Commonwealth Games | |
---|---|
Games | |
Sports (details) | |
The Commonwealth Games (known as the British Empire Games from 1930–1950, the British Empire and Commonwealth Games from 1954–1966, and British Commonwealth Games from 1970–1974) is an international multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exception of 1942 and 1946, which were cancelled due to World War II, has taken place every four years since then. The most recent Commonwealth Games were held in Glasgow, Scotland in 2014.
The games are overseen by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), which also controls the sporting programme and selects the host cities. A host city is selected for each edition. 18 cities in seven countries have hosted the event. Apart from many Olympic sports, the games also include some sports that are played predominantly in Commonwealth countries, such as lawn bowls and netball.
Although there are 52 members of the Commonwealth of Nations, 70 teams participate in the Commonwealth Games, as a number of dependent territories compete under their own flags. The four Home Nations of the United Kingdom—England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland—also send separate teams.
Nine nations have hosted the Commonwealth Games. Australia has hosted four Commonwealth Games (1938, 1962, 1982, 2006) and is going to host for the fifth time in 2018. Canada has hosted four Commonwealth Games (1930, 1954, 1978, 1994). Two cities have hosted Commonwealth Games more than one time: Auckland (1950, 1990) and Edinburgh (1970, 1986). Two Commonwealth Republic nations, Malaysia and India have hosted the games in 1998 and 2010 respectively.