1978 Commonwealth Games

XI Commonwealth Games

Host city	Edmonton, Canada
Nations	47
Athletes	1,475
Events	128 events in 11 sports
Opening	3 August 1978
Closing	12 August 1978
Opened by	Elizabeth II
Athlete's Oath	Beverly Boys
Queen's Baton Final Runner	Diane Jones Konihowski
Main venue	Commonwealth Stadium
←  X XII  →

The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, from 3 to 12 August, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics was held in Montreal, Quebec. They were boycotted by Nigeria, in protest at New Zealand's sporting contacts with apartheid-era South Africa, as well as by Uganda, in protest at alleged Canadian hostility towards the government of Idi Amin. ^[1] The Bid Election was held at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.

This was the first Commonwealth Games where a computerized system was used to handle ticket sales. This was the first Commonwealth Games to be named Commonwealth Games, having dropped British. The Games were opened by Queen Elizabeth II for the first time since becoming Queen in 1952.

The Commonwealth Stadium

Host selection

1978 Commonwealth Games bidding results

City	Round 1
Edmonton	36
Leeds	10

Venues

Lister Hall in the University of Alberta accommodated the athletes

The main stadium was the Commonwealth Stadium, constructed specifically for the Games at the cost of $42 million. ^{[2] [3]}

The athletes' village was located at the University of Alberta and had accommodation for 2,000 athletes (2 per room) in the Lister Hall Residential Complex. The dining hall could seat up to 1,000 and was open 24 hours a day. A shuttle bus ran from the University campus to the main stadium five miles away. ^[4]

• Aquatics (diving and swimming) - Kinsmen Aquatic Centre ^[5]
• Athletics - Commonwealth Stadium
• Badminton - University of Alberta Arena ^[5]
• Boxing - Edmonton Gardens ^[2]
• Cycling (track) - Argyll Velodrome ^[5]
• Cycling (road) - North Saskatchewan River Valley. ^[6]
• Gymnastics - Northlands Coliseum ^[5]
• Lacrosse (demonstration event) - Edmonton Coliseum
• Lawn bowls - Coronation Park Greens ^[2]
• Shooting - Strathcona Shooting Range ^{[7] [8]}
• Weightlifting - Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
• Wrestling - University of Alberta main varsity gymnasium ^[5]

Participating teams

Participating countries

46 teams were represented at the 1978 Games.
(Teams competing for the first time are shown in bold).

Participating Commonwealth countries and territories

Antigua Australia Bahamas Bangladesh Barbados Bermuda British Honduras Canada (host) Cayman Islands Cook Islands Cyprus England   Fiji  (7) Ghana Gibraltar Grenada Guernsey Guyana Hong Kong India Isle of Man Jamaica Jersey Kenya Lesotho Malawi Malaysia Mauritius   New Zealand Northern Ireland Papua New Guinea Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Scotland Sierra Leone Singapore Sri Lanka Swaziland Tanzania The Gambia Trinidad and Tobago Turks and Caicos Islands Wales Western Samoa Zambia

Medal table

Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, and their two younger sons, Andrew and Edward, at the opening of the 1978 Commonwealth Games, in Edmonton, Alberta

.

The host nation topped the medal table. ^[9]

  *   Host nation (Canada)

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Canada*	45	31	33	109
2	England	27	27	33	87
3	Australia	24	33	27	84
4	Kenya	7	6	5	18
5	New Zealand	5	6	9	20
6	India	5	4	6	15
7	Scotland	3	6	5	14
8	Jamaica	2	2	3	7
9	Wales	2	1	5	8
10	Northern Ireland	2	1	2	5
11	Hong Kong	2	0	0	2
12	Malaysia	1	2	1	4
13	Ghana	1	1	1	3
	Guyana	1	1	1	3
15	Tanzania	1	1	0	2
16	Trinidad and Tobago	0	2	2	4
	Zambia	0	2	2	4
18	Bahamas	0	1	0	1
	Papua New Guinea	0	1	0	1
20	Western Samoa	0	0	3	3
21	Isle of Man	0	0	1	1
Totals (21 entries)		128	128	139	395

Sports

• Aquatics
  •   Diving ( details )
  •   Swimming ( details )
•   Athletics ( details )
•   Badminton ( details )
•   Boxing ( details )
•   Cycling ( details )
•   Gymnastics ( details )
•   Lawn bowls ( details )
•   Shooting ( details )
•   Weightlifting ( details )
•   Wrestling ( details )

References

1. Donald Macintosh; Michael Hawes; Donna Ruth Greenhorn; David Ross Black (5 April 1994). Sport and Canadian Diplomacy. McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP. p. 81. ISBN   978-0-7735-1161-3.
2. "Commonwealth Games of 1978". EBSCO. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
3. "History of Commonwealth Stadium". City of Edmonton. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
4. "Oil capital of Canada" . Ireland's Saturday Night. 4 March 1978. p. 5. Retrieved 30 January 2026– via British Newspaper Archive.
5. "Games Calendar" . Newcastle Journal. 3 August 1978. p. 14. Retrieved 8 February 2026– via British Newspaper Archive.
6. "Billy Chases Gold in Canada" . Belfast Telegraph. 28 July 1978. p. 23. Retrieved 5 February 2026– via British Newspaper Archive.
7. "Case Study:Remediation of Lead Impacted Soils, Former Stratcona Shooting Range" (PDF). ESAA. Retrieved 6 February 2026.
8. "Edmonton's Ivor Dent sports park officially opens". Edmonton Sun. 27 June 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2026.
9. "Medal Standings Edmonton 1978". Commonwealth Games Federation. Retrieved 30 January 2026.

External links

• "Edmonton 1978". Commonwealthsport.com. Commonwealth Sport.
• Going the Distance, an NFB documentary

Preceded by Christchurch

Commonwealth Games Edmonton XI Commonwealth Games

Succeeded by Brisbane