.” This event saw the first drug scandal in the Games history.
The Games in Victoria, Kuala Lumpur and Manchester continued huge gathering, with new sports introduced and consequently, more fanciful opening ceremonies. The 2006 Games in Melbourne attracted more participants, more countries (71) and more sports (16).
Leading Gold Medal Winners
1 Australia 732
2 England 578
3 Canada 414
4 New Zealand 124
5 India 102
6 South Africa 92
7 Scotland 82
8 Kenya 59
9 Wales 49
10 Nigeria 39
New Delhi 2010 is hosting the XIX Commonwealth Games, scheduled October 3-14, 2010. The next will be XX Commonwealth Games’ Glasgow 2014, 23 July – 3 August, 2014.
Resources about the Commonwealth Games:
The Commonwealth Games Federation
Tel Asiado is a writer, author, and business consultant, previously, IT manager & consultant. Her articles reflect her interests, from small business, biographies & histories, to classical music especially Mozart, art & literature, biographies, and Christian writings. Tel has produced non-fictions, e-books and anthologies. Her education is MBA in Computer Management, BSc Chemistry, Diploma in Small Business & Internet Mktg, and Cert IV Training and Assessment (TAA). Her small office/home site is homebizideasnow.com, and numerous information of Mozart and classical music, mozartandclassicalmusic.com.
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