A formal opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Games is set to kick off in Birmingham. The Alexander Stadium will host the grand inaugural ceremony for CWG 2022. This year, approximately 5000 participants are likely to compete. The CWG 2022 will feature 136 medal events for women and 134 medal events for men. The event will run from July 28 until August 8th. Here are 5 interesting facts about the Commonwealth Games.
5 interesting facts about the Commonwealth Games
- Name story: The first Commonwealth Games took place in 1930. At that time, numerous nations were at war with the British to achieve independence. The games’ names have undergone numerous changes over time. British Empire Games was the initial name. In 1954, the designation changed to “British Empire and Commonwealth Games.” After 16 years, the title was once again altered to “British Commonwealth Games.” The name was finally changed to the Commonwealth Games or CWG in 1978.
- Australia with the most medals: With 932 gold, 775 silver, and 709 bronze medals, Australia tops the list of most CWG medals (2,416 in total). Followed by England and Canada with 2,144 and 1,555 medals respectively.
- Inclusion of Cricket: The 2022 CWG will be the first edition to have women’s cricket in the tournament. Women’s cricket was added to the tournament along with beach volleyball and para table tennis. However, earlier in 1998 men’s List A cricket was a part for the first time in the CWG.
- First medal and a first gold medal for India: Rashid Anwar, an Indian wrestler, won India’s first CWG medal at the 1934 London competition. The 1934 Commonwealth Games featured just six Indian athletes. The great Milkha Singh won the 400-meter gold medal in the 1958 Commonwealth Games by setting a new record (46.6 seconds).
- Third largest multinational sport: The CWG rank third in terms of the size of multi-nation sporting events worldwide. It is only behind the Olympics and the Asian Games. Moreover, to put that into perspective, 4426 athletes participated in the 2018 Commonwealth Games, 11,326 competitors participated in the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, and 11,300 sportsmen participated in the Asian Games in 2018.