The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002, was an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August 2002. The event was to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coincide with the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II, head of the Commonwealth, and Manchester was selected for the 2002 Games ahead of London using a recycled part of the project, which lost the 2000 Summer Olympics and Paralympics to Sydney, Australia. The 2002 Commonwealth Games was, prior to the 2012 Summer Olympics, the largest multi-sport event ever to be held in the UK, eclipsing the London 1948 Summer Olympics in terms of teams and athletes participating. The 2002 Commonwealth Games had the largest number of events of any Commonwealth Games in history, featuring 281 events across 17 sports.
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England. Its largest settlement is Manchester. It is the third most populous county in the United Kingdom after Greater London and the West Midlands.
Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. The population was 45,198 at the 2011 census. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the north bank of the River Tame, in the foothills of the Pennines, 6.2 miles (10.0 km) east of Manchester.
Sale is a town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, in the historic county of Cheshire on the south bank of the River Mersey, 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Stretford, 3 miles (4.8 km) northeast of Altrincham, and 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of Manchester. In 2011, it had a population of 134,022, making it the largest town by population in Trafford.
Hyde is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, which had a population of 34,003 in 2011.
The City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City, with a domestic football capacity of 55,000, making it the 7th-largest football stadium in England and tenth-largest in the United Kingdom.
Withdean Stadium is an athletics stadium in Withdean, a suburb of Brighton. It was constructed in 1930. It was the home track of Olympic athlete Steve Ovett. Between 1999 and 2011 it was the home ground of football team Brighton & Hove Albion F.C.
The history of Manchester encompasses its change from a minor Lancastrian township into the pre-eminent industrial metropolis of the United Kingdom and the world. Manchester began expanding "at an astonishing rate" around the turn of the 19th century as part of a process of unplanned urbanisation brought on by a boom in textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution. The transformation took little more than a century.
Beswick is an inner city area in Manchester, England. It consists of the ancient township off Beswick, Manchester, which is in small land and in the ancient parish of Manchester and hundred of Salford.
Bradford is a district of east Manchester, England, two miles north east of the city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 15,784. Historically in Lancashire, after the closure of its heavy industries Bradford was for many years an economically deprived area but has undergone regeneration with the building of the City of Manchester Stadium which hosted the 2002 Commonwealth Games and is now home to Manchester City F.C. Bradford is neighboured by Beswick to the south and the two areas are sometimes referred to as Bradford-with-Beswick. The River Medlock and the Ashton Canal run through Bradford.
Breightmet is a neighbourhood of Bolton, in Greater Manchester, England. The population of the ward taken at the 2011 census was 13,584. Historically a township of the civil and ecclesiastical parish of Bolton le Moors in the Salford hundred of Lancashire, it lies 2 miles (3.2 km) north-east of Bolton and 4 miles (6.4 km) north-west of Bury.
Manchester City and Manchester United are popular Premier League football clubs in Greater Manchester. United's ground is in Old Trafford; Manchester City's home ground is the City of Manchester Stadium in east Manchester. Fixtures between the clubs are referred to as the Manchester Derby. Manchester United are historically the most successful football club in England with 66 elite honours won.
Sportcity in Manchester is a multipurpose sports and leisure facility. Originally built to host the 2002 Commonwealth Games, it is in east Manchester, a mile from Manchester city centre, and was developed on former industrial land including the site of Bradford Colliery.
The Glasgow bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games was the successful bid to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games by the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It beat the Abuja 2014 Commonwealth Games bid to host the games, which will be held over 11 days, with the opening ceremony on 23 July 2014, and the last day of competition and closing ceremony on 3 August 2014.
Carrara Indoor Stadium is a multi-purpose arena located at Carrara on Queensland's Gold Coast and can accommodate 1,600 fans, with additional seating provided if required which can push total capacity for events such as basketball up to 2,962. The stadium stands adjacent to the 25,000 seat Metricon Stadium and forms part of the Carrara Sports Complex. The stadium has the nickname The Greenhouse as even during winter it would get "Hot and steamy as Hades at times", although that changed with $800,000 worth of improvements in 1996 including new air conditioning.
Manchester Regional Arena is a multipurpose stadium in Manchester, England, primarily used for athletics, football and rugby league.
Most leisure centres in Cardiff, capital of Wales, are owned by Cardiff Council. Since 2016, the running of eight formerly Council-run leisure centres has been outsourced to Greenwich Leisure Limited, operating under their 'Better' branding. Channel View Leisure Centre continues to be managed by Cardiff Council, whilst the Cardiff International Pool in Cardiff Bay is run separately by another private company.
Etihad Campus is an area of Sportcity, Manchester which is mostly owned and operated by Manchester City Football Club. The campus includes the Etihad Stadium, the City Football Academy (CFA) training facility and club world headquarters, and undeveloped land adjacent to both of these facilities. These two main portions of the campus site are linked by a 60-metre landmark pedestrian walkway/footbridge that spans the junction of Alan Turing Way and Ashton New Road. The term Etihad Campus embraces both the stadium – which already existed when the name was coined in 2010 – as well as much of the surrounding undeveloped land that existed at that time, although the term is also frequently used as a direct synonym for just the CFA portion.
The venues for the 2022 Commonwealth Games will be based in Birmingham, Cannock Chase, Coventry, Royal Leamington Spa, Sandwell, Solihull, Warwick, Wolverhampton, and London.
There are many leisure activities and things to do near Beswick, Manchester. With an array of excellent sporting amenities, the proud legacy of the 2002 Commonwealth Games lives on in East Manchester.
Beswick is also situated close to the National Squash Centre, the Manchester Regional Athletics Arena and the National Cycling Centre. A real hive of sporting activity – you’ll find sessions for all ages and abilities – at each of these centres.
The area is also home to East Manchester Academy, a mixed secondary school, which opened in 2010 [2] and was built as part of the regeneration project. This wonderful, modern glass-fronted building also offers the well-equipped and welcoming Beswick Library. [3]
