The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exception of 1942 and 1946, have 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 British Commonwealth Games from 1970 to 1974. Athletes with a disability are included as full members of their national teams since 2002, making the Commonwealth Games the first fully inclusive international multi-sport event. In 2018, the Games became the first global multi-sport event to feature an equal number of men's and women's medal events and four years later they became the first global multi-sport event to have more events for women than men.
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.
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.
Ian James Thorpe is an Australian retired swimmer who specialised in freestyle, but also competed in backstroke and the individual medley. He has won five Olympic gold medals, the most won by any Australian along with fellow swimmer Emma McKeon. With three gold and two silver medals, Thorpe was the most successful athlete at the 2000 Summer Olympics, held in his hometown of Sydney.
The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006, was 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.
The 1998 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVI Commonwealth Games, was a multi-sport event held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This edition is marked by several unprecedented facts in the history of the event. The 1998 games were the first held in an Asian country and the last Commonwealth Games of the 20th century. This was also the first time the games took place in a nation with a head of state other than the Head of the Commonwealth, and the first time the games were held in a country whose majority of the population did not have English as the first language. For the first time ever, the games included team sports. The other bid from the 1998 games came from Adelaide in Australia. Malaysia was the eighth nation to host the Commonwealth Games after Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, Wales, Jamaica and Scotland. Around 3638 athletes from 70 Commonwealth member nations participated at the games which featured 214 events in 15 sports with 34 of them collected medals.
Ralph Douglas Doubell AM is an Australian former athlete, and gold medallist at the 1968 Summer Olympics.
Alice Mary Tait,, née Alice Mary Mills, is an Australian former sprint freestyle, butterfly and individual medley swimmer who represented Australia at the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Olympics winning two relay gold medals and a bronze.
Giaan Leigh Rooney, OAM is an Australian former competitive swimmer and television personality. As a member of the Australian team in women's 4×100-metre medley relay, she won an Olympic gold medal and broke a world record at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Rooney is currently an Australian television presenter.
Scott Andrew Miller is an Australian convicted drug dealer and former butterfly swimmer who competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics, winning a silver and bronze medal.
The Opening Ceremony of the 1982 Commonwealth Games was held on 30 September 1982 at the QEII Stadium in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Heathcote High School, established in 1960, is set in grounds near the Royal National Park on the southern side of Sydney, Australia. It is a Government comprehensive co-educational high school.
Kangaroos, Wallabies and other Macropodidae have become emblems and symbols of Australia, as well as appearing in popular culture both internationally and within Australia itself.
Mark Ferdinand Treffers is a former swimming representative from New Zealand and 1974 Commonwealth Games gold medalist who specialised in long distance freestyle and medley races.
Melissa Breen is an Australian 100 metres and 200 metres runner. Breen broke the Australian record for the women's 100 m sprint, when she clocked 11.11 seconds at the ACT Championships, held on 9 Feb 2014 at the Australian Institute of Sport track in Canberra under ideal conditions with a 1.9 mps following wind, warm conditions and 600+ metres elevation. This broke a record previously held by Melinda Gainsford-Taylor, which had stood for more than 20 years.
Clyde was the official mascot of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Clyde is an anthropomorphic thistle and is named after the River Clyde which flows through the centre of Glasgow. The mascot was designed by Beth Gilmour from Cumbernauld, who won a competition run by Glasgow 2014 for children to design the Mascot. Beth's drawing was then brought to life by digital agency Nerv, who turned it into a commercial character, created a full backstory, gave it a name – Clyde – and created a website for him. Clyde was finally revealed in a seven-minute animated film created by Nerv at a ceremony at BBC Scotland's headquarters in Glasgow. The organiser, Glasgow 2014, said the mascot's design was chosen, because of its "Scottish symbolism and Glaswegian charm and likeability".
Borobi was the official mascot of the 2018 Commonwealth Games, in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Borobi is a male koala with blue fur and unusual markings on his paws. The name Borobi is derived from a dialect used by the Yugambeh people, an indigenous Australian group from the Gold Coast region. The mascot, along with its fictional back story, was revealed in April 2016. Borobi is based on a character submitted by Merrilyn Krohn, the winner of the GC2018 Mascot Design Competition.
The closing ceremony for the 2018 Commonwealth Games was held on 15 April 2018 in the Carrara stadium, Gold Coast. The worldwide broadcast began at 20:30 and finished at 22:30 AEST, lasting almost two hours. The athletes entered the stadium before the broadcast began, a decision which attracted criticism. In reality, this early entrance was not without recent precedent and in reality, a 10-minute 'salute to the athletes of the Commonwealth' had been planned and rehearsed with the athletes and crowd in the stadium before the broadcast began - intended as a surprise to the broadcast audience. However, due to a very low turnout of athletes on the night, the sequence, which was to feature Usain Bolt DJ ing as the cast and athletes danced for the crowd had to be curtailed. Channel 7 was particularly virulent in its criticism..
Matilda was the mascot of the 1982 Commonwealth Games held in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
