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 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August 2002. According to planning, this event was to be held in a country in the United Kingdom as part of the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II, head of the Commonwealth. England was the only bidder for the event and, in an internal process, Manchester was selected for the 2002 Games ahead of London. The Manchester bid used projects which were part of the failed bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, which were awarded 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.
The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XVI Olympiad and officially branded as Melbourne 1956, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, which were held in Stockholm, Sweden, in June 1956.
The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held in Melbourne, Australia between 15 and 26 March 2006. It was the fourth time Australia had hosted the Commonwealth Games. It was also the largest sporting event to be staged in Melbourne, eclipsing the 1956 Summer Olympics in terms of the number of teams competing, athletes competing, and events being held.
At the 2006 Commonwealth Games, the athletics events were held in Melbourne, Australia from 19 March to 25 March 2006. A total of 47 events were contested, of which 24 by male and 23 by female athletes. Furthermore, three men's and three women's disability events were held within the programme. All athletics events took place within the Melbourne Cricket Ground, while the marathon and racewalking events took place on the streets of Melbourne and finished at the main stadium.
The British Olympic Association is the National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom. It represents the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom, but also incorporate representatives from eight of the eleven inhabited British Overseas Territories, and the three Crown Dependencies, who do not have their own separate Olympics teams.
Sir Mark Simon Cavendish is a retired Manx professional road racing cyclist. As a track cyclist he specialised in the madison, points race, and scratch race disciplines; as a road racer he was a sprinter. He is widely considered one of the greatest road sprinters of all time, and in 2021 was called "the greatest sprinter in the history of the Tour and of cycling" by Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France. He holds the record for most stage wins at the Tour de France (35), achieved across 15 Tours and 17 years (2008-2024).
Jaspal Rana is an Indian sport shooter and pistol coach. He contested mainly in the 25 m Centre Fire Pistol category. In a major accomplishment at the 2006 Asian Games, Rana won three gold medals and equaled the world record in 25 m Center Fire Pistol, competing in his fourth Asian Games since 1994 Asian Games. Rana is also a Commonwealth Games medalist, winning gold medals at the 1998, 2002, and 2006 Commonwealth Games. One of his most successful events was the 2002 Commonwealth Games, where he won six medals including the gold for Men's 25m Center Fire Pistol.
Australia first competed at the Games, then titled the British Empire Games, in 1930; and is one of only six countries to have sent athletes to every Commonwealth Games. The others are Canada, England, New Zealand, Scotland, and Wales. Australian athletes competed for Australasia at the 1911 Festival of the Empire, the forerunner to the British Empire Games.
For a small country, sport in the Isle of Man plays an important part in making the island known to the wider world. The principal international sporting event held on the island is the annual Isle of Man TT motorcycling event. However, the Isle of Man is represented internationally in a number of other sports at the Commonwealth Games and the Island Games.
Glyn Cawley Daer Barnett, is a male British international rifleman who won a shooting gold medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
Guernsey participates in its own right in the Commonwealth Games.
Russell Andrew Mark, is an Australian Olympic Champion marksman and world-renowned clay target shooting coach specialising in the disciplines of Olympic Trap and American Trap. Mark is a former World and Olympic Record holder and held the world number one ranking on multiple occasions. He won the gold medal in the Double Trap event at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. He also won a silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Mark competed at six Olympic Games: 1988 (Trap), 1992 (Trap), 1996, 2000, 2008, 2012. The only Australian Summer Olympian to compete in more Olympiads is Andrew Hoy (seven).
Peter Robert Kennaugh MBE is a Manx former professional racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2010 and 2019 for Team Sky and Bora–Hansgrohe. In 2012 he won the gold medal as part of the Great Britain Team Pursuit team at the 2012 Summer Olympics, becoming the first Manxman in 100 years to win gold. On 5 April 2019, he announced that he was taking an indefinite break from professional cycling to focus on his mental health.
The following article outlines the highlights of the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
Michael Gault OBE, is an English sport shooter. He has competed at the Commonwealth Games on six occasions winning eighteen medals, a record for athletes in any sport that he jointly holds with Australian shooter Phillip Adams, but has never been selected for the British Olympic team. Gault also won two ISSF World Cup bronze medals whilst representing Great Britain.
Jason John Greenslade is a Welsh international indoor and lawn bowler. After moving to Guernsey in 2022 he later represented them in competition.
Timothy Kneale is a Manx sport shooter who specializes in the double trap. He is the current world record holder for the event, having scored 148 out of 150 at the 2014 ISSF World Cup meet in Munich, Germany. Apart from his world-record feat, Kneale has won two medals in a major international competition, a silver at the 2015 World Shotgun Championships and a bronze as a representative of the Isle of Man team at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India.
Isle of Man competed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, Australia from April 4 to April 15, 2018. Isle of Man announced it would send a squad of 32 athletes. However, Mark Cavendish did not compete.
The Isle of Man competed at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England between 28 July and 8 August 2022. Having made its Games debut in 1958, it was the Isle of Man's seventeenth appearance at the Games.
