Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games are multinational and multisport competions held for atheletes from the Commonwealth Nations, i.e, nations that were/are being ruled by the British Government. But what about them make them the third largest sporting event, next only to the Summer Olypics and the Asian Games? It is the vast history that they leave behind them. Who knew that when they started off in 1930, they were called the British Empire Games? So here is some history to tingle your senses...

• Concept of Games was first proposed by Reverend Astley Cooper in 1891, when he wrote for The Times
• First held in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
• In 1930, there were only 11 countries that participated
• In the first Games, women ony competed in swmming events. Hwever, in 1934, they competed in some atheletic events also
• Name Game:
  • 1954-66 - Called British Empire and Commonwealth Games
  • 1970-74 - Called British Commonwealth Games
  • 1978 - Called Commonwealth Games
• Till 1994, only single competition sports had been on the program, thus giving it the name, "Friendly Games". Then, in 1998, Team sports were introduced, which included netball, hockey and rugby 7.
• In 2000, Commonwealth Youth Games were introduced, for all aspiring atheletes 18 years and younger.
• In 2002, for the first time, any multisporting event gave medals to elite atheletes with disability (EAD).
• There are currently 54 members of the Commonwealth Nations, and 71 teams
• Today, there are 31 sports and 7 para-sports (sports for the disabled). These are categorised ino three broad groups - Core sports, which the host country must include; Optional sports, which the country may or may not choose to include; and Recognised sports, which the country cannot include till the requirements of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) are filled.

India

India is now preparing to host the upcoming Games in October 2010. A quick sneak-peek into out past at the Commonwealth has much to reveal about our participation, with the national pride being attached to it, somewhere in the picture; after all, we have won 272 medals in just 12 Games, that's not a small conquest

• We joined the Commonwealth in 1947 after having gained independence
• The first Games we attended was in 1934 and have attended 13 Games since
• We got 69 medals in the 2002 Games and 50 in the 2006 ones
• We commonly win medals in boxing, badminton, wrestling, weight lifting, shooing, atheletics, judo, hockey and table tennis

Interesting

Interested in the Commonwealth Games but couldn't care less about the where the first Games was held or how 'Hamara Bharat Mahan'? Just want some conversation starters to entertain on the dinner table? Well, this section is just for, our gossip lovers!

• For the first Games, the City of Hamilton provided $ 30000 to cover the travel cost of participants. They actually funded their costs!
• The 1942 and 1946 Games were not held due to WW II
• Cricket has been played in only one of the Commonwealth Games, in 1998, Kuala Lampur
• Only six teams have attended every Games : Austarlia, Canada, England, New Zealand, Scottland and Wales. Highest scorers from these are Australia in ten Games, England in seven and Canada in one
• United Kingdoms has hosted the game five times, Australia and Canada four times each, and New Zealand thrice. Auckand (New Zealand) and Edinburgh (United Kingdom) are the only cities to have hosted the Games twice
• Star Atheletes:
  • Willi Wood, a lawn bowler from Scotland, UK, is the first competitor to have competed in seven Commonwealth Games from 1974 - 2002
  • Greg Yelavich, a shooter from New Zealand, won 11 medals in six Games from 1986 - 2006
  • Ian Thorpe, an Australian swimmer, has won 10 gold medals for swimming in the Games, his first few being when he was just 15 (1998), despite the fact that as a child he was allergic to chlorine
• Boycotts: Most controversies arise due to apertheid, South Africa being involved in most
  • 1978 - Nigeria
  • 1986 - 32 of 59 African, Asian, and Caribbean nations

India's win in the Games:

Games Entered	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1934 British Empire Games	-	-	1	1
1938 British Empire Games	-	-	-	-
1954 British Empire & Commonwealth Games	-	-	-	-
1958 British Empire & Commonwealth Games	2	1	-	3
1966 British Empire & Commonwealth Games	3	4	3	10
1970 British Commonwealth Games	5	3	4	12
1974 British Commonwealth Games	4	8	3	15
1978 Commonwealth Games	5	5	5	15
1982 Commonwealth Games	5	8	3	16
1990 Commonwealth Games	13	8	11	32
1994 Commonwealth Games	6	11	7	24
1998 Commonwealth Games	7	10	8	25
2002 Commonwealth Games	30	22	17	69
2006 Commonwealth Games	22	17	10	49
Total Medals	102	97	72	271

Nations

Countries which have participated, and locations of the games.

