1978 Commonwealth Games

XI Commonwealth Games

Host city	Edmonton, Canada
Nations	47
Athletes	1,475
Events	128 events in 11 sports
Opening	3 August 1978
Closing	12 August 1978
Opened by	Elizabeth II
Athlete's Oath	Beverly Boys
Queen's Baton Final Runner	Diane Jones Konihowski
Main venue	Commonwealth Stadium
←  X XII  →

The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, from 3 to 12 August, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics was held in Montreal, Quebec. They were boycotted by Nigeria, in protest at New Zealand's sporting contacts with apartheid-era South Africa, as well as by Uganda, in protest at alleged Canadian hostility towards the government of Idi Amin. ^[1] The Bid Election was held at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.

This was the first Commonwealth Games where a computerized system was used to handle ticket sales. This was the first Commonwealth Games to be named Commonwealth Games, having dropped British. The Games were opened by Queen Elizabeth II for the first time since becoming Queen in 1952.

The Commonwealth Stadium

Host selection

1978 Commonwealth Games bidding results

City	Round 1
Edmonton	36
Leeds	10

Venues

The main stadium was the Commonwealth Stadium, constructed specifically for the Games at the cost of $42 million. ^{[2] [3]} The athletes' village was located at the University of Alberta and had accommodation for 2,000 athletes (2 per room) in the Lister Hall Residential Complex. The dining hall could seat up to 1,000 and was open 24 hours a day. A shuttle bus ran from the University campus to the main stadium five miles away. ^[4]

• Aquatics - Kinsmen Aquatic Centre
• Athletics - Commonwealth Stadium
• Badminton - University of Alberta Arena
• Boxing - Edmonton Gardens ^[2]
• Cycling (track) - Argyll Velodrome
• Cycling (road) - North Saskatchewan River Valley. ^[5]
• Gymnastics - Northlands Coliseum
• Lacrosse (demonstration event) - Edmonton Coliseum
• Lawn bowls - Coronation Park Greens ^[2]
• Shooting - Strathcona Shooting Range, Edmonton
• Weightlifting - Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
• Wrestling - University of Alberta Main Gymnasium

Participating teams

Participating countries

46 teams were represented at the 1978 Games.
(Teams competing for the first time are shown in bold).

Participating Commonwealth countries and territories

Antigua Australia Bahamas Bangladesh Barbados Bermuda British Honduras Canada (host) Cayman Islands Cook Islands Cyprus England   Fiji  (7) Ghana Gibraltar Grenada Guernsey Guyana Hong Kong India Isle of Man Jamaica Jersey Kenya Lesotho Malawi Malaysia Mauritius   New Zealand Northern Ireland Papua New Guinea Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Scotland Sierra Leone Singapore Sri Lanka Swaziland Tanzania The Gambia Trinidad and Tobago Turks and Caicos Islands Wales Western Samoa Zambia

Medal table

Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, and their two younger sons, Andrew and Edward, at the opening of the 1978 Commonwealth Games, in Edmonton, Alberta

.

The host nation topped the medal table. ^[6]

  *   Host nation (Canada)

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Canada*	45	31	33	109
2	England	27	27	33	87
3	Australia	24	33	27	84
4	Kenya	7	6	5	18
5	New Zealand	5	6	9	20
6	India	5	4	6	15
7	Scotland	3	6	5	14
8	Jamaica	2	2	3	7
9	Wales	2	1	5	8
10	Northern Ireland	2	1	2	5
11	Hong Kong	2	0	0	2
12	Malaysia	1	2	1	4
13	Ghana	1	1	1	3
	Guyana	1	1	1	3
15	Tanzania	1	1	0	2
16	Trinidad and Tobago	0	2	2	4
	Zambia	0	2	2	4
18	Bahamas	0	1	0	1
	Papua New Guinea	0	1	0	1
20	Western Samoa	0	0	3	3
21	Isle of Man	0	0	1	1
Totals (21 entries)		128	128	139	395

Medals by event

Athletics

Main article: Athletics at the 1978 Commonwealth Games

Badminton

Main article: Badminton at the 1978 Commonwealth Games

Boxing

Main article: Boxing at the 1978 Commonwealth Games

Cycling

Main article: Cycling at the 1978 Commonwealth Games

Diving

Main article: Diving at the 1978 Commonwealth Games

Gymnastics

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
Men's All-Around	Philip Delesalle   Canada	56.4	Lindsay Nylund   Australia	54.95	Jean Choquette   Canada	54.25
Men's Team	Canada   Canada Jean Choquette Nigel Rothwell Owen Walstrom Philip Delesalle	165.55	England   England Edward Arnold Ian Neale Jeff Davis Thomas Wilson	161.95	Australia   Australia Lambert Ariens Lindsay Nylund Rudolf Starosta Warwick Forbes	158.5
Women's All-Around	Elfi Schlegel   Canada	38.25	Monica Goermann   Canada	37.25
			Sherry Hawco   Canada
Women's Team	Canada   Canada Elfi Schlegel Karen Kelsall Monica Goermann Sherry Hawco	113.25	England   England Joanna Sime Karen Robb Lisa Jackman Susan Cheesebrough	107.4	New Zealand   New Zealand Deborah Hurst Kirsty Durward Lynette Brake Rowena Davis	106.35

