The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is a biennial summit meeting of the governmental leaders from all Commonwealth nations. Despite the name, the head of state may be present in the meeting instead of the head of government, especially among semi-presidential states. Every two years the meeting is held in a different member state and is chaired by that nation's respective prime minister or president, who becomes the Commonwealth Chair-in-Office until the next meeting. Queen Elizabeth II, who was the Head of the Commonwealth, attended every CHOGM beginning with Ottawa in 1973 until Perth in 2011, although her formal participation only began in 1997. She was represented by the Prince of Wales at the 2013 meeting as the 87-year-old monarch was curtailing long-distance travel. The Queen attended the 2015 summit in Malta and the 2018 summit in London, but was represented again by the Prince of Wales at the 2022 meeting in Rwanda.
The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which mostly consists of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 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 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 Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), currently known as Commonwealth Sport, is the international organisation responsible for the direction and control of the Commonwealth Games and Commonwealth Youth Games, and is the governing body of the Commonwealth Games Associations (CGA). The headquarters of CGF are located in London, England.
A Commonwealth Games Association (CGA) is a national sports council of the Commonwealth Sports movement. Each association is responsible for organising, supporting and overseeing their national team for both the Commonwealth Games and the Commonwealth Youth Games. The associations are subject to the rules of, and report to, the Commonwealth Games Federation. As well as promoting sports nationally, an association can also place a bid for the Commonwealth Games for a potential host city. While some nations have a stand-alone association dealing exclusively with the Commonwealth Games (particularly the Home Nations, the Crown Dependencies and most of the British Overseas Territories, all of whom compete at the Olympics as one Great Britain team but compete as separate teams at the Commonwealth Games), in many of the Commonwealth nations, the local National Olympic Committee performs the function of Commonwealth Games Association for that nation. In a few nations, such as Eswatini and Malawi, the local organisation carries both names in its normal title.
This is a timeline of the Commonwealth of Nations from the Balfour Declaration of 1926. Some regard the Balfour Declaration as the foundation of the modern Commonwealth.
The 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting was the 20th Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations. It was held in Kampala, Uganda, between 23 November and 25 November 2007, and was hosted by President Yoweri Museveni.
The Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary association of 56 sovereign states. Most of them were British colonies or dependencies of those colonies.
South Africa under apartheid was subjected to a variety of international boycotts, including on sporting contacts. There was some debate about whether the aim of the boycott was to oppose segregation in sport or apartheid in general, with the latter view prevailing in later decades. While the National Party introduced apartheid in 1948, it added sport-specific restrictions from the late 1950s, on interracial sport within South Africa and international travel by nonwhite athletes. The international federations (IFs) governing various sports began to sanction South Africa, both in response to the new restrictions and in reflection of the broader anti-racism of national federations in newly independent postcolonial states. By the early 1970s, South African national teams were excluded from most Olympic sports, although South Africans competed in individual events in some, mainly professional, sports through the 1980s. Although from the mid-1970s the National Party relaxed the application of segregation provisions in relation to sport, this failed to alleviate the boycott, which continued until the end of apartheid.
The 2002 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting was the 17th Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations. It was held in Coolum, Queensland, Australia, between 2 and 5 March 2002, and hosted by the Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard.
The 1999 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting was the 16th Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations. It was held in Durban, South Africa, between 12 November and 14 November 1999, and hosted by President Thabo Mbeki.
The Commonwealth of Nations, often simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is an international association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire from which it developed. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Commonwealth Secretariat, which focuses on intergovernmental aspects, and the Commonwealth Foundation, which focuses on non-governmental relations among member states. Numerous organisations are associated with and operate within the Commonwealth.
Suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations is the most serious punishment that can be administered to members of the Commonwealth. In the absence of any mechanism by which to expel countries that breach its rules, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) may choose to suspend members from the 'Councils of the Commonwealth', which amounts to the suspension of their formal membership of the organisation, although their participation in activities of the Commonwealth Family of organisations is not necessarily affected.
Commonwealth Games Australia (CGA) is the Commonwealth Games Association for Australia, and is responsible for representing and promoting the Commonwealth Sport movement in the country, and organises the participation of athletes at the Commonwealth Games and Commonwealth Youth Games. It changed it name from the Australian Commonwealth Games Association to Commonwealth Games Australia in 2015. The Commonwealth Games have been held in Australia five times, most recently the 2018 Commonwealth Games were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland.
Weightlifting was one of the sports contested at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, held in Birmingham, England. This was the nineteenth staging of weightlifting at the Commonwealth Games since its inclusion in 1950, and the second staging within England specifically.
Swimming was among the sports contested at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, held in Birmingham, England. The sport had been staged in all twenty-one previous editions of the Games thus far, and will be contested in England for the third time.
Badminton was one of the sports contested at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, held in Birmingham, England. This was the fifteenth staging of badminton at the Commonwealth Games since its inclusion in 1966, and the second staging within England specifically.
Lawn bowls was among the sports contested at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, to be held in England. This was the twenty-first staging of lawn bowls at the Commonwealth Games having featured in every Games bar 1966, and the third staging within England specifically.
Table tennis is one of the sports contested at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, held in Birmingham, England. This was the sixth staging of table tennis at the Commonwealth Games since its inclusion in 2002, and the second staging within England specifically.
Including the parasport events, there was a nominal total of 192 quota places available for table tennis at the 2022 Commonwealth Games; 96 each for men and women.
