Jump to content

Commonwealth Games

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Jwkozak91 (talk | contribs) at 09:20, 3 December 2016 (→Approved sports). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For the latest event, see 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Commonwealth Games Federation
Seal of the Commonwealth Games Federation


Commonwealth Games Federation Flag
AbbreviationCG
MottoHumanity—Equality—Destiny
First event1930
HeadquartersLondon, England
PresidentHRH Prince Tunku Imran
Websitewww.thecgf.com

The Commonwealth Games (known as the British Empire Games from 1930–1950, the British Empire and Commonwealth Games from 1954–1966, and British Commonwealth Games from 1970–1974)[1] is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exception of 1942 and 1946, which were cancelled due to World War II, has taken place every four years since then.

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. 18 cities in seven countries have hosted the event. Apart from many Olympic sports, the games also include some sports that are played predominantly in Commonwealth countries, such as lawn bowls and netball.[2]

Although there are 53 members of the Commonwealth of Nations, 71 teams participate in the Commonwealth Games, as a number of dependent territories compete under their own flags. The four Home Nations of the United Kingdom—England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland—also send separate teams. Only six countries have attended every Commonwealth Games: Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, Scotland, and Wales. Australia has been the highest achieving team for twelve games, England for seven, and Canada for one.

History of the Games

A sporting competition bringing together the members of the British Empire was first proposed by John 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 goodwill and good understanding of the British Empire". The John Astley Cooper Committees worldwide (e.g. Australia) helped Pierre de Coubertin to get his international Olympic Games off the ground.[3] In 1911, the Festival of the Empire was held at The Crystal Palace in London to celebrate the coronation of Queen Of Mary → George V

The 2nd Empire Games

Opening ceremony of the 1982 Commonwealth Games at Brisbane, Australia

The 1934 British Empire Games were the second of what became known as the Commonwealth Games. They were held from 4–11 August 1934. The host city was mainly London, although the track cycling events took place in the North of England. 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. In 1928, Melville Marks Robinson of Canada was asked to organise the first British Empire Games; these were held in 1930, in Hamilton, Ontario,[1] and women competed in the swimming events only.[4] From 1934, women also competed in some athletics events.

The 1934 Games had originally been awarded to Johannesburg, but were given to London instead because of the potential for prejudiced treatment of black and Asian athletes in South Africa. 17 national teams took part, including the Irish Free State (the only Games in which they did take part).

Only six sports were featured in these particular Games. Athletics took place at White City and three sports (boxing, wrestling, and aquatics – incorporating both swimming and diving) took place at Wembley, at the well established venue of the Empire Pool in Wembley Park, which later became Wembley Arena. Britain was ultimately successful in six out of the eight medal events in boxing, and won three out of four golds in the diving. The home team also secured five of the available seven silver medals for wrestling.

The first Commonwealth Paraplegic Games were held alongside the Commonwealth Games from 1962 to 1974.[5] Athletes with a disability were then first included in exhibition events at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, British Columbia,[6] and, at the 2002 Commonwealth 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.[7]

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.

Editions of the Games

The first edition of the event was the 1930 British Empire Games in which 11 nations participated. 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.[8] The games were revived in 1950 and underwent a name change four years later with the first British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954.[1] Over 1,000 athletes participated in the 1958 Games as over thirty teams took part for the first time.[9]

The 1978 Games in Edmonton marked a new high as almost 1,500 athletes from 46 countries took part.[9] They were boycotted by Nigeria, in protest of New Zealand's sporting contacts with apartheid-era South Africa, as well as by Uganda, in protest of alleged Canadian hostility towards the government of Idi Amin.[10] Participation at the 1986 Games was affected by a boycott by 32 African, Asian and Caribbean nations in protest of 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.[1] 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.[9]

The three nations to have hosted the games the most times are Australia (5), Canada (4) and New Zealand (3). Furthermore, six editions have taken place in the countries within the United Kingdom (Scotland 3, England 2 and Wales 1), twice in Asia (Malaysia 1 and India 1) and once in the Caribbean (Jamaica 1). Two cities have held the games on multiple occasions: Auckland (1950 and 1990), and Edinburgh (1970, 1986 and some events in 2014).

