Commonwealth Games: Introduction:

The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years, apart from the 1950 British Empire Games, which took place after a 12-year gap from the 3rd edition of the games. The Games are described as the third largest multi-sport event in the world after the Olympic Games and the Asian Games

It was initially known as the British Empire Games and was renamed to the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954 and the British Commonwealth Games in 1970, before finally gaining its current title, the Commonwealth Games, for the 1978 edition. The Games are overseen by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), which also controls the sporting programme and selects the host cities. A host city is selected for each edition and eighteen cities in seven countries have hosted the event. As well as many Olympic sports, the Games also include some sports that are played mainly in Commonwealth countries, such as lawn bowls, rugby sevens and netball. Only six teams have attended every Commonwealth Games: Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales. Australia has been the highest achieving team for eleven games, England for seven and Canada for one. Although there are 54 members of the Commonwealth of Nations, 71 teams participate in the Commonwealth Games as a number of British overseas territories, Crown dependencies, and island states compete under their own flag. The four Home Nations of the United Kingdom England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also send separate teams. Abbreviation Motto First event Occur every Purpose Headquarters President CG Humanity Equality Destiny 1930 4 years Commonwealth Sports London, England, UK HRH Prince Tunku I

History:
A sporting competition bringing together the members of the British Empire was first proposed by the Reverend Astley Cooper in 1891 when he wrote an article in The Times suggesting a "Pan-Britannic-Pan-Anglican Contest and Festival every four years as a means of increasing the goodwill and good understanding of the British Empire".

In 1911, the Festival of the Empire was held in London to celebrate the coronation of King George V. As part of the festival an Inter-Empire Championships was held in which teams from Australia, Canada, South Africa and the United Kingdom competed in events such as boxing, wrestling, swimming and athletics. In 1928, Melville Marks Robinson of Canada was asked to organise the first British Empire Games. The first Games were held in 1930 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The name changed to British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954, to British Commonwealth Games in 1970 and assumed the current name of the Commonwealth Games in 1978. At the 1930 games, women competed in the swimming events only. From 1934, women also competed in some athletics events] The Commonwealth Paraplegic Games were held alongside the Commonwealth Games from 1962 to 1974. In the regular Commonwealth Games, athletes with a disability were first included in exhibition events at the 1994 Victoria, Canada Games. At the 2002 Manchester Games they were included as full members of their national teams, making them the first fully inclusive international multi-sport games. This meant that results were included in the medal count. The Empire Games flag was donated in 1931 by the British Empire Games Association of Canada. The year and location of subsequent games were added until the 1950 games. The name of the event was changed to the British Empire and Commonwealth Games and the flag was retired as a result.

Commonwealth Winter Games Commonwealth Youth Games

The 2006 relay passing through Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia.

Traditions

From 1930 to 1950, the parade of nations was led by a single flagbearer carrying the Union Flag. Since 1958, the Queen's Baton Relay has taken place, in which athletes carry a baton from Buckingham Palace to the games opening ceremony. This baton has within it Queen Elizabeth II's message of greeting to the athletes. The baton's final bearer is usually a famous sporting personage of the host nation.

All other nations march in English alphabetical order, except that the first nation marching in the Parade of Athletes is the host nation of the previous games, and the host nation of the current games marches last. In 2006 countries marched in alphabetical order in geographical regions. Three national flags fly from the stadium on the poles that are used for medal ceremonies: Previous host nation, Current host nation, Next host nation. The military is more active in the Opening Ceremony than in the Olympic Games. This is to honour the British Military traditions of the Old Empire.

