Commonwealth Games

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Commonwealth Games Trivia


  • In 1911, the first 'commonwealth games type' event was held - the 'Festival of Empire' was held in London to celebrate the coronation of King George V. As part of the festival, an Inter-Empire Championships was held with teams from Australia, Canada, South Africa and the United Kingdom participating.

  • The first official Commonwealth Games was held in Hamilton Canada in 1930, and at that time it was called the British Empire Games.

  • The three core values of the Commonwealth Games (adopted in 2001) are: Humanity, Equality & Destiny

  • The first time there was a games mascot was in 1978 in Edmonton - Keyano, a Swan Hills Grizzly Bear.

  • The first time an Asian country hosted the Games was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 1998.

  • The first time team sports were played at the Commonwealth Games was in 1998, when Cricket, Men's and Women's Hockey, Netball and Rugby 7's were added to the program.

  • In 1998, the Queen’s Baton was carried into the stadium on an elephant.

  • The Kuala Lumpur 1998 Queen’s Baton Relay was the first to deliver the relay to other nations of the Commonwealth, besides England and the host country.

  • The relay baton has traditionally contained the message from the Queen to the athletes. For the 2006 Games in Melbourne, the 'Queen's message' was actually stored on a memory chip attached to the baton.

  • Only six nations have attended every Commonwealth Games - Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales. See more trivia about participating countries

  • There are only two male-only core sports at the Commonwealth Games, Rugby 7s and Boxing. Netball is the only female only sport.

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