The Commonwealth Games

The Australian city of Melbourne will host the Commonwealth Games between 15 and 26 March 2006. This Hot Topic provides some starting points and information on the Games, and some resources for further study.

The history of the games

The first Commonwealth Games were held in 1930 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Since then, the Games have been conducted every four years except for 1942 and 1946, due to World War II. From 1930 to 1950 the Games were known as the British Empire Games, then the British Empire and Commonwealth Games until 1962. From 1966 to 1974 they took on the title of British Commonwealth Games and from 1978 onwards they have been known as simply the Commonwealth Games.

The Commonwealth Games attracts the top athletes of member nations of the Commonwealth, thus making this competition world-class in the true sense of the word (second only to the Olympic Games). Attendance is typically around 5000 athletes, which puts these games in third place behind the Olympics and the World Police and Fire Games. The Commonwealth Games also have the advantage of all athletes and officials being able to converse with each other in English, creating an atmosphere that has led to the Commonwealth Games being long known as the ‘Friendly Games’.

New Zealand and the Commonwealth Games

New Zealand has hosted the games in 1950 and 1990 in Auckland, and 1974 in Christchurch.

1950
The opening ceremony at Eden Park was attended by 40,000 spectators, whilst nearly 250,000 people attended the Auckland Games, paying out a total of £89,435 as event spectators.

1974
1974 was also the first multi-sport event to place the safety of participants and spectators as its uppermost requirement. Security guards surrounded the athletes’ village and there was an exceptionally high-profile police presence, following the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. That year also saw the start of colour television broadcasts in New Zealand.

1990
A proposed boycott against the apartheid in South Africa was called off, so a new record of 54 nations participated in the second Auckland Games. It was the 14th Commonwealth Games, and part of New Zealand's 1990 sesquicentennial celebrations. Particpants competed in ten sports: athletics, aquatics, badminton, boxing, cycling, gymnastics, judo, lawn bowls, shooting, and weightlifting.

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Resources on TKI

Commonwealth Games: Manchester
Students can use their number skills with this QuizIt to answer questions in the context of the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002. This interactive online multiple choice quiz was developed for the wickED website as part of the Digital Opportunities project.
http://www.tki.org.nz/r/wick_ed/quizit/?id=27

Manchester Magic: The Commonwealth Games
This level 3 unit, intended for years 5-6, provides an introduction to the Commonwealth Games with a focus on the Manchester 2002 games. Students explore a range of sites to learn about Commonwealth Games heroes in the past and present. They track events and issues as they happen.
http://www.tki.org.nz/r/socialscience/curriculum/SSOL/manchester/ index_e.php

QuizIt - Kuala Lumpur Games
This QuizIt was developed for the Jump into July theme for the wickED website as part of the Digital Opportunities project. Students can use this online multiple choice quiz to solve mathematical problem solving questions related to the Commonwealth Games.
http://www.tki.org.nz/r/wick_ed/quizit/?id=28

wickED Themes: Jump into July
The Jump into July theme contains activities that relate to the Manchester Commonwealth Games 2002 and the New Zealand general election. The activities include mathematics questions, literacy questions, and technology questions. This page was developed for the wickED website as part of the Digital Opportunities project.
http://www.tki.org.nz/r/wick_ed/themes/jump.php

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Other online resources

Commonwealth Games Federation
This website provides information about the Commonwealth Games including the sports, nations competing, and history of the games. It has an athlete search feature providing results from past Games and features an archive of material from the 2002 Manchester Games, with  information on the 2006 Melbourne Games.
http://www.commonwealthgames.com/

Sport Sound Files
Themes from the Dictionary of NZ Biography NZHistory.net website features posters, information, brief extracts, and sound recordings from sporting people in New Zealand 1940–1960. Includes Yvette Williams 1952 Olympic gold in the long jump, an extract when she won three golds in the 1954 Commonwealth Games, and Winston McCarthy's famous rugby commentary 'Listen...it's a goal'.
http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/sport-194060

Swimming New Zealand
Swimming New Zealand is the national organisation which represents swimming from learn-to-swim to Olympic Games competition. This site includes information for national swim meets, recent and archived media releases, teaching and coaching courses, and high performance swimming criteria.
http://www.swimmingnz.org.nz/index.php

The New Zealand Olympic Committee
This website of the New Zealand Olympic Committee has information about the New Zealand Olympic team at the latest Olympic Games. It includes links to news items related to the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games and contains a section on Olympic history, including New Zealand's involvement. It provides details of the teams and information on sporting codes including basketball, gymnastics, hockey, cycling, judo, rowing, shooting, softball, swimming, table tennis, track and field, triathlon, wrestling, weight lifting, yachting, and roller skating. It also includes information on Winter Olympics events.
http://www.olympic.org.nz/

Please note: These links were valid when this page was posted. However the Web is very volatile, and TKI has no control over outside websites. Please let us know if you find anything inappropriate, if you find a broken link, or if you have an update for a link by emailing links@tki.org.nz. Te Kete Ipurangi recommends that teachers view all websites we link to before using them with students.

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