Lawn bowls

Main article: Lawn bowls at the 1978 Commonwealth Games

Shooting

Pistol

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
Men's/Open 50m Free Pistol	Yvon Trempe   Canada	543	Edward Jans   Canada	540	Bertram Manhin   Trinidad and Tobago	536
Men's/Open 25m Rapid-Fire Pistol	Jules Sobrian   Canada	587	John Cooke   England	581	Jeff Farrell   Australia	581

Rifle

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
Men's/Open 50m Rifle Prone	Alister Allan   Scotland	1194	Bill Watkins   Wales	1191	Stewart Watterson   Isle of Man	1187
Men's/Open Fullbore Rifle	Desmond Vamplew   Canada	391	James Spaight   England	388	Patrick Vamplew   Canada	387

Shotgun

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
Men's/Open Trap	John Primrose   Canada	186	George Leary   Canada	185	Terry Rumbel   Australia	183
Men's/Open Skeet	John Woolley   New Zealand	193	Paul Bentley   England	191	Joe Neville   England	190

Swimming

Men's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 m freestyle	Mark Morgan   Australia	52.70	Bill Sawchuk   Canada	52.81	Gary MacDonald   Canada	52.90
200 m freestyle	Ron McKeon   Australia	1:52.06	Graeme Brewer   Australia	1:52.86	Mark Morgan   Australia	1:53.16
400 m freestyle	Ron McKeon   Australia	3:54.43	Simon Gray   England	3:56.87	Max Metzker   Australia	3:58.83
1500 m freestyle	Max Metzker   Australia	15:31.92	Simon Gray   England	15:39.39	Andrew Astbury   England	15:42.89
100 m backstroke	Glenn Patching   Australia	57.90	Gary Abraham   England	58.48	Jay Tapp   Canada	59.05
200 m backstroke	Gary Hurring   New Zealand	2:04.37	Glenn Patching   Australia	2:05.76	Paul Moorfoot   Australia	2:05.99
100 m breaststroke	Graham Smith   Canada	1:03.81	Duncan Goodhew   England	1:04.24	Paul Naisby   England	1:06.36
200 m breaststroke	Graham Smith   Canada	2:20.86	Duncan Goodhew   England	2:21.92	Lindsay Spencer   Australia	2:22.49
100 m butterfly	Dan Thompson   Canada	55.04	John Mills   England	56.22	Bill Sawchuk   Canada	56.37
200 m butterfly	George Nagy   Canada	2:01.99	Claus Bredschneider   Canada	2:02.49	Phil Hubble   England	2:02.53
200 m individual medley	Graham Smith   Canada	2:05.25	Bill Sawchuk   Canada	2:05.61	Peter Dawson   Australia	2:09.05
400 m individual medley	Graham Smith   Canada	4:27.34	Simon Gray   England	4:27.70	Bill Sawchuk   Canada	4:27.99
4 × 100 m freestyle relay	Canada Bill Sawchuk Gary MacDonald Graham Smith Peter Szmidt	3:27.94	Australia Glenn Patching Graeme Brewer Mark Morgan Ron McKeon	3:28.62	England David Dunne Kevin Burns Martin Smith Richard Burrell	3:30.10
4 × 200 m freestyle relay	Australia Graeme Brewer Mark Morgan Max Metzker Ron McKeon	7:34.83	Canada Bill Sawchuk Dennis Corcoran Peter Szmidt Robert Baylis	7:36.58	England David Dunne Martin Smith Philip Hubble Simon Gray	7:42.02
4 × 100 m medley relay	Canada Bill Sawchuk Dan Thompson Graham Smith Jay Tapp	3:49.76	England Gary Abraham Duncan Goodhew John Mills Martin Smith	3:50.22	Australia Glenn Patching Graeme Brewer Lindsay Spencer Mark Morgan	3:53.16