class=notpageimage|
Host cities of Commonwealth Games
Edition Year Host City Host Nation Start Date End Date Sports Events Nations Competitors Top Placed Team
Inter-Empire Championships
* 1911 London United Kingdom United Kingdom 12 May 1 June 4 9 4 Unknown Canada Canada
British Empire Games
I 1930 Hamilton Canada Canada 16 August 23 August 6 59 11 400  England
II 1934 London England England 4 August 11 August 6 68 16 500  England
III 1938 Sydney Australia Australia 5 February 12 February 7 71 15 464  Australia
IV 1950 Auckland New Zealand New Zealand 4 February 11 February 9 88 12 590  Australia
British Empire and Commonwealth Games
V 1954 Vancouver Canada Canada 30 July 7 August 9 91 24 662  England
VI 1958 Cardiff Wales Wales 18 July 26 July 9 94 36 1122  England
VII 1962 Perth Australia Australia 22 November 1 December 9 104 35 863  Australia
VIII 1966 Kingston Jamaica Jamaica 4 August 13 August 9 110 34 1050  England
British Commonwealth Games
IX 1970 Edinburgh Scotland Scotland 16 July 25 July 9 121 42 1383  Australia
X 1974 Christchurch New Zealand New Zealand 24 January 2 February 9 121 38 1276  Australia
Commonwealth Games
XI 1978 Edmonton Canada Canada 3 August 12 August 10 128 46 1474  Canada
XII 1982 Brisbane Australia Australia 30 September 9 October 10 142 46 1583  Australia
XIII 1986 Edinburgh Scotland Scotland 24 July 2 August 10 163 26 1662  England
XIV 1990 Auckland New Zealand New Zealand 24 January 3 February 10 204 55 2073  Australia
XV 1994 Victoria Canada Canada 18 August 28 August 10 217 63 2557  Australia
XVI 1998 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Malaysia 11 September 21 September 152 213 70 3633  Australia
XVII 2002 Manchester England England 25 July 4 August 171 281 72 3679  Australia
XVIII 2006 Melbourne Australia Australia 15 March 26 March 162 245 71 4049  Australia
XIX 2010 Delhi India India 3 October 14 October 171 272 71 6081  Australia
XX 2014 Glasgow Scotland Scotland 23 July 3 August 171 261 71 4947  England
XXI 2018 Gold Coast Australia Australia 4 April 15 April
XXII 2022 Durban South Africa South Africa 18 July 31 July
XXIII 2026 TBA TBA
XXIV 2030 TBA TBA
Notes

1Includes 3 team sports 2Includes 4 team sports

Total Games by host country

Place Country Continent No. of times Years hosted
1  Australia Oceania 5 1938, 1962, 1982, 2006, 2018
2  Canada Americas 4 1930, 1954, 1978, 1994
3  New Zealand Oceania 3 1950, 1974, 1990
 Scotland** Europe 3 1970, 1986, 2014
5  England** Europe 2 (1911*), 1934, 2002
7  India Asia 1 2010
 Malaysia Asia 1 1998
 Jamaica Americas 1 1966
 Wales** Europe 1 1958
 South Africa Africa 1 2022
  • Record (*)
Notes

* The 1911 Inter-Empire Championships held in London is seen as a precursor to the modern Commonwealth Games, but is not normally considered an official edition of the Games themselves.[11]

**The United Kingdom competes as its separate Home Nations, Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies and has held the games 6 times, 7 including the precursor 1911 Inter-Empire Championships in London.

Ceremonies

Opening

Opening ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games at Melbourne, Australia

The Commonwealth Games always starts with a grand opening ceremony. Various cultural and military shows are performed during the ceremony of the Commonwealth Games. The flag of the Commonwealth Games Federation, flag of the last hosting nation and the current hosting nation are hoisted during the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony. The 2010 Commonwealth Games at Delhi, India was considered to have the most grand opening ceremony in the history of any Commonwealth Games and it was highly compared with the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games at Beijing, China. The cost of the opening ceremony of the 2010 Commonwealth Games was around $77 million which was the second costliest opening ceremony of any international sporting event in the world after the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The 70 Commonwealth nations are called continent wise to have the athletes parade at the stadium and the last hosting nation of the games enters the first. The president or the head of the hosting nation declares the opening of the games, however the opening of the 2002, 2006 and 2014 Commonwealth Games were declared by Queen Elizabeth II.

