58 Fun Facts About Commonwealth Games

How often are the Commonwealth Games held?

Every four years. The cycle has run since the first Games in 1930 and has been broken only twice, when the 1942 and 1946 editions were lost to the Second World War.

What were the Commonwealth Games called when they were first held in 1930?

The British Empire Games. The word 'Empire' stayed in the title until 1966, and was dropped as the Empire itself came to an end.

Which sport made its Commonwealth Games debut as late as Melbourne 2006?

Basketball. It was left out again straight afterwards and did not return until Gold Coast 2018.

Which sport made its Commonwealth Games debut at Gold Coast 2018?

Beach volleyball. Organisers called it a fitting addition for a host city famous for its beaches, and it was one of the few changes to the programme from the previous Games in Glasgow.

Which team made its final Commonwealth Games appearance in 1994?

Hong Kong had competed as a British territory since 1934. The 1997 handover to China took it out of the Commonwealth, so it lost the Games while keeping its own Olympic team.

Which breed of dog led each team into the stadium at the Glasgow 2014 opening ceremony?

Scottish terriers had to work hard for their moment: with only about 40 dogs for the 71 teams, some were sent round again to lead out a second.

Which London landmark hosted the 1911 Inter-Empire Championships, a forerunner of the Commonwealth Games?

The Crystal Palace staged the championships as part of the Festival of Empire, a summer-long show put on to celebrate the coronation of George V.

Which of these teams has competed at every Commonwealth Games since the first in 1930?

Wales has never missed a Games, one of only six teams to manage it. South Africa was shut out from 1962 to 1990 over apartheid, while India and Jamaica first competed in 1934.

Concerns over the treatment of Black and Asian athletes moved the 1934 Games to London from which city?

Johannesburg lost the Games, yet South Africa did not walk away: it still sent its own team to compete in London.

Which city hosted the 1938 Games to mark 150 years of British settlement in Australia?

Sydney timed the Games for its 150th anniversary celebrations. They were the last for twelve years, because the Second World War wiped out the next two editions.

Which Canadian city was due to host the 1942 Games before the Second World War cancelled them?

Montreal never got its turn: the Games resumed in Auckland in 1950, and when they next came to Canada, in 1954, they went to Vancouver instead.

Which two runners both broke four minutes in the 'Miracle Mile' at Vancouver 1954?

Roger Bannister and John Landy settled it on the last bend: Landy glanced left to find his rival just as Bannister swept past on the right, a moment now cast in bronze in Vancouver.

Which capital city's Games were the first to be opened with the Queen's Baton Relay?

Cardiff had waited twelve extra years for its turn: it was due to stage the 1946 Games, which the Second World War cancelled.

Where does the Commonwealth Games baton relay traditionally begin?

Buckingham Palace is where the monarch seals a message inside the baton, and it stays unread until the last runner hands it back at the opening ceremony.

Which mythical creature is Finnie, the mascot of the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games?

A unicorn, Scotland's national animal, but Finnie's horn is a traffic cone: a nod to the cone that Glaswegians keep placing on the head of the city's Duke of Wellington statue.

Which Caribbean capital hosted the Games in 1966, the only time they have been held in the region?

Kingston reshaped the programme as well as the map: rowing was dropped, and badminton made its Games debut there.

Which change did Edinburgh 1970 bring to the Commonwealth Games for the first time?

Metric distances replaced yards on the track in 1970, so the mile gave way to the 1500 metres.

Which attack made security the top priority at Christchurch 1974?

The Munich Olympics massacre of 1972, in which eleven Israeli team members died, led Christchurch to ring its athletes' village with guards and post police across the Games.

Nigeria boycotted the 1978 Edmonton Games over which country's sporting contacts with apartheid South Africa?

New Zealand's rugby tour of South Africa had already driven African nations out of the 1976 Olympics, and Edmonton's organisers spent the run-up trying to prevent a repeat.

Whose government's policy towards apartheid South Africa led 32 nations to boycott the 1986 Games?

Margaret Thatcher's government would not change course, so more nations stayed away from Edinburgh than took part, most of them from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.

Which newly independent neighbour of South Africa made its Games debut in 1994, as South Africa itself returned?

Namibia had been ruled by its neighbour until 1990, so the two teams arrived together: one a newcomer, the other back after 36 years shut out over apartheid.

