The Commonwealth Games are a celebration of culture, equality and sportsmanship.
For the first time in 20 years and only the third time in the games history we will have a home Commonwealth Games.
Birmingham is set to host the games for the first time when the opening ceremony kicks off on Thursday 29th July.
Known as the “Friendly Games” The Commonwealth Games is an international multi-sport competition involving athletes from the Commonwealth.
They have also changed their image over time, attempting to be more inclusive as well as distancing themselves from The British Empire.
As culture, life and social acceptance has moved on not just the games but the commonwealth as a whole has attempted to be more progressive.
Attempting to move on from the rule and tyranny of the British Empire, the Commonwealth is now celebrated as a multicultural inclusive family.
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The Games became the first multi-inclusive international event in 2002.
Instead of having a separate games like the Olympics both the abled and disabled athletes represent their national teams together under the official programme.
In 2018 the games became the first multi-sport international event that had the same amount of medals on offer for both men and women.
This year’s Games are set to make history by being the first fully-integrated para program.
The Commonwealth Games aim to unite the Commonwealth family through sport.
The Games have three core values: Humanity, Quality and Destiny.
The History Of The Commonwealth Games
What the Commonwealth Games stands for and what they represent have changed drastically since its inauguration.
The Games have gone from celebrating the Empire to celebrating the culture and diversity of the countries involved making them now a more open, inclusive and accepting family.
Instead of celebrating the Empire’s rule, the games now celebrate and symbolise the coming together of a diverse group of nations as fellow human beings.
The inaugural Commonwealth Games were held in Hamilton, Canada in 1930.
The creation of the games however were inspired by the 1911 Inter-Empire Championships where teams from Australasia, Canada, South Africa and the UK.
They came together to celebrate the Festival of Empire which was held in London.
The 1930 games in Canada featured 11 countries and over 400 athletes for athletics, lawn bowls, boxing, rowing and cycling.
Compared to this year’s Games we now have 72 countries with over 5000 athletes competing in over 250 events.
Sporting Success Of The Games
The Commonwealth Games have witnessed some incredible sporting successes over the history of the games.
Arguably one of the most famous cases in athletics history occurred at the 1954 Vancouver Games.
Roger Bannister and John Landy became the first people in history to break the 4 minute mile in the race that is now labeled the “miracle mile”.
This was a monumental occasion in the whole of athletics, it’s incredible when a world record is broken but Bannister and Landy looked like superhumans completing the first sub 4 minute miles.
With greater technology, more training, Banister’s world record has now been broken by Hichem El Guerrouj who ran 3:43.13 in 1999.
That’s the beauty of sport, records get broken. That’s still not to say how big of an achievement it was for sport.
The Commonwealth Games became the first multi inclusive games in 2002, meaning both abled and disabled athletes competed under the same team.
Chantal Pentitclerc became the first gold medal winner of a para event at the Commonwealth Games that were part of the official programme.
This gave the games a huge cultural shift as it meant all athletes in all events were considered equal as they competed for their national team.
In 2014 Nicola Adams became the first female boxer to win a Gold medal at the Games, female boxing has been a mainstay event ever since.
Unsurprisingly Australia being one of the biggest nations of the Commonwealth lead the medals table with 2415 medals, ranging from Gold, Silver and Bronze.
Gibraltar are technically at the foot of the medal table having competed in 16 games and failed to pick up a single medal.
There are however another 19 nations who have competed in at least one of the games and are yet to pick up a medal.
New Sports At The Games
The Commonwealth Games are unique in themselves and have many different events to the larger Olympic Games.
Like the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games are constantly looking to bring new sports into the competition to make it more inclusive and diverse.
This year will see Cricket being introduced into the games for the first time ever.
There will only be Women’s T20 at the Games and it marks a huge continuing step forward for women’s cricket.
The ICC and ECB have worked tirelessly over the last few years to improve the women’s game, giving them more funding and coverage in the attempt to boost the profile for spectators.
There will be 8 competing nations who will play in a round robin format and a play off final.
Beach volleyball will also be in this year’s Games, a more interesting one for it being held in England.
However with the current weather we have had, beach volleyball will be the perfect sport for our nearly 40 degree heat.
Para table tennis has also been added in, meaning table tennis will be another all inclusive sport at the games with both abled and disabled athletes competing.
Athletes To Watch
Since the Games are being held in Birmingham, England we’re going to look at the best athletes to look out for in this year’s games.
With it being a home Games England will be very hopeful to top the table, Australia due to their size and usual dominance of the games will make them hot favourites to top the table.
Dina Asher-Smith
Asher-Smith is the fastest woman in British history.
She became the first Brit to win three medals at a World Championship, picking up gold in the 200m, Silver in the 100m and Silver in the 4x100m relay.
She became the first British woman to legally run under 11 seconds in the 100m and then broke Kathy Cook’s 31 year record in the 200m.
Asher-Smith has been a pivotal part in being a role model for the British Athletics team and is considered one of the UK’s most influential people of African-Caribbean descent.
She will be competing in the 100m, 200m and the 4x100m relay.
Adam Peaty
The 8 time World Champion, 16 time European Champion, 3 time Commonwealth Champion and 2 time Olympic champion.
Peaty is one of the most decorated swimmers in British history.
He has broken 14 world records and still holds the world record in the 50m and 100m breaststroke.
Peaty is one of the most well known athletes going into the Games, purely for his dominance within swimming.
He is the only British swimmer to retain an olympic title and is looking to defend his commonwealth titles this year.
Peaty will be competing in the 50m breaststroke, 100m breaststroke and the 4x100m medley relay.
Hannah Cockroft
Cockroft is one of the most successful paraatheltes of this century.
She will be making her Commonwealth Games debut this year and looking to maintain the dominance of wheelchair racing.
She holds the world record for the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m within her classification.
Cockroft will be competing in the T33/34 100m.
David Weir
Weir is arguably the most well known paraatheltes from the UK.
He is certainly one of the most decorated, having won 10 Olympic medals, 6 of which have been Gold.
Known as the “Weirwolf” , Weir has won a record breaking 8 London marathons from 21 races.
Weir will be competing in the T54 1500m
Host City
Birmingham will be hosting the Commonwealth Games for the first time in their history.
One of the youngest cities in Europe with over 40% of the population being under 25.
Birmingham is known for being rich in culture and diverse.
It is the second largest city in the UK in terms of population.
If you’re into chocolate you’re in luck, Birmingham is the birthplace of the iconic chocolate manufacturer Cadbury’s.
It is only the third time that the games have been held in England, the last being in Manchester 20 years ago.
It’s expected that Prince Charles will relieve the Queen’s Baton and officially open the games on Thursday 29th July during the opening ceremony.
The opening ceremony will be held at the Alexander Stadium which has been newly renovated for the Commonwealth Games.
Headlining the opening ceremony will be local band Duran Duran.
A total of 16 venues will be used across the competition with the majority being across Birmingham and the West Midlands.
The indoor cycling will take place in London however at the Lee Valley Velo Park.
This will be the largest program of women’s and para-sports in the Games history.
We will see 11 days of sporting action before the closing ceremony begins.
The closing ceremony will take place on the 8th of August and will include the official handover to the next hosts which will be Victoria in Australia in 2026.
Good luck to all the athletes participating in this year’s Commonwealth Games.
Andrew Wright
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