Closing

The closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games takes place after all sporting events have concluded. Flag-bearers from each participating country enter the stadium, followed by the athletes who enter together, without any national distinction. The president of the organizing committee and the CGF president make their closing speeches and the Games are officially closed. The David Dickson award for the best performance in the Commonwealth Games is presented to one athlete. The CGF president also speaks about the conduct of the games. The mayor of the city that organized the Games transfers the CGF flag to the president of the CGF, who then passes it on to the mayor of the city hosting the next Commonwealth Games. The next host nation then also briefly introduces itself with artistic displays of dance and theater representative of its culture. Many great artists and singers had performed at the ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games. For example: Kylie Minogue was the link between 2014 Commonwealth Games and the 2018 Commonwealth Games and sang at the 2014 games closing.

Approved sports

Further information: Commonwealth Games sports and Commonwealth Games records
Athletics of the 2014 Commonwealth Games at Hampden Park Stadium, Glasgow, Scotland
Netball at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Delhi, India
Men's Rugby Sevens at Ibrox stadium during the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Glasgow, Scotland

There are a total of 22 sports (with three 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.[12]

Sport Type Years
Archery Optional 1982, 2010
Athletics Core 1911–present
Badminton Core 1966–present
Basketball Optional 2006, 2018
Billiards Recognised Never
Boxing Core 1911–present
Canoeing Optional Never[13]
Cricket Recognised 1998
Cycling Optional 1934–present
Diving Optional 1930–present
Fencing Recognised 1950–1970
Field hockey Core 1998–present
Football Recognised Never
Golf Recognised Never
Gymnastics (Artistic) Optional 1978, 1990–present
Gymnastics (Rhythmic) Optional 1978, 1990–present
Handball Recognised Never
Judo Optional 1990, 2002, 2014
Lawn bowls Core 1930–1962, 1970–present
Life saving Recognised Never
Netball Core 1998–present
Rowing Optional 1930, 1938–1962, 1986
Rugby league Recognised Never
Rugby sevens Core 1998–present
Sailing Optional Never
Shooting Optional 1966, 1974–present
Softball Optional Never
Squash Core 1998–present
Swimming Core 1911–present
Synchronized swimming Optional 1986–2006
Table tennis Optional 2002–present
Taekwondo Optional Never
Tennis Optional 2010
Ten-Pin Bowling Optional 1998
Triathlon Optional 2002, 2006, 2014
Volleyball (indoor) Recognised Never
Volleyball (beach) Optional 2018
Water Polo Recognised 1950
Weightlifting Core 1950–present
Wrestling Optional 1911–1986, 1994, 2002, 2010–present

Participation

Only six teams have attended every Commonwealth Games: Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales. Australia has been the highest scoring team for twelve games, England for seven and Canada for one.

Locations of the games, and participating countries
  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
0•0 Host cities and year of games
Notes
  1. ^ Aden later joined South Arabia in 1963 and departed the Commonwealth in 1968.
  2. ^ Anguilla was completely separated from Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla in 1980 and remaining Saint Kitts and Nevis became independent from the United Kingdom in 1983.
  3. ^ British Guiana was renamed Guyana in 1966.
  4. ^ British Honduras was renamed Belize in 1973.
  5. ^ Ceylon was renamed Sri Lanka in 1972.
  6. ^ Fiji was re-suspended from the Commonwealth and Games in 2009.[14] Fiji's suspension from the Commonwealth was lifted in time for the 2014 Games following democratic elections in March, 2014.
  7. ^ Gambia withdrew from the Commonwealth in 2013. However, it may re-join the Commonwealth in time to participate in the 2018 or 2022 Games.[15]
  8. ^ Gold Coast (British colony) was renamed Ghana in 1957.
  9. ^ Including neighbouring Islands.
  10. ^ Hong Kong was never a Commonwealth member but was a territory of a Commonwealth country; it ceased to be in the Commonwealth when the territory was handed over to China in 1997.
  11. ^ Ireland was represented as a team from the whole of the island in 1930, and from both parts, the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland in 1934. The Irish Free State was renamed Ireland in 1937 (but also known by its name in Irish [Éire] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized language code: ir (help)), did not participate in the 1938 Games, and was formally excluded[citation needed] from the Commonwealth when it declared that it was a Republic on 18 April 1949.
  12. ^ Contemporary illustrations show Green Flag used for the Irish team.
  13. ^ Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe competed in 1962 as part of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
  14. ^ Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore federated as Malaysia in 1963. Singapore left the federation in 1965.
  15. ^ Maldives withdrew from the Commonwealth in 2016.
  16. ^ Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949.
  17. ^ The Ulster Banner was the flag of the former Government of Northern Ireland only between 1953 and 1972, but the flag has been regarded as flag of Northern Ireland since 1924 among unionists and loyalists.The Ulster Banner is the sporting flag of Notthern Ireland in other events as the FIFA World Cup and in the FIVB Volleyball World Championship.
  18. ^ Southern Rhodesia and Northern Rhodesia federated with Nyasaland in 1953 as Rhodesia and Nyasaland, which dissolved at the end of 1963.
  19. ^ Southern Rhodesia and Northern Rhodesia competed separately in 1954 and 1958.
  20. ^ Under the name of "Saint Helena" in the Commonwealth Games.[16] Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha were dependencies of Saint Helena, so the territory was officially called "Saint Helena and Dependencies" until 2009. Saint Helena, Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha became equal parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha in 2009.
  21. ^ Western Samoa was renamed Samoa in 1997.
  22. ^ Zanzibar and Tanganyika federated to form Tanzania in 1964.
  23. ^ Zimbabwe withdrew from the Commonwealth in 2003.