Which team sport made its Games debut at Kuala Lumpur 1998, the first edition to allow team sports?

Cricket's debut was a one-off: South Africa took the gold, and the sport then vanished from the Games until a women's Twenty20 tournament arrived in 2022.

Which All Blacks giant won gold in the first Commonwealth Games sevens tournament, at Kuala Lumpur 1998?

Jonah Lomu took the gold while already living with the rare kidney disorder that would later halt his career and lead to a transplant in 2004.

Manchester 2002 was timed to coincide with which royal milestone?

Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee year saw her open the Games herself, taking the baton from six-year-old fundraiser Kirsty Howard, who was helped across the stadium by David Beckham.

Which Olympic rowing champion began the Manchester 2002 opening ceremony by beating a drum?

Sir Steve Redgrave struck the drum in the new City of Manchester Stadium, which was then handed to Manchester City, who left Maine Road to play there a year later.

Matilda, the 13-metre winking mascot wheeled into the Brisbane 1982 opening ceremony, was which animal?

A kangaroo: Matilda was built over a forklift truck so she could roll around the stadium, and she ended up as a roadside attraction at a Queensland fuel station.

Which country was absent from Melbourne 2006 after quitting the Commonwealth following its 2002 suspension?

Zimbabwe walked out in December 2003, when Robert Mugabe refused to accept a summit decision to keep his country suspended indefinitely.

As of 2026, which host city's Games, dogged by delays and corruption claims, were the most expensive in Commonwealth Games history?

Delhi's budget ballooned to about 700 billion rupees from a first estimate of under 19 billion, and chief organiser Suresh Kalmadi was arrested in a corruption investigation the following year.

Which stadium hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2010 Commonwealth Games?

Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium made headlines before a race was run: two weeks before the opening ceremony, a new footbridge beside it collapsed and injured more than 20 workers.

Which sprinting superstar set a Games record in the 4×100 m relay at Glasgow 2014?

Usain Bolt had begun training only six weeks earlier after an injury, so he skipped the individual sprints, ran just the relay and anchored Jamaica home five metres clear.

Which football ground hosted the opening ceremony of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games?

Celtic Park staged the ceremony while Hampden Park, the national stadium, became the athletics arena: its pitch was raised almost two metres on steel stilts to fit a running track.

What were the Glasgow 2014 volunteers nicknamed?

Clyde-siders were picked from more than 50,000 applicants for 15,000 places, and the name itself was chosen by the volunteers who had interviewed them.

Which first for major multi-sport events came at Gold Coast 2018?

Equal medal events for men and women came after seven women's events were added in 2016. Four years later Birmingham went further, with more events for women than for men.

In which sport did England stun hosts Australia with a winner in the final second of the Gold Coast 2018 final?

Netball's final turned on a second chance: Helen Housby missed, was given another shot for late contact and scored on the buzzer for a 52–51 win, England's first gold in the sport.

Which royal read the Queen's message from the baton to open the Gold Coast 2018 Games?

Charles, Prince of Wales read out a message his mother had placed in the baton more than a year earlier, after swimmer Susie O'Neill brought it into the stadium.

A giant mechanical model of which animal was the centrepiece of the Birmingham 2022 opening ceremony?

A bull: after the Games a public vote renamed the Raging Bull 'Ozzy', after Birmingham's Ozzy Osbourne, and in 2023 it went on permanent show at New Street station.

Which city was stripped of the 2022 Games over financial problems, costing Africa its first ever hosting?

Durban had been the only confirmed bidder when it won the Games in 2015. Two years later South Africa's government said it could not find the money, and Birmingham stepped in.

Which Australian state pulled out of hosting the 2026 Games in July 2023 over costs?

Victoria's premier Daniel Andrews said the bill had climbed from a budgeted A$2.6 billion to at least A$6 billion, and that he would not take money from hospitals and schools to pay it.

Which sport, played at every Games since 1998, was dropped from the slimmed-down Glasgow 2026 programme?

Hockey went, along with rugby sevens and squash, because Glasgow stepped in late and built its Games around just ten sports in four existing venues.

Which city was awarded the 2030 Centenary Commonwealth Games in 2025?

Ahmedabad, India was chosen ahead of Abuja, with plans to grow the Games back to between 15 and 17 sports after Glasgow's ten.