Purple = Countries which have hosted the Empire games or Commonwealth games, or plan to host the games

Red = Other countries which enter the games

Green = Countries which have entered the Empire games or Commonwealth games but no longer do

The years/locations of the games is shown with black dots.

Africa
Botswana	Cameroon	Ghana	Kenya
Lesotho	Malawi	Mauritius	Mozambique
Namibia	Nigeria	Rwanda	Seychelles
Sierra Leone	South Africa	Swaziland	Tanzania
The Gambia	Uganda	Zambia	Zimbabwe
Americas
Belize	for Bermuda.')"	for Canada.')"	Falkland Islands
Guyana	Newfoundland*	St. Helena
Asia
Aden*	Bangladesh	Brunei Darussalam	Hong Kong*
India	Malaya*	Malaysia	Maldives
Pakistan	Sabah*	Sarawak*	Singapore
South Arabia*	Sri Lanka
Caribbean
Anguilla	Antigua & Barbuda	Bahamas	Barbados
British Virgin Islands	Cayman Islands	Dominica	Grenada
Jamaica	Montserrat	St. Kitts & Nevis	St. Lucia
St. Vincent & The Grenadines	Trinidad & Tobago	Turks & Caicos Islands
Europe
Cyprus	England	Gibraltar	Guernsey
Isle of Man	Jersey	Malta	Northern Ireland
Scotland	Wales
Oceania
Australia	Cook Islands	Kiribati	Nauru
New Zealand	Niue	Norfolk Island	Papua New Guinea
Samoa	Solomon Islands	Tonga	Tuvalu
Vanuatu

* Former Commonwealth nations or territories that have sent teams to past Commonwealth Games.

Delhi gets Flag for XIX Commonwealth Games in 2010

On the closing ceremony of 18th Commonwealth Games at Melbourne in 2006, New Delhi took the Commonwealth Games flag. It was an uphill task for Delhi to get the honour of hosting the 19th Commonwealth Games from 3rd October 2010 to 14th October 2010. To host Commonwealth Games in 2010, Delhi defeated 22 other countries by 43 votes.

On 10 February 2005, the Organising Committee (OC) Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi was born as a registered society to entrust the organising and hosting of the XIX Commonwealth Games to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). The Government of Delhi is leaving no stones unturned to make these Commonwealth Games a gigantic success.

Ongoing Projects for Commonwealth Games 2010

For this, a new "Commonwealth Games Village" is being constructed by the Emaar MGF Land Private Limited, on National Highway 24 adjacent to the famous Akshardham Temple, New Delhi. The Commonwealth Games Village will have 2 to 5 bedrooms Wi-Fi enabled "GREEN" apartments with 100% power backup and lots of unparallel features. The work for this project of Commonwealth Games Village is going on in full swing and is expected to complete on time.

India plans to host the first ever green Commonwealth Games (CWG) in 2010. Considering the climate of Delhi in October, around 300, 000 new potted plant species are being developed by the Scientists of Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun. These flowers will have a special characteristic of better longevity and begin flowering/blossoming in a month's time.

Keeping with the green theme, the Organising Committee plans to make this whole Commonwealth extravaganza carbon free. 'Each one of us has a role to play to ensure that India hosts the first green Commonwealth Games. There have been green Olympics but this has not been the case with the Commonwealth Games. We have begun with the Thyagaraj stadium and Games Village and will make sure that every stadium in the country is environment friendly,' Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi said.

Earlier 21.12 Billion Rupees were allotted by the Indian Government for the timely and up to the mark completition of Commonwealth projects but on 7 July 2009, Pranab Mukherjee, the Indian finance minister scaled it to 34.72 Billion Rupees. One can easily see how serious the Indian Government is to make Commonwealth Games 2010 a memorable experience for one and all.

S. No	Venue	Year	No of Countries
1	Hamilton, Canada	1930	11
2	London, United Kingdom	1934	16
3	Sydney, Australia	1938	15
4	Auckland, New Zealand	1950	12
5	Vancouver, Canada	1954	24
6	Cardiff, United Kingdom	1958	35
7	Perth, Australia	1962	35
8	Jamaica, West Indies	1966	34
9	Edinburgh, United Kingdom	1970	42
10	Christchurch, New Zealand	1974	38
11	Edmonton, Canada	1978	48
12	Brisbane, Australia	1982	47
13	Edinburgh, United Kingdom	1986	26
14	Auckland, New Zealand	1990	55
15	Victoria, Canada	1994	64
16	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	1998	70
17	Manchchester, United Kingdom	2002	72
18	Melbourne, Australia	2006 71
19	New Delhi, India	2010 85