Countries that have hosted, or plan to host, the event Other countries that enter the games Countries that have entered the games but no longer do so Host cities and year of games

The first edition of the event was the 1930 British Empire Games and eleven nations took part. The quadrennial schedule of the games was interrupted by the Second World War and the 1942 Games (set to be held in Montreal) and the 1946 Games were abandoned. The games were continued in 1950 and underwent a name change four years later with the first British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954. Over 1000 athletes participated in the 1958 Games as over thirty teams took part for the first time. The event was briefly known as the British Commonwealth Games for the 1970 and 1974 editions and the 1978 Games, held in Edmonton, Canada, were the first to be held under the title of the "Commonwealth Games".The Edmonton event marked a new high as almost 1500 athletes from 46 countries took part. Nigeria was the first country to boycott the Commonwealth Games in 1978 in protest over New Zealand's sporting contacts with South Africa. Participation at the 1986 Games was affected by a boycott by 32 African and Caribbean nations in protest to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's refusal to condemn sporting contacts of Apartheid era South Africa in 1985, but the Games rebounded and continued to grow thereafter. The 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia saw the sporting programme grow from 10 to 15 sports as team sports were allowed for the first time. Participation also reached new levels as over 3500 athletes represented 70 teams at the event. At the Games in Melbourne in 2006, over 4000 athletes took part in sporting competitions.[8]

The three nations to have hosted the games the most number of times are Australia (5), Canada (4) and New Zealand (3). Furthermore, six editions have taken place, or will take place, in the countries within the United Kingdom (Scotland 3, England 2 and Wales 1). Two cities have held the games on multiple occasions: Auckland (1950 and 1990), and Edinburgh (1970 and 1986)
Host City Host Nation Start Date End Date Sports Events Nations Competitor s

Edition Year

British Empire Games I II III IV 1930 1934 1938 1950 Hamilton London Sydney Auckland Canada 16 August England 4 August 23 August 11 August 6 6 7 9 59 68 71 88 11 16 15 12 400 500 464 590

Australia 5 February 12 February New 4 February 11 February Zealand

British Empire and Commonwealth Games V VI VII VIII 1954 1958 1962 1966 Vancouver Cardiff Perth Kingston Canada 30 July Wales Australia 18 July 22 November 7 August 26 July 1 December 13 August 9 9 9 9 91 94 104 110 24 36 35 34 662 1122 863 1050

Jamaica 4 August

British Commonwealth Games IX X 1970 Edinburgh Scotland 16 July 25 July 9 9 121 121 42 38 1383 1276

1974 Christchurch

New 24 January 2 February Zealand Commonwealth Games

XI XII

1978 1982

Edmonton Brisbane

Canada 3 August Australia

12 August

10 10

128 142

46 46

1474 1583

30 9 October September

XIII XIV XV XVI

1986 1990 1994 1998

Edinburgh Auckland Victoria Kuala Lumpur

Scotland 24 July

2 August

10 10 10 15

163 204 217 213

26 55 63 70

1662 2073 2557 3633

New 24 January 3 February Zealand Canada 18 August Malaysia 28 August

11 21 September September 4 August 26 March 14 October 3 August 15 April TBA

XVII 2002 Manchester XVIII 2006 XIX XX XXI 2010 2014 2018

England 25 July

171 162 173

281 245 272

72 71 71

3679 4049 6700

Melbourne Australia 15 March Delhi Glasgow Gold Coast City TBA India 3 October

Scotland 23 July Australia 4 April TBA TBA

XXII 2022

Notes
1

Includes 3 team sports Includes 4 team sports Includes 3 team sports

Total Commonwealth Games by country Country Australia Canada Region Oceania Editions hosted

Rank 1 2

5 (1938, 1962, 1982, 2006, 2018)

Americas 4 (1930, 1954, 1978, 1994)

New Zealand Oceania 3 Scotland 5 England India 6 Malaysia Asia Europe Europe Asia

3 (1950, 1974, 1990) 3 (1970, 1986, 2014) 2 (1934, 2002) 1 (2010) 1 (1998)

Rank

Country Jamaica Wales

Region Caribbean 1 (1966) Europe

Editions hosted

1 (1958)

Approved sports
There are a total of 21 sports (with two multi-disciplinary sports) and a further seven para-sports which are approved by the Commonwealth Games Federation. They are categorised into three types. Core sports must be included on each programme. A number of optional sports may be picked by the host nation, which may include some team sports such as basketball. Recognised sports are sports which have been approved by the CGF but which are deemed to need expansion; host nations may not pick these sports for their programme until the CGF's requirements are fulfilled.