COMMON WEALTH GAMES
Athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations compete in the international multisport Commonwealth Games, often known as the Friendly Games. With the exception of 1942 and 1946, the tournament has been held every four years since it debuted in 1930. British Empire Games, British Empire and Commonwealth Games, and British Commonwealth Games were the names by which the Commonwealth Games were known from 1930 to 1950, 1954 to 1966, and 1970 to 1974, respectively. The Commonwealth Games are the first international multisport competition that is entirely inclusive of athletes with disabilities because they are accepted as full members of their country teams. The Games included an equal number of medal events for men and women in 2018, making it the first worldwide multisport event to do so.
The Inter-Empire Championships, which took place in London in 1911 as a part of the Festival of Empire, served as inspiration for the development of the Games. The games were established by Melville Marks Robinson as the British Empire Games and were first held in Hamilton, Canada, in 1930. The Commonwealth Games have undergone significant alterations as a result of the games movement’s development during the 20th and 21st century. Some of these changes include the establishment of the Commonwealth Winter Games for commonwealth athletes competing in snow and ice sports, the Commonwealth Paraplegic Games for athletes with disabilities, and the Commonwealth Youth Games for competitors between the ages of 14 and 18. The first winter games and paraplegic games were held in 1958 and 1962, respectively, and the last paraplegic games and youth games were staged in 1966 and 1974, respectively. Due to the Second World War, the Commonwealth Games in 1942 and 1946 were postponed.
The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), which also chooses the host cities and manages the sporting schedule, is in charge of organizing the Commonwealth Games. International sports federations (IFs), Commonwealth Games Associations (CGAs), and organizing bodies for each individual Commonwealth Games make up the games movement. There are various customs and emblems, including the Queen’s Baton Relay and the Commonwealth Games flag, in addition to the opening and closing ceremonies. At the Commonwealth Games, more than 5,000 competitors compete in more than 250 events across more than 15 sports. Medals from the Commonwealth Games are awarded to the winners in each event, which are gold, silver, and bronze, respectively. In addition to a number of Olympic sports, the games also feature a number of other sports, such as lawn bowls, netball, cricket, and squash, which are popular in Commonwealth nations but are not Olympic sports.
72 teams presently compete in the Commonwealth Games, despite the fact that there are currently 54 members of the Commonwealth of Nations. This is because a number of dependent territories that do not compete individually at the Olympic Games do so in the Commonwealth Games under their own flags. England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, the four Home Nations of the United Kingdom, each send their own teams. Four Home Nations, three Crown Dependencies, and all but three of the inhabited Overseas Territories, which are all represented by Team GB at the Olympic Games, will instead compete as 14 different delegations at the Commonwealth Games. At both events, representatives from the other three overseas territories—British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, and Cayman Islands—give their views.
The games have been held in 19 cities throughout nine nations (counting England, Scotland, and Wales separately). Australia has hosted the Commonwealth Games five times, more than any other country (1938, 1962, 1982, 2006, and 2018).
HISTORY
John Astley Cooper initially suggested the idea of a sporting event that would unite the nations that made up the British Empire in 1891. He suggested in a letter that was printed in The Times that “a Pan-Britannic-Pan-Anglican Contest and Festival every four years as a means of developing goodwill and good understanding of the British Empire” be held. JAstley Cooper The proposal was promoted by committees established in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, which encouraged Pierre de Coubertin to launch the push for the creation of a worldwide Olympic Games. An Inter-Empire Championship was conducted as part of the 1911 Festival of the Empire, which was hosted in The Crystal Palace in London to commemorate George V’s coronation.
Athletes, boxers, wrestlers, and swimmers from Australia, Canada, South Africa, and the United Kingdom all competed. The silver cup, which Lord Lonsdale gave as a prize to Canada for winning the championships, measured 2 feet 6 inches (76 cm) high and weighed 340 ounces (9.6 kg). The 1911 championships did, however, get some criticism, most notably from an Auckland Star writer who called them a “grievous letdown” and “not worthy of the title of ‘Empire Sports’.”
The Canadian track and field team’s manager at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Melville Marks Robinson, vigorously pushed for the idea of holding the first British Empire Games in Hamilton in 1930.
2022 Commonwealth Games
The 2022 Commonwealth Games, also known as Birmingham 2022 or the XXII Commonwealth Games, are an international multi-sport event for Commonwealth nations that will take place in Birmingham, England from July 28 to August 8, 2022, 20 years after the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games and ten years after London 2012. After Manchester in 2002 and London in 1934, Birmingham will host the Commonwealth Games in 2019, making it the eighth time that the United Kingdom will host the event after Cardiff in 1958, Edinburgh in 1970 and 1986, and Glasgow in 2014.