 | |
| Host city | Edinburgh, Scotland |
|---|---|
| Nations | 14 |
| Athletes | 197 (145 Male/52 Female) |
| Sport | 11 |
| Events | 150 |
| Opening | 26 July 1970 |
| Closing | 1 August 1970 |
| Opened by | Edward Heath |
| Main venue | Meadowbank Stadium |
The Third Commonwealth Paraplegic Games was a multi-sport event that was held in Edinburgh, Scotland from 26 July to 1 August 1970. Dubbed the "little games", they followed the 1970 British Commonwealth Games which were held in Edinburgh from 16 to 25 July of that year.
The chairman of the Organising Committee was Lieutenant-Colonel John Fraser. [1] It was also known as the "little games" and the "Wheelchair Games". [1] [2]
The Games were opened by the British Prime Minister Edward Heath. The opening ceremony was at Meadowbank stadium and was attended by a crowd of 2,000 people. [3] The teams were led in by the hosts of the previous games, Jamaica. [3] On behalf of all the competitors, James Laird, the Scottish team captain, took an oath. [3] A message of support from the Provosts of 28 towns and cities across Scotland was read out, having been relayed from John o' Groats by runners from the Scottish Youth Clubs Association. [3]
The games were closed by James MacKay, Lord Provost of the Edinburgh Corporation. [4]
197 athletes from fourteen Commonwealth countries took part. [3] Countries at this games that had not previously participated were Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Malta and Uganda. [1]
Sports included: [3]
The following were the venues for the games:
| Venue | Sport |
|---|---|
| Games Village (RAF Turnhouse) | Archery, Precision Javelin |
| Meadowbank Sports Complex | All other sports including some archery |
| Royal Commonwealth Pool | Swimming |
| Lochend Bowling Green | Lawn Bowls |
| Redcraig Shooting Range | Shooting |
An athletes' village was located at Turnhouse, with accommodation provided free of charge to the athletes by the Ministry of Defence. [1] The Edinburgh Corporation had supplied fourteen adapted buses, which volunteer drivers used to transport the athletes between venues during the games. [4] Athletics events were held at Meadowbank stadium. [5] Shooting events were held at Redcraigs shooting range in West Lothian. [6] There was some criticism of the lack of day-to-day television coverage from the BBC and ITV broadcasters. [2]
The final medal table is: [7]
| Nations | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 England | 48 | 32 | 23 | 103 |
 Australia | 29 | 31 | 39 | 99 |
 Scotland | 27 | 29 | 21 | 77 |
 Jamaica | 25 | 14 | 10 | 49 |
 New Zealand | 12 | 14 | 4 | 30 |
 Wales | 5 | 6 | 2 | 13 |
 Ireland | 1 | 2 | 6 | 9 |
 Uganda | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
 India | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 Trinidad and Tobago | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 Malta | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
 Malaysia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 Canada | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
 British Hong Kong | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 150 | 132 | 107 | 389 |
Commonwealth Games hosted in Scotland:
The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 as the British Empire Games and, with the exception of 1942 and 1946, has successively run every four years since. The event was called the British Empire Games from 1930 to 1950, the British Empire and Commonwealth Games from 1954 to 1966, and the British Commonwealth Games from 1970 to 1974. The event removed the word British from its title for the 1978 Games and has maintained its current name ever since.
The 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Perth, Western Australia, from 22 November to 1 December 1962. Athletic events were held at Perry Lakes Stadium in the suburb of Floreat and swimming events at Beatty Park in North Perth. It was held after the 1962 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games for wheelchair athletes.
The 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Kingston, Jamaica, from 4 to 13 August 1966. This was the first time that the Games had been held outside the so-called White Dominions. The event was followed by the 1966 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games for wheelchair athletes. Jamaica remains the only host nation of a Commonwealth Games that did not win at least one gold medal in its own games.
The 1970 British Commonwealth Games were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, from 16 to 25 July 1970. This was the first time the name British Commonwealth Games was adopted, the first time metric units rather than imperial units were used in all events, and also the first time the event was held in Scotland. Also, the event saw the first unique Games trademark logo: an emblem showing the Games emblem intertwined with a St Andrews Cross and a thistle. The event was followed by the 1970 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games for wheelchair athletes.
The 1986 Commonwealth Games were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, between 24 July and 2 August 1986. This was the second Commonwealth Games to be held in Edinburgh. This event served as a qualifying event for the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul for the events that was contested at the Olympic Games. Thirty two of the eligible fifty nine countries boycotted the event because of the Thatcher government's policy of keeping Britain's sporting links with apartheid South Africa.
Scotland is one of only six countries to have competed in every Commonwealth Games since the first Empire Games in 1930. The others are Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand and Wales. The Commonwealth Games is the only major multi-sport event in which Scottish athletes and teams compete as Scotland; otherwise Scotland participates in multi-sport events as part of a Great Britain team.
Meadowbank Stadium is a multi-purpose sports facility located in the Meadowbank area of Edinburgh, Scotland. Built on the site of the earlier New Meadowbank and Old Meadowbank sports venues, it was originally built to host the 1970 Commonwealth Games. It also hosted the Games in 1986, becoming the first venue to host the Games twice. It is the current home of Scottish League Two side Edinburgh City.
The archery events at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane were held from 2 October to 5 October 1982 at the Murarrie Recreation Reserve. There were two events, one for men and one for women, both using recurve bows. The final standings were decided by an aggregate score after four days of shooting. The women's champion, New Zealand's Neroli Fairhall, became the first paraplegic athlete to win a Commonwealth gold medal.
At the 1970 British Commonwealth Games, the athletics events were held at the Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland. A total of 36 events were contested, of which 23 by male and 13 by female athletes. This was the first athletics competition at the British Commonwealth Games to feature events in metric units, rather than imperial units. One world record and two Games records were broken at the competition.
Daphne Jean Hilton was an Australian Paralympic competitor. She was the first Australian woman to compete at the Paralympic Games. She won fourteen medals in three Paralympics in archery, athletics, fencing, swimming, and table tennis from 1960 to 1968.
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The Commonwealth Paraplegic Games were an international, multi-sport event involving athletes with a disability from the Commonwealth countries. The event was sometimes referred to as the Paraplegic Empire Games and British Commonwealth Paraplegic Games. Athletes were generally those with spinal injuries or polio. The Games were an important milestone in the Paralympic sports movement as they began the decline of the Stoke Mandeville Games' dominating influence. The event was first held in 1962 and disestablished in 1974. The Games were held in the country hosting the Commonwealth Games for able-bodied athletes, a tradition eventually fully adopted by the larger Olympic and Paralympic movements.
Raymond Barrett was an Indigenous Australian Paralympic athlete left a paraplegic following a car accident. Prior to this he was a champion juvenile athlete in able-bodied sports. A bronze medalist at the 1972 Summer Paralympics Heidelberg Germany, a high achiever at the Stoke Mandeville Games England, Commonwealth Paraplegic Games, National Paraplegic and Quadriplegic Games, FESPIC Games and State selection trials. A sporting complex in the Sutherland Shire of Sydney is named in his honor. The people of this Shire were his 'significant others'.
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