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Melbourne, Australia 2006

Melbourne Commonwealth GamesTrivia

  • The Games were held from 15-26 March 2006

  • The Melbourne Games were the 18th Games.

  • Melbourne is the fourth Australian city to host the Games following Sydney (1938), Perth (1962) and Brisbane (1982).

  • It is anticipated that 4500 athletes will compete in Melbourne in 16 sports and 24 disciplines. This compares to the Melbourne 1956 Olympic Games, which had 3184 athletes competing in 15 sports.

  • the 2006 Games in Melbourne is estimated to cost approximately $300m to organise not including the construction cost of facilities, compare to $30,000 to stage the first Games in Hamilton.

  • There are 71 nations in the Commonwealth (see countries list), representing over a third of the world’s population. Only eleven nations, including Australia, participated in the first British Empire Games in Hamilton, Canada, in 1930.

  • Fourteen of the 16 sports at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games will be staged at venues within a three-kilometre radius of the CBD.

  • A new 50m competition pool is being constructed at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, ensuring that Melbourne has one of the best aquatic facilities in the world.

  • The 27 hactare Commonwealth Games Village in Parkville was home-away-from-home for over 6000 athletes and officials. It is hidden behind 3 metre fences and sits on the site of the Former Royal Park Psychiatric Hospital.

  • The Games Village is traditionally open for a total of 25 days, starting 10 days before the Opening Ceremony to allow athletes the necessary time to acclimatise and adjust to their surrounds before they compete. The Games Village closes three days after the Closing Ceremony to allow enough time for each team’s departure.

  • The MCG will host the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and Track & Field in 2006. The ‘G’ as it is known, has a long history of hosting Track & Field competition; most famously the 1956 Olympic Games. The MCG was also the home of the first amateur Athletics meeting in Australia in September 1864 and the first ever Australasian Athletics Championship in 1893. (See more about the MCG) .

  • The track at the MCG is italian-designed rubber, compared to the 1956 Olympic track at the same venue was madxe of red cinders.

  • The Queen’s Baton Relay carries the Queen’s message to the athletes competing in the Games which is traditionally read at the Opening Ceremony. The Queen’s Baton traveled 16,936km from Buckingham Palace through the Commonwealth, before traveling around Australia on its journey to the MCG. (see more on the Queen's Baton)

  • Volunteers will be a key contributor to the success of the Games. Up to 15,000 volunteers will be required to assist with running the Games. They will be joined by 1200 technical officials, 5000 contractors and over 500full - time staff.

  • The main dining hall at the Games Village will seat 1800 athletes at any one time and cater for 20,000 meals per day.

Sports

  • Melbourne will present 12 individual and four team sports involving 24 disciplines, while only six sports featured in the first Empire Games – Track & Field, Bowls, Boxing, Rowing, Swimming/Diving and Wrestling (see sports for more info).

  • Melbourne will introduce Basketball to the sports program for the first time at the Commonwealth Games. After making their debut in Manchester, Table Tennis, Mountain Bike and Triathlon will return.

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