Unknown firsts of Commonwealth Games

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Neetu Banga

26 June, 2010

There were no Games in 1942 and 1946 due to World War II. In 1930 the first Commonwealth Games were held in Hamilton, Canada.

THE FIRST Commonwealth Games were conducted in 1930. Since then this sporting event has taken place every four years. There were no Games in 1942 and 1946 due to World War II. In 1930 the first Commonwealth Games were held in Hamilton, Canada, where 11 countries sent their 400 athletes for 6 sports with 59 events.

At that time, Hamilton bore the expenses of participants and provided 30,000 dollars towards travelling cost to the participating nations. The athletes’ village was the Prince of Wales School next to the Civic Stadium, where all competitors stayed, slept and practiced whole days with terms. Women events were only included in the 1934 Games in London, with careful concern given not to include ‘too exhaustive’ events.

The first live telecast was televised in 1954 during the Vancouver Commonwealth Games in which only some events were shown to viewers all around world. In 1962, during the Seventh Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia, as the temperature hovered above 40 degree Celsius, Australian soldiers had a tough time to provide water to all athletes and that they were forced to ferry it from nearby states.

In 1970, the Games were hosted in Edinburgh, Scotland which introduced various new technologies like use of metric distances including electronic photo finish system. Queen Elizabeth-II was present for the first time for the games as the Head of the Commonwealth. In 1972, in Munich Olympics, one Israeli athlete died in a bloody massacre due to lack of security. In the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, New Zealand had given unprecedented security. In the 1994 Games in Victoria,
Canada, first time in the history of Commonwealth Games, South Africa participated in all events and marked the end of apartheid.

The first ever feature of team sports introduced in 1998; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Malaysia became the first Asian city to host the games. First time the Queen’s Baton visited all Commonwealth Games participating countries in the 2006, Melbourne, Australia. This year India will become the first country in the world to host eco-friendly and green Commonwealth Games. The next games will be in Glasgow (Scotland) in 2014.