COMMONWEALTH GAMES-Origin-Baton-Oath

COMMONWEALTH GAMES

About Commonwealth Games

The first commonwealth games were held in 1930 at Hamilton, Canada. They are conducted like Olympics  once in four years. All commonwealth countries participate in the sports event which is next to Olympics in terms of participating countries.

At the first games 400 athletes from eleven of the seventy-one Commonwealth countries competed in only six sports. Women only competed in the swimming events at the first games!

Commonwealth Games is the third 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 10th Commonwealth Games were held at Christchurch, New Zealand in 1974 and the 15th in Victoria (Canada) in 1994; where about 3,350 athletes from a record 64 nation (including South Africa, which joined the family of Commonwealth athletes after 36 years) participated.

XVI Commonwealth Games were held in 1998 in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) while XVII Commonwealth Games were hosted by UK with Manchester as their venue.

Namibia, which gained its independence in 1990 also made its debut while Hong Kong made its final appearance in the Games before being ceded to China in 1997.

Athlete's Oath

An Oath is taken on behalf of all the competitors at the Opening Ceremony of each Games. The oath is: " We declare that we will take part in the Commonwealth Games of (year) in the spirit of true sportsmanship, recognising the rules which govern them and desirous of participating in them for the honour of our Commonwealth and for the glory of sport".

The Queen's Baton Relay

The Queen is the Patron of the Commonwealth Games Federation, possibly the most well known traditions of the games is the Queen's Baton relay, first begun in 1958 in Cardiff, Wales. Traditionally the baton leaves Buckingham Palace (London), containing a message from her Majesty, it signifies the call for all athlete's to come together to celebrate the games. The 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games sees the baton travelling through all seventy-one Commonwealth nations in a year and a day!

Venues of Commonwealth Games Since 1930

S.No.    Venue                                                   Year         No. of Countries Participate

      1.     Hamilton, Canada                                   1930                11

2.     London, UK                                            1934                16

3.     Sydney, Australia                                    1938                15

4.     Auckland, New Zealand                           1950                12

5.     Vancouver, Canada                                 1954                24

6.     Cardiff, UK                                             1958                35

7.     Perth, Australia                                       1962                35

8.     Jamaica, West Indies                              1966                34

9.     Edinburgh, UK                                        1970                42

10.  Christchurch, New Zealand                      1974                38

11.  Edmonton, Canada                                 1978                48

12.  Brisbane, Australia                                  1982                47

13.  Edinburgh, UK                                        1986                26

14.  Auckland, New Zealand                           1990                55

15.  Victoria, Canada                                      1994                64

16.  Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia                          1998                70

17.  Manchester, UK                                      2002               72

18.  Melbourne, Australia                               2006                71

19.  Delhi, India                                           2010                71

20.  Glasgow, Scotland                                  2014                71

Gold Coast City, Queensland, Australia          2018     SCHEDULED