Commonwealth nations/dependencies/disputed territories yet to send teams

Very few Commonwealth dependencies and nations have yet to take part:

Notable competitors

Lawn bowler Willie Wood from Scotland was the first competitor to have competed in seven Commonwealth Games, from 1974 to 2002, a record equalled in 2014 by Isle of Man cyclist Andrew Roche.[18] Also, Greg Yelavich, a sports shooter from New Zealand, has won 12 medals in seven games from 1986 to 2010.

Nauruan weightlifter Marcus Stephen won twelve medals at the Games between 1990 and 2002, of which seven gold, and was elected President of Nauru in 2007. His performance has helped place Nauru (the smallest independent state in the Commonwealth, at 21 km2 and with a population of fewer than 9,400 in 2011) in nineteenth place on the all-time Commonwealth Games medal table.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "The story of the Commonwealth Games". Commonwealth Games Federation. Retrieved 20 January 2008.
  2. ^ Harold, Perkin (September 1989). "Teaching the nations how to play: sport and society in the British Empire and Commonwealth". International Journal of the History of Sport. 6 (2): 145–155. doi:10.1080/09523368908713685.
  3. ^ Arnd Krüger (1986): War John Astley Cooper der Erfinder der modernen Olympischen Spiele? In: LOUIS BURGENER u.a. (Hrsg.): Sport und Kultur, Bd. 6. Bern: Lang, 72 - 81.
  4. ^ "1930 British Empire Games – Introduction". Commonwealth Games Federation. Retrieved 29 October 2009.
  5. ^ DePauw, Karen P; Gavron, Susan J (2005). Disability sport. Human Kinetics. pp. 102–. ISBN 978-0-7360-4638-1. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
  6. ^ Van Ooyen and Justin Anjema, Mark; Anjema, Justin (25 March 2004). "A Review and Interpretation of the Events of the 1994 Commonwealth Games" (PDF). Redeemer University College. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 July 2013. Retrieved 25 February 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ "Para-sports for elite athletes with a disability". Commonwealth Games Federation website. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
  8. ^ High Achievers Archived 2010-03-16 at the Wayback Machine. Australian Commonwealth Games Association. Retrieved on 2010-04-05. Archived 12 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ a b c Growth of the Commonwealth Games. Commonwealth Games Federation. Retrieved on 2010-04-05.
  10. ^ Donald Macintosh; Michael Hawes; Donna Ruth Greenhorn; David Ross Black (5 April 1994). Sport and Canadian Diplomacy. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. pp. 81–. ISBN 978-0-7735-1161-3.
  11. ^ "The Story of the Commonwealth Games". Commonwealth Games Federation. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  12. ^ Sports Programme. Commonwealth Games Federation. Retrieved on 4 June 2016.
  13. ^ "Canoeing closer to being a full-medal event". Commonwealthdelhi2010.blogspot.com. 11 June 2010. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  14. ^ "Fiji suspended from Commonwealth". The New Zealand Herald. 2 September 2009. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
  15. ^ "Gambia's Jammeh loses to Adama Barrow in shock election result". BBC News. 2 December 2016. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  16. ^ "Commonwealth Games Federation - Commonwealth Countries". Retrieved 10 April 2013.
  17. ^ "Campaign Kernow". Campaign Kernow. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  18. ^ "Glasgow 2014: Mark Cavendish relishes idea of racing with mates". BBC Sport. 10 May 2014. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Commonwealth Games.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Commonwealth_Games&oldid=752789542"