The 1998 Commonwealth Games (Malay: Sukan Komanwel 1998), officially known as the XVI Commonwealth Games (Malay: Sukan Komanwel ke-16), was a multi-sport event held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 11 to 21 September 1998 with 214 events in 15 sports featured in the games. The 1998 games were the first held in an Asian country and the last Commonwealth Games of the 20th century. This was also the first time the games took place in a nation with a head of state other than the Head of the Commonwealth, and the first time the games were held in a non-English speaking nation. 3638 athletes from 69 Commonwealth member nations participated at the games with 34 of them collected medals. For the first time ever, the games included team sports. The other bid from the 1998 games came from Adelaide in Australia.

Malaysia is the eighth nation to host the Commonwealth Games after Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, Wales, Jamaica and Scotland. The games was opened by the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohammad and closed by Head of the Commonwealth, Elizabeth II at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium.

The final medal tally was led by Australia, followed by Canada, England and host Malaysia. Several games records were broken during the games. With little or no controversy at all, the games were deemed generally successful, with the rising standards of competition amongst the Commonwealth member nations.

The 16th Commonwealth Games opening ceremony took place on 11 September 1998 at 17:30 MST (UTC+08:00). Contrary to tradition, the games were not officially opened by the Malaysian head of state, Yang di Pertuan Agong Tuanku Jaafar because he was unable to arrive to the stadium in time. Instead, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad, opened the games. The venue for the opening and closing ceremonies was the newly built National Stadium Bukit Jalil, a 100,000-spectator capacity stadium. The theme song "Malaysiaku Gemilang" was sung by Malaysian pop singers Norzila Binti Haji Aminuddin, Shahrul Anuar Zain, Siti Roziana Binti Zain, Shaheila binti Abdul Majid, Amy Mastura Binti Suhaimi, Ning Baizura binti Sheikh Hamzah, and Siti Nurhaliza Binti Tarudin—and many other Malaysian singers also performed. The games featured 15 sports with 3638 athletes as 69 teams were represented.

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