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British Empire Games

Commonwealth Games is a multi-sport event held every four years involving the elite athletes of The Commonwealth. The first such event, then known as the British Empire Games, was held in 1930. The name changed to British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954, to British Commonwealth Games in 1970 and assumed the current name in 1990.

As well as many Olympic sports, the Games also include some sports that are played mainly in Commonwealth countries, such as lawn bowls and netball.

Unlike other regional games of this type (i.e., Pan-American Games, Asian Games, All-Africa Games) which usually attract second-tier athletes, the Commonwealth Games attracts the top athletes of member nations of the Commonwealth, thus making this competition world-rate in the true sense of the word (second only to the Olympic Games).

Despite this, the Commonwealth games have still not been free from criticism. Medal counts in the Commonwealth Games tend to be heavily slanted towards the largest, industralized nations such as Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. It's thus been claimed that the Commonwealth Games are quite one-sided and serve as little more than an easy ego-stroking victory for these nations. Much like the Commonwealth itself, the games also face increasing questions of justifying their contemporary relevance in changing world.

Origins

A sporting competition bringing together the members of the British Empire was first proposed by Reverend 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 the goodwill and good understanding of the British Empire".

In 1911, the Festival of the Empire was held in London to celebrate the coronation of King George V. As part ofthe festival an Inter-Empire Championships was held in which teams from Australia, Canada, South Africa and the United Kingdeom competed in events such as boxing, wrestling, swimming and athletics.

In 1928, Bobby Robinson of Canada was asked to organize the first British Empire Games. These were held in Hamilton two years later.

Editions

British Empire Games

• 1930 British Empire Games Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
• 1934 British Empire Games London, England
• 1938 British Empire Games Sydney, Australia
• 1950 British Empire Games Auckland, New Zealand

British Empire and Commonwealth Games

• 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Cardiff, Wales
• 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Perth, Australia
• 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Kingston, Jamaica

British Commonwealth Games

• 1970 British Commonwealth Games Edinburgh, Scotland
• 1974 British Commonwealth Games Christchurch, New Zealand

Commonwealth Games

• 1978 Commonwealth Games Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
• 1982 Commonwealth Games Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
• 1986 Commonwealth Games Edinburgh, Scotland
• 1990 Commonwealth Games Auckland, New Zealand
• 1994 Commonwealth Games Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• 1998 Commonwealth Games Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• 2002 Commonwealth Games Manchester, England
• 2006 Commonwealth Games Melbourne, Australia
• 2010 Commonwealth Games New Delhi, India

List of Sports at the Commonwealth Games

The following is the list of sports included at the 2006 Commonwealth Games:

• Aquatics
  • Swimming
  • Synchronised Swimming
  • Diving
  • Water Polo
• Athletics
• Badminton
• Basketball
• Boxing
• Cycling
• Fencing
• Gymnastics
• Hockey
• Bowls
• Netball
• Rugby
• Shooting
• Squash
• Table Tennis
• Triathlon
• Weightlifting
• Events for Athletes with a Disability (EAD)
  • Athletics
  • Swimming
  • Table Tennis
  • Powerlifting

See also : List of sporting events