Women's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 m freestyle	Carol Klimpel   Canada	57.78	Rosemary Brown   Australia	58.30	Wendy Quirk   Canada	58.41
200 m freestyle	Rebecca Perrott   New Zealand	2:00.63	Tracey Wickham   Australia	2:01.50	Michelle Ford   Australia	2:01.64
400 m freestyle	Tracey Wickham   Australia	4:08.45	Michelle Ford   Australia	4:10.25	Rebecca Perrott   New Zealand	4:16.70
800 m freestyle	Tracey Wickham   Australia	8:24.62	Michelle Ford   Australia	8:25.78	Rebecca Perrott   New Zealand	8:44.87
100 m backstroke	Debra Forster   Australia	1:03.97	Hélène Boivin   Canada	1:04.54	Cheryl Gibson   Canada	1:04.68
200 m backstroke	Cheryl Gibson   Canada	2:16.57	Lisa Forrest   Australia	2:17.66	Glenda Robertson   Australia	2:18.32
100 m breaststroke	Robin Corsiglia   Canada	1:13.56	Maggie Kelly   England	1:13.69	Marian Stuart   Canada	1:13.72
200 m breaststroke	Lisa Borsholt   Canada	2:37.70	Debbie Rudd   England	2:38.07	Maggie Kelly   England	2:38.63
100 m butterfly	Wendy Quirk   Canada	1:01.92	Penny McCarthy   New Zealand	1:02.27	Linda Hanel   Australia	1:02.69
200 m butterfly	Michelle Ford   Australia	2:11.29	Wendy Quirk   Canada	2:13.65	Linda Hanel   Australia	2:14.52
200 m individual medley	Sharron Davies   England	2:18.37	Rebecca Perrott   New Zealand	2:18.70	Becky Smith   Canada	2:18.95
400 m individual medley	Sharron Davies   England	4:52.44	Becky Smith   Canada	4:57.83	Cheryl Gibson   Canada	4:59.39
4 × 100 m freestyle relay	Canada Carol Klimpel Gail Amundrud Sue Sloan Wendy Quirk	3:50.28	England Cheryl Brazendale Heidi Turk Kaye Lovatt Sharron Davies	3:53.27	Australia Lisa Burnes Michelle Ford Rosemary Brown Tracey Wickham	3:54.11
4 × 100 m medley relay	Canada Carol Klimpel Hélène Boivin Marian Stuart Wendy Quirk	4:15.26	Australia Debra Forster Lisa Curry-Kenny Rosemary Brown Tracey Wickham	4:16.75	England Helen Gilyard Margaret Kelly Sharron Davies Sue Jenner	4:19.87

Weightlifting

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
Flyweight – Overall	Ekambaram Karunakaran   India	205	Charlie Revolta   Scotland	197.5	Roger Crabtree   Australia	190
Bantamweight – Overall	Precious McKenzie   New Zealand	220	M Tamil Selvan   India	220	Jeffrey Brice   Wales	215
Featherweight – Overall	Michael Mercier   Canada	237.5	Ivan Katz   Australia	235	Darrell Schultz   Canada	230
Lightweight – Overall	Bill Stellios   Australia	272.5	Adrian Kebbe   Australia	267.5	Phillip Sue   New Zealand	262.5
Middleweight – Overall	Sam Castiglione   Australia	300	Newton Burrowes   England	290	Steve Pinsent   England	290
Light Heavyweight – Overall	Robert Kabbas   Australia	322.5	Charles Quagliata   Australia	287.5	Gary Shadbolt   England	277.5
Middle Heavyweight – Overall	Gary Langford   England	335	Terry Hadlow   Canada	330	Brian Marsden   New Zealand	312.5
Sub Heavyweight – Overall	John Burns   Wales	340	Steve Wyatt   Australia	325	Robert Santavy   Canada	315
Heavyweight – Overall	Russ Prior   Canada	347.5	Wayne Smith   Canada	337.5	Andy Drzewiecki   England	335
Super Heavyweight – Overall	Jean-Marc Cardinal   Canada	365	Bob Edmond   Australia	322.5	John Hynd   Scotland	305

Wrestling

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Light Flyweight	Ashok Kumar   India	George Gunouski   Canada	Mark Dunbar   England
Flyweight	Ray Takahashi   Canada	Sudesh Kumar   India	Ken Hoyt   Australia
Bantamweight	Satbir Singh   India	Michael Barry   Canada	Amrik Singh Gill   England
Featherweight	Egon Beiler   Canada	Jagminder Singh   India	Brian Aspen   England
Lightweight	Zsigmund Kelevitz   Australia	Joe Gilligan   England	Jagdish Kumar   India
Welterweight	Rajinder Singh   India	Victor Zilberman   Canada	Keith Haward   England
Middleweight	Richard Deschatelets   Canada	Wally Koenig   Australia	Ivan Weir   Northern Ireland
Light Heavyweight	Stephen Danier   Canada	Mick Pikos   Australia	Kartar Singh   India
Heavyweight	Wyatt Wishart   Canada	Satpal Singh   India	Murray Avery   New Zealand
Super Heavyweight	Robert Gibbons   Canada	Albert Patrick   Scotland	Ishwar Singh   India

References

1. Donald Macintosh; Michael Hawes; Donna Ruth Greenhorn; David Ross Black (5 April 1994). Sport and Canadian Diplomacy. McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP. p. 81. ISBN   978-0-7735-1161-3.
2. "Commonwealth Games of 1978". EBSCO. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
3. "History of Commonwealth Stadium". City of Edmonton. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
4. "Oil capital of Canada" . Ireland's Saturday Night. 4 March 1978. p. 5. Retrieved 30 January 2026– via British Newspaper Archive.
5. "Billy Chases Gold in Canada" . Belfast Telegraph. 28 July 1978. p. 23. Retrieved 5 February 2026– via British Newspaper Archive.
6. "Medal Standings Edmonton 1978". Commonwealth Games Federation. Retrieved 30 January 2026.

External links

• "Edmonton 1978". Commonwealthsport.com. Commonwealth Sport.
• Going the Distance, an NFB documentary

Preceded by Christchurch

Commonwealth Games Edmonton XI Commonwealth Games

Succeeded by Brisbane