Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games are held every four years and involve countries that are or used to be in the British Empire.

  1. The Friendly Games

    • The Games began as the British Empire Games in 1930 at Hamilton, Ontario, after almost 30 years of discussion within member countries. Only 400 athletes from 11 countries competed in six sports. Now more than 5,000 athletes from 53 countries compete in 17 sports. The Commonwealth Games Federation calls them the Friendly Games, celebrating the spirit of mutual co-operation within nations of the former British Empire.

    Core sports

    • Original sports were boxing, lawn bowls, rowing, swimming, track and field, and wrestling. All but rowing and wrestling remain core. Other core sports are badminton (added in 1966), weightlifting (1980), field hockey (1998), netball (1998) rugby sevens (1998) and squash (1998).

    Optional

    • Each Games can include another seven optional sports, but only four team sports in total. New Delhi, India, in 2010, will include archery (first added in 1982), cycling (1934), gymnastics (1978), shooting (1966), table tennis (2002), weightlifting (1980) wrestling (1930) and tennis for the first time.

    New Delhi 2010

    • New Delhi will host the next Games, from Oct 3 to 14, 2010, and is building a village to house 8,500 athletes and officials. Glasgow, Scotland, will host the Games in 2014.

    Perfect Attendance

    • Australia, New Zealand, Canada, England, Scotland and Wales have attended every Games.

    Para-Sport

    • At New Delhi, 15 events will be contested across four para-sports--track and field, swimming, power lifting, and table tennis--for elite athletes with a disability.