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The Commonwealth Games is an international event of sports. It takes place in every four years since 1930. Sportsmen from the Commonwealth of Nations participate in these games. India has hosted Commonwealth Games in 2010.

Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) controls this sporting event and selects the host cities. Including many Olympic Sports, there are a number of games/sports that are played predominantly in Commonwealth countries, such as lawn bowls.

History of Commonwealth Games

Festival of Empire

In 1891, John Astley Cooper proposed a sporting competition for bringing together the members of the British Empire. In 1911, the Festival of Empire was held at Crystal Palace in London to celebrate the coronation of George V. Teams from Australasia, Canada, South Africa, and the United Kingdom competed in athletics, boxing, wrestling and swimming events.

Empire Games

In 1930, first British Empire Games were held at Civic Stadium, Hamilton.

The 1934 Games were the only Games in which Irish Free State did take part. These games were to hosted at Johannesburg, but finally awarded to London instead because of some prejudiced treatment of Black athletes.

The flag of Empire Games was donated in 1931 by 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 then changed to the British Empire and Commonwealth Games and the flag was retired as a result.

Editions of CWG

The first edition of the event was the 1930 British Empire Games. After the interruption by Second World War, abandoned in 1942 and 1946, games were revived in 1950. Name of games got change with the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954.

Boycott episodes were also happened there in Commonwealth Games history. Games of 1978 were boycotted by Nigeria, as well as by Uganda. 1986 Games were also affected by boycott.

In 2002, the athletes of Commonwealth Paraplegic Games were included as full members of their national teams.

Ceremonies

Opening

The Commonwealth Games starts with a grand opening ceremony with cultural and military shows. The flag of Commonwealth Games Federation, flag of the last hosting nation and the current hosting nation are hoisted there. The 2010 Commonwealth Games at Delhi, India is considered to be most grand opening ceremony in the history of Commonwealth Games. That ceremony, with an estimated cost of $ 77 million, was highly compared with the opening ceremony of 2008 Summer Olympic Games at Beijing, China. Participating athletes parade in the stadium. President or Head of hosting nation declares the opening of the games.

Closing

The closing ceremony of Commonwealth Games takes place after the conclusion of all sporting events. Flag-bearers from each participating country, with those athletes who do not have any national distinction, enter the stadium. President of organizing committee and CGF make their closing speeches and the Games are officially closed. The mayor of host city transfers the CGF flag to the president of the CGF, which further passes to the mayor of next host city. Next host nation also briefly introduces itself with artistic and cultural displays. The best performed athlete gets the prestigious David Dixon Award.

LIST OF DAVID DIXON AWARDEE ATHLETES
Year Athlete Game/Sport Country
2002 Natalie du Toit Swimming South Africa
2006 Samaresh Jung Shooting India
2010 Trecia Smith Athletics Jamaica
2014 Francesca Jones Rhythmic Gymnastics Wales

Approved Sports

22 sports (with three multi-disciplinary sports) and seven para-sports are approved by Commonwealth Games Federation. These are categorised into three types. Core Sports are must to be included in every programme. Optional Sports may be picked by the host nation. There are also some Recognised sports approved by CGF but are deemed to need expansion. Host nations may or may not pick these sports for their programme.

LIST OF THE SPORTS INCLUDED IN COMMONWEALTH GAMES
CORE SPORTS
Athletics
Badminton
Boxing
Field Hockey
Netball
Rugby Sevens
Squash
Lawn Bowls
Swimming
Weightlifting

 

LIST OF THE SPORTS INCLUDED IN COMMONWEALTH GAMES
OPTIONAL SPORTS
Archery
Basketball
Canoeing
Cycling
Diving
Triathlon
Volleyball (Beach)
Gymnastics (Artistic)
Gymnastics (Rhythmic)
Judo
Rowing
Sailing
Wrestling
Ten-Pin Bowling
Softball
Shooting
Synchronized Swimming
Table Tennis
Taekwondo
Tennis

 

LIST OF THE SPORTS INCLUDED IN COMMONWEALTH GAMES
RECOGNIZED SPORTS
Billiards
Cricket
Fencing
Footbal
Handball
Life Saving
Rugby League
Golf
Volleyball (Indoor)
Water Polo

Participation

There are 53 members of the Commonwealth of Nations. However, number of participating teams goes to 70. There is a number of dependent territories which compete under their own flags e.g Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland etc. Only six countries have attended every Commonwealth Games: Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales.

S. No. Year Host Sports Nations Competitors Topper
Inter-Empire Championships
* 1911 London 4 4 Unknown Canada
British Empire Games
1st 1930 Hamilton 6 11 400 England
2nd 1934 London 6 16 500 England
3rd 1938 Sydney 7 15 464 Australia
4th 1950 Auckland 9 12 590 Australia
British Empire and Commonwealth Games
5th 1954 Vancouver 9 24 662 England
6th 1958 Cardiff 9 36 1122 England
7th 1962 Perth 9 35 863 Australia
8th 1966 Kingston 9 34 1050 England
British Commonwealth Games
9th 1970 Edinburgh 9 42 1383 Australia
10th 1974 Christchurch 9 38 1276 Australia
Commonwealth Games
11th 1978 Edmonton 10 46 1474 Canada
12th 1982 Brisbane 10 46 1583 Australia
13th 1986 Edinburgh 10 26 1662 England
14th 1990 Auckland 10 55 2073 Australia
15th 1994 Victoria 10 63 2557 Australia
16th 1998 Kuala Lumpur 15 70 3633 Australia
17th 2002 Manchester 17 72 3679 Australia
18th 2006 Melbourne 16 71 4049 Australia
19th 2010 Delhi 17 71 6081 Australia
20th 2014 Glasgow 17 71 4947 England
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