History of commonwealth games

Commonwealth Game History

History: Reverend Ashley Cooper was the first person to propose the idea of having a Pan-Britannic sporting contest to foster a spirit of goodwill and understanding within the British Empire. In 1928, a key Canadian athlete, Bobby Robinson, was given the task of organizing the first ever Commonwealth Games. These Games were held in 1930, in the city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and saw the participation of 400 athletes from eleven countries.

Since then, the Commonwealth Games have been held every four years, except for the period during the Second World War. The Games have been known by various names such as the British Empire Games, Friendly Games and British Commonwealth Games. Since 1978, they have been known as the Commonwealth Games. Originally having only single competition sports, the 1998 Commonwealth Games at Kuala Lumpur saw a major change when team sports such as cricket, hockey and netball made their first appearance.

In 2001, the Games Movement adopted the three values of Humanity, Equality and Destiny as the core values of the Commonwealth Games. These values inspire and connect thousands of people and signify the broad mandate for holding the Games within the Commonwealth.

After Olympics, Commonwealth Games is the second largest sports festival in the world. The Games are held once in four years but only in between the Olympic years. The Games were originally known as the British Empire Games. The first Commonwealth Games were held in 1930 at Hamilton, Canada. The 10th Commonwealth Games were held at Christchurch, New Zealand in 1974, the 11th in Edmonton (Canada) in 1978, the 12th in Brisbane (Australia) in 1982, the 13th in Edinburgh (Scotland) in 1986, the 14th in Auckland (New Zealand) in 1990 and the 15th in Victoria (Canada) in 1994, where about 3,350 athletes from a record 64 nations (including South Africa, which joined the family of Commonwealth athletes after 36 years) participated. Namibia also, which gained its independence in 1990, made its debut while Hong Kong made its final appearance in the Games before being ceded to China in 1997.

S. No	Venue	Year	No of Countries
1	Hamilton, Canada	1930	11
2	London, United Kingdom	1934	16
3	Sydney, Australia	1938	15
4	Auckland, New Zealand	1950	12
5	Vancouver, Canada	1954	24
6	Cardiff, United Kingdom	1958	35
7	Perth, Australia	1962	35
8	Jamaica, West Indies	1966	34
9	Edinburgh, United Kingdom	1970	42
10	Christchurch, New Zealand	1974	38
11	Edmonton, Canada	1978	48
12	Brisbane, Australia	1982	47
13	Edinburgh, United Kingdom	1986	26
14	Auckland, New Zealand	1990	55
15	Victoria, Canada	1994	64
16	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	1998	70
17	Manchchester, United Kingdom	2002	72
18	Melbourne, Australia	2006	71
19	New Delhi, India	2010	71