Information » Things To Do » International Sports » Commonwealth Games
In This Section
Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games is a multi-sport event that involves the best athletes of the Commonwealth of Nations. The Commonwealth of Nations is made up of 53 independent sovereign states, almost all of which are former territories of the British Empire.
It is held every four years and 71 teams participate. In Great Britain, each country has its own team, which competes separately. These teams are:
- Wales
- England
- Scotland
- Northern Ireland
Separate teams from Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man also compete.
The Commonwealth Games includes Olympic sports, as well as sports traditionally played in Commonwealth countries such as lawn bowls, rugby sevens and netball. The sports played include the following list, but can change from tournament to tournament, with the officials deciding which sports are in that particular year:
- Athletics
- Gymnastics
- Cycling
- Archery
- Badminton
- Boxing
- Cricket
- Driving
- Fencing
- Hockey
- Judo
- Lawn bowls
- Netball
- Rugby sevens
- Rowing
- Shooting
- Squash
- Swimming
- Table tennis
- Ten-pin bowling
- Triathlon
- Water polo
- Weightlifting
- Wrestling
Did you know...?
- Around 5,000 athletes attend the Commonwealth Games, which makes it one of the biggest international sporting events
- There are only six nations that have attended every Commonwealth Games. Wales is one of them
- The event was first held in 1930, when it was called the British Empire Games. The name changed to British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954, to British Commonwealth Games in 1970 and assumed the current name of the Commonwealth Games in 1978