Which South African swimmer won his 21st medal in 2026 to become the most decorated Commonwealth Games athlete?

Chad le Clos passed Australia's Emma McKeon in the very last race of the Glasgow 2026 swimming programme, a relay bronze won 16 years after his first Games medals.

Which sport is a Commonwealth Games fixture despite having no place at the Olympics?

Lawn bowls has missed only one Games since 1930, and at Glasgow 2026 the sport left the lawn altogether: the competition was played indoors.

Which of these Commonwealth Games teams also competes under its own flag at the Olympics?

Bermuda has had its own Olympic committee since 1936, and triathlete Flora Duffy won gold for it at both events: her Tokyo win made it the smallest nation to take a Summer Olympic title.

Which Australian swimmer won six gold medals at Manchester 2002 while still a teenager?

Ian Thorpe entered seven events, and his one miss was a silver in the 100 metres backstroke, a stroke he had only added as an experiment.

Which Australian city hosted the 1962 Commonwealth Games?

Perth sweltered: the opening ceremony took place in heat of about 40°C, and Australian soldiers were mobilised to carry water to the athletes.

Which country returned to the Games in 1990 after a twenty-year absence, having left the Commonwealth in 1972?

Pakistan had walked out of the Commonwealth in 1972 in protest at its recognition of newly independent Bangladesh, and rejoined in 1989, just in time for the Auckland Games.

Which Scottish runner won 10,000 metres gold at Birmingham 2022, a title her mother Liz won in 1986 and 1990?

Eilish McColgan had finished sixth in each of her three earlier Commonwealth events: the steeplechase, the 1500 metres and the 5000 metres. Moving up in distance finally brought the gold.

Which Australian pop star headlined the closing ceremony of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games?

Kylie Minogue took the stage for a seven-song set after the Games had been declared closed and handed on to Australia's Gold Coast, then joined the whole stadium in Auld Lang Syne.

At the first Games in 1930, which were the only events open to women?

Swimming and diving were women's only events in 1930. Track and field opened to them four years later in London, minus the events organisers thought too exhausting.

The short-lived Commonwealth Winter Games were first staged in 1958 at which Swiss ski resort?

St. Moritz staged all four editions. Their founder, British figure skater T. D. Richardson, hoped the Commonwealth Games Federation would take them over, but it never did, and they ended in 1970.

The first Commonwealth Youth Games were held in August 2000 in which city?

Edinburgh, Scotland staged the first Youth Games as part of the country's Millennium celebrations, with just 15 teams taking part.

Which South African swimmer won the first David Dixon Award, for the outstanding athlete of a Commonwealth Games, in 2002?

Natalie du Toit had lost her left leg in a road accident the year before. In Manchester she won both her races and also reached the 800 metres freestyle final against able-bodied swimmers.

Who became the first female boxing champion in Commonwealth Games history at Glasgow 2014?

Nicola Adams, already the first women's Olympic boxing champion, won only on a split decision, and beaten finalist Michaela Walsh insisted she knew in her heart she had won.

Which English county's campaigners were refused a separate team for the 2006 Games?

Cornwall's campaigners pointed out that Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man all compete separately, but the Games federation replied that it was 'no more than an English county'.

Aboriginal protesters at Melbourne 2006 and Gold Coast 2018 rallied under which nickname for the Commonwealth Games?

The Stolenwealth Games name was coined for Melbourne 2006 and revived on the Gold Coast, where protesters who saw themselves as heirs to the Brisbane 1982 land rights marches sat in the road and held up the baton relay.

Northern Ireland's David Calvert competed at 11 Commonwealth Games over 40 years, the last in 2018, in which sport?

Shooting let him go on and on: Calvert was 67 at his last Games, firing a full-bore rifle at targets up to 1,000 yards away, and he won four golds along the way.

In which sport did Marcus Stephen win seven Commonwealth golds for Nauru before becoming the island's president?

Weightlifting also took Marcus Stephen to the 1992 Olympics in Samoa's colours, because Nauru had no Olympic committee then. By 1996 it did, and he carried its flag in Atlanta.

Which action-film star competed as a diver for England at the 1990 Commonwealth Games?

Jason Statham was spotted by a modelling scout while training with the British diving squad, and the French Connection campaign that followed led him to Guy Ritchie and Lock, Stock.