It took several decades before it came to fruition. Eleven countries sent a total of athletes to the Hamilton Games. Women competed in only the swimming events. The Hamilton Games featured just six sports — athletics, boxing, lawn bowls, rowing, swimming and diving and wrestling. It has now grown to become a huge financial and logistical challenge for the host city. While Glasgow was viewed as a success, interest in hosting the event has diminished to the point the original host of the Games, Durban, pulled out because of the huge cost.
In today's fragmented media landscape and crowded sporting market, the attraction of hosting such an event is not what it once was.
Ask a netballer what they think of the Commonwealth Games and they would say it is one of the pinnacles of their sport. The top 12 ranked countries in the world are the 12 teams competing on the Gold Coast. It is a great learning experience for athletes in dealing with the distractions of living in a village environment, similar to the Olympics. Whatever the future of the Commonwealth Games, the Gold Coast will no doubt be a spectacle, it will most likely do a great job of hosting it and Australia will feel good about itself after winning another truckload of medals.
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work. Fears Commonwealth Games will cause spike in homelessness. Coming first at the Commonwealth level is no substitute for success at the Olympic Games — the pinnacle. Winning gold in more than one-third of the Commonwealth Games events is impressive, but the only medal tally that counts is the Olympic one, where Australians can more authentically measure themselves against the world.
Read more: Gold Coast Games will struggle to stay relevant — here's why. Australia again dominated in the pool , as they have done since In blue ribbon events such as the metres or marathon, success has largely eluded us. Take, for example, the five gold medals won by Australia in the lawn bowls competition. In fact, according to Roy Morgan , a host of Commonwealth Games have seen huge declines in participation since , including netball, table tennis, volleyball, field hockey, squash, and rugby.
Read more: The Commonwealth Games are an opportunity to face up to the history of colonialism. Finally, there is the emergence of cynicism towards commercialised sports, amid a growing sentiment that big business has too much of an impact on sport.
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Australia smashes the swimming. I could not think of anything I had done wrong. I was to be at headquarters at 6. It was formally announced with lots of photos by the press. I was to lead the whole Australian team onto the ground. There seemed to be far more people worthier than me to carry the flag. What did not change was the political unrest at the time, with a boycott of 14 nations from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean threatened until the very last moment due to the continued refusal of South Africa to select anything other than an all-white cricket team.
A tour of England by South Africa was cancelled at the eleventh hour. In the end, 27 won medals, at the time the most diverse medal spread in Games history. In the pool dual Mexico gold medallist Michael Wenden was a headline act in Edinburgh, and then emerging stars Raelene Boyle athletics and Karen Moras swimming who after both won medals in Mexico, would go on to make their marks on the Commonwealth Games. Athletics team members won 10 gold medals, weightlifting four and cycling and diving two gold medals each.
But it was at the newly-constructed Royal Commonwealth Pool, where Australian swimmers dominated the pool winning 18 gold medals, with the women leading the way winning gold in 12 of the 14 events. Denise Langford won five medals, with four gold. She collected gold medals in the m and m individual medley, the 4xm freestyle and medley relays and silver in the m freestyle. Lynne Watson also won four gold and Beverley Whitfield won three.
Maree Robinson won the m butterfly. White won the m freestyle and Graham Windeatt the m free in a Games record. At Meadowbank Stadium a star-studded Australian athletics team included Olympic champions, world record holders and emerging stars.
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