Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games is an international athletic competition held every four years among members of the Commonwealth of Nations. As of 2022, the Commonwealth Games recognised seventy-two nations and territories belonging to the Commonwealth, collectively representing nearly one-third of the earth's population. Like the Summer Olympic Games, the Commonwealth Games is a televised event comprising multiple fair-weather sports, such as athletics, boxing, hockey, netball, rugby and swimming.

The Commonwealth Games are also known as the Friendly Games due to the event's atmosphere of friendly competition between Commonwealth member states. The Commonwealth Games Federation states that the core values of the games are humanity, equality and destiny.

The host location changes for each Commonwealth Games. Australia hosted in Sydney in 1938, Perth in 1962, Brisbane in 1982 Melbourne in 2006; and Gold Coast, Queensland, in 2018. New Zealand hosted the games in Auckland in 1950, Christchurch in 1974, and Auckland again in 1990.

Origins and History

Although it is now described as an event celebrating the shared values and common attributes of participating nations, the Commonwealth Games began as a celebration of the strength of the British Empire and the friendly relationships between its dominions.

The first large-scale sporting competition between British Empire territories was organised in 1911 to celebrate the coronation of King George V. The Festival of Empire, held in London, included a multi-event competition between Australasia, Canada, South Africa and the United Kingdom. The Festival of Empire Games were held only once, but the success of the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam inspired British officials to organise another intra-empire friendly sporting event.

The inaugural Commonwealth Games, then known as the British Empire Games, took place in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, in 1930. The Hamilton Games, overseen by British Empire Games chair Sir James Leigh-Wood, consisted of four hundred athletes from eleven nations competing in fifty-nine events. The games have been held every four years since 1930, interrupted only in 1942 and 1946 by World War II. The British Empire Games were retitled the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954. In 1978, they became known simply as the Commonwealth Games.

Since 1958, the Commonwealth Games have been preceded by the Queen's Baton Relay, during which a silver baton inscribed by Queen Elizabeth II is carried through all participating nations and territories before reaching the host city at the end of its route. The Queen's Baton Relay resembles the practise of carrying the Olympic Games torch through participating nations.

The Commonwealth Games added team competitions beginning in 1998 and a Para Sports programme in 2002, permitting athletes with disabilities to compete in a range of the games' events.

Rules and Regulations

The Commonwealth Games occur over an eleven-day period every four years. Participating athletes compete in a range of sport events, earning medals for victories. Each event is hosted by a member nation of the Commonwealth of Nations. Like the Olympic Games, eligible countries enter bids to host a future games event in one of their cities. The host city is chosen eight years before the event is to be held. Commonwealth Games must include ten to seventeen sports, ten of which are mandatory; Para Sports must include four sports and no more than twenty events.

The games are administered and regulated by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF). The CGF maintains a constitution, which lays out the rules and regulations for competition at the games, as well as codes of conduct for participating athletes, including anti-doping provisions. As part of its goal of maintaining the Commonwealth Games' friendly atmosphere, the CGF constitution includes articles on gender equity and anti-discrimination.

Top Athletes

Since its inception in 1930, the Commonwealth Games has drawn world-class athletes, many of whom are also Olympic medallists, to participate. By the end of the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Australia had won the most medals of any Commonwealth Nation: 2,604, including 1,003 gold medals. England, Canada and New Zealand had won 2,322, 1,6,47, and 706 medals, respectively.

One of the Commonwealth Games' earliest athletic feats to make international headlines was English runner Roger Bannister's victory over Australia's John Landy in the 1954 Vancouver, Canada, Commonwealth Games. The final stretch of the televised race, in which Bannister passed Landy in the final seconds after both men broke the four-minute-mile barrier, came to be known as the Miracle Mile. A statue commemorating their feat was later raised outside the stadium where the race took place.

As the all-time leading nation in medals won at the Commonwealth Games, Australia has seen many of its athletes succeed both at the Commonwealth Games and beyond. Australia has been particularly strong in swimming events, with several athletes winning multiple individual gold medals. In 2018, Australians swept the podium—winning gold, silver, and bronze—in six swimming events. Among Australia's most noteworthy and decorated swimmers are Leisel Jones, who won eleven gold medals across the 2002, 2006 and 2010 Commonwealth Games; Ian James Thorpe, who also won nine gold medals across the 1998 and 2002 Commonwealth Games; and Alicia Coutts, who won six gold medals in 2010 and three in 2014. Other multiple-medal winners include swimmer Michael Vincent Wenden, with nine gold medals (1966, 1970 and 1974); swimmer Susan "Susie" O'Neill, with ten gold medals (1990, 1994 and 1998); and swimmer Petria Ann Thomas, with nine gold medals (1994, 1998 and 2002). Several Australian athletes won a total of five gold medals each: swimmer Andrew James Baildon (1990 and 1994), cyclist Bradley John McGee (1994, 1998 and 2002) and rhythmic gymnast Kasumi Takahashi (1994).

Although New Zealand ranks only fifth in the overall medal count, it has had its fair share of stellar athletes. New Zealander Valerie Isobel Margaret Young won five gold medals (1958, 1962 and 1966) for athletics, while four-time NZ gold medallists include Yvette Winifred Williams in athletics (1958, 1962 and 1966) and Stephen Petterson in shooting (1990, 1994 and 1998).

Many top Commonwealth Games athletes have also been star Olympians. Australians Thomas, O'Neill, Wenden, McGee, Coutts and Thorpe all became Olympic gold medallists as well, with Thorpe winning five Olympic gold medals. Former swimmer and politician Dame Dawn Fraser of Australia won a total of six Commonwealth gold medals, in addition to her four Olympic gold medals and four silver medals. Fraser is most noteworthy for holding thirty-nine world records in swimming.

The top athlete at each Commonwealth Games is awarded the David Dixon Award. The award was first given in 2002 to South African swimmer Natalie Du Toit. Indian shooter Samaresh Jung won the David Dixon Award in 2006; triple jumper Trecia Smith of Jamaica, in 2010; Welsh rhythmic gymnast Francesca Jones, in 2014; weightlifter David Liti of New Zealand in 2018; and table tennis player Feng Tianwei of Singapore in 2022 .

Bibliography

Burton, Nigel. "Festival of Empire." History Today, Aug. 2002, pp. 2–3. History Reference Center, . 13 Feb. 2017.

"Constitutional Documents of the Commonwealth Games Federation." Commonwealth Games Federation, olympic.ind.in/public/images/announcement/1775780716.pdf. Accessed 17 June 2024.

"Official Results.", 2018 Commonwealth Games, resources.cwg-qbr.pulselive.com/qbr-commonwealth-games/document/2022/11/24/aeb9b33f-53d7-4345-910b-7d901de6e88c/Gold-Coast-2018-Results-Book-All-Sports.pdf. Accessed 17 June 2024.

"Sports." Birmingham Organising Committee for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, www.birmingham2022.com/sports. Accessed 17 June 2024.

"The Story of the Commonwealth Games." Commonwealth Games Federation, 2014, www.thecgf.com/games/story.asp. Accessed 17 June 2024.