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.
Catherine Astrid Salome Freeman is an Aboriginal Australian former sprinter, who specialised in the 400 metres event. Her personal best of 48.63 seconds currently ranks her as the ninth-fastest woman of all time, set while finishing second to Marie-José Pérec's number-four time at the 1996 Olympics. She became the Olympic champion for the women's 400 metres at the 2000 Summer Olympics, at which she lit the Olympic Flame.
The Weightlifting Competition at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia saw the introduction of women's weightlifting.
At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, fifteen events in weightlifting were contested, in eight classes for men and seven for women. Competition was held in the Nikaia Olympic Weightlifting Hall.
Francois Robert "Rob" de Castella is an Australian former world champion marathon runner.
Stephen James "Steve" Moneghetti,, is an Australian long-distance runner and physical health consultant who has represented Australia on many occasions. Moneghetti has a degree in civil engineering, a graduate diploma in education and an honorary doctorate from the University of Ballarat. He is a personal development consultant with the Ministry of Education and chair of the Victorian Review into Physical and Sport Education in Schools.
Samantha Linette Pearl Riley is an Australian former competitive swimmer. She is of Aboriginal descent. She specialised in breaststroke and competed for Australia in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, winning three medals. She trained under Scott Volkers at the Commercial Swimming Club in Brisbane. She was the first Indigenous Australian to win an Olympic medal.
Competitors at the Olympic Games have used banned athletic performance-enhancing drugs.
Andrew James Baildon is an Australian former freestyle and butterfly swimming champion, who represented Australia in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul and the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.
Ivan Ivanov Ivanov is a Bulgarian former weightlifter and current head coach of the national Bulgarian weightlifting teams. He claimed one gold medal at the 1992 Olympic Games, four time World Champion, and five time European Champion. He won the 1990 World Cup. Ivan also won 1991 World Cup Final in Barcelona and 1990 World Cup Final in Tainan, and in 1989 in Lisbon he finished second. In 1990, he became a gold medalist in Total and Clean, and Jerk and silver, medalist in Snatch of the Goodwill Games in Seattle. Ivanov was named the Best Weightlifter in the World by the International Weightlifting Federation for 1989 and 1990. Ivanov is also a three-time World Junior Champion and twice European Junior Champion. He was elected as the best coach of Bulgaria for 2019 by the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the country together with the trainer on rhythmic gymnastics Vesela Dimitrova.
Chinthana Geetal Vidanage is a Sri Lankan weightlifter. He won a gold medal in the men's 62 kg category weightlifting; the first weightlifting gold medal for Sri Lanka in the 2006 Commonwealth Games held in Australia. In, 2011 Vidanage was banned for four years for violating anti-doping rules.
The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, between 4 and 15 April 2018. It was the fifth time Australia had hosted the Commonwealth Games and the first time a major multi-sport had an equal number of events for male and female athletes.
Robert Colville Crowe, OAM is an Australian Champion Cyclist who competed in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and as Kieran Modra's pilot in the 2004 Athens Paralympics. He also directs the popular indoor cycling engine-training school at Ridewiser in Melbourne, Australia.
The organisation of sport in Australia has been largely determined by its Federal system of government – Australian Government and six states and two territories governments and local governments. All three levels play an important role in terms of funding, policies and facilities. Each major sport is managed by a national sports organisation, with state counterparts that manage community sporting clubs. Umbrella or peak organisations represent the interests of sports organisations or particular sport issues. Education sector plays a small role through universities and schools. Private sector's involvement is extensive in professional sport through facilities, club ownership and finance/sponsorship.
Sue Howland is an Australian javelin thrower whose best result was a gold medal at the 1982 Commonwealth Games. Howland won the Australian Junior Javelin throw in 1977 and 1978. Her international career began in 1981 with the Pacific Conference Games and continued to the 1992 IAAF World Cup.
Damian Brown is an Australian weightlifter who competed at three Olympic Games and four Commonwealth Games.
Laurel Hubbard is a New Zealand weightlifter. Selected to compete at the 2020 Summer Olympics, she was the first openly transgender woman to compete in the Olympic Games. Prior to making her Olympic debut, Hubbard achieved a ranking of 7th in the IWF's women's +87 kg division.
Fiji competed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, Australia from April 4 to April 15, 2018. It was Fiji's 16th appearance at the Commonwealth Games.
Don Opeloge is a Samoan weightlifter. He won the gold medal in the men's 96 kg event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham, England. He won the silver medal in the men's 85 kg event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games held in Gold Coast, Australia.
