Talk:Commonwealth Games

Criticism section

I clipped this para from the "Criticisms" section, which is basically straight POV and originated in a single edit by an anon ("a lot of people" and "some say" generally means "I" and "I say"):

On a smaller scale, a lot of people dislike the idea of the Games because of their imperialistic, and hence essentially, some say, racist background. However, most people eventually get caught up in the enthusiasm of the event, and athletes themselves are overall pleased to have another big event on their calendars, and hence another chance to win medals.

The line about "justifying their continued existence" in the first section is also pretty POV-ish. I'll rewrite it a bit. --Mpk 09:42, 10 October 2005 (UTC)

Actually, I couldn't make it NPOV, so I snipped the para about medal counts being slanted towards the large industrialised countries (this is hardly a surprise at major world games, and isn't particularly characteristic of the Commonwealth games as opposed to, say, the Olympics) and about justifying the games' existence (also straight POV). In fact, just renamed the section "Boycotts", tidied up what was left, and pushed it down the page. Criticism sections in WP articles have a habit of being straight POV anyway, and this was no exception. --Mpk 09:52, 10 October 2005 (UTC)

• When people criticise the Commonwewalth Games due their perceived "imperialistic" nature, they obviously have never been to the Commonwealth Games - it is a very friendly event. Rhyddfrydol 19:21, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

flags

Why are the flags so large in this article? a little icon and a list would be sufficient. It's taking way too much space. --Kvasir 05:29, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

16 sports

With basketball, I counted 16 sports. Are extra team sports not on the possible inclusions list not counted? This seems rather bizzaree... Nil Einne 23:04, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

History

Some more on the history would be welcome. For example, I believe team sports were first included in the 1998/KL Commonwealth Games as mentioned in that article. I guess you can technically infer that from this article but stating it outright would be good. Some info on the background of this decision to include team sports would be good (why it took so long etc) Nil Einne 23:04, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

The Article by John Astley Cooper appeared in the periodical "Greater Britain" in July 1891 and not in The Times. The article in The Times was written by James Anthony Froude taking up the idea of a Pan-Britannic Contest (pp. 145ff; Moore, Katharine. 1988. The Pan-Britannic Festival, in: Mangan, J.A. (ed), Pleasure, Profit, Proselytism, London: Frank Cass).

Nationality Rules

Does someone have to be a citizen of the country or territory they represent at the Games (as the case for the Olympics)? JAJ 01:30, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

Yes, and if a citizen of two, may choose either. Eligibility rules are here (P14) -- Ian ≡ talk 03:16, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. The wording "citizen or subject" suggests that a person holding any form of British nationality would be eligible to represent one of the British nations at the Games. But considering most British Overseas citizens and British Nationals (Overseas) were born outside the UK & its current Territories, with parents also so born, which country would it be (England by default?) JAJ 14:55, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

I'm certainly no expert, so your guess is as good as mine, but I'd say, that of his or hers place of birth or his or hers mothers or fathers place of birth (assuming its a Commonwealth country). -- Ian ≡ talk 15:20, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

The rules state the that someone may represent a country or territory if either of their parents, or themselves, were born there, or have lived in that country for 6 years. Petepetepete 14:11, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

But one could do or be all these things and yet not be a citizen of that country. That would rule out Olympic eligility - are Commonwealth Games rules different. JAJ 03:36, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

2018 Section

Could someone please provide any good, verifiable, factual evidence that any of the said cities in the 2018 section have even intimated that they are interested in hosting the 2018 Commonwealth Games? 2006/30/03 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.151.211.2 (talk • contribs) 22:44, 30 March 2006‎ (UTC)

Durban, South Africa or Edmonton, Canada — Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.237.131.87 (talk) 05:48, 29 July 2014 (UTC)

Progressive medal counts?

See here for the active discussion on whether the progressive medal counts should stay or go. → J@red  12:16, 2 April 2006 (UTC)

The "second biggest after the Olympics"?

I don't see how this is possible and have altered it. Even the Southeast Asian Games gets around 5,000 competitors. And various sources say the Asian Games gets in excess of 7,000 competitors. [1] & [2] Grant65 | Talk 03:28, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Circular redirect?

The link for countries who have yet to compete is a redirect back to the main page. Im hoping this isnt intentional? Mcspiff 23:46, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

Question

Why weren't the games held in 1942 and 1946? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 58.168.193.23 (talk) 03:41, 8 December 2006 (UTC).

Ever heard of something like WWII? —Nightstallion (?) 14:08, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

Yup, the same reason the 1940 and 1944 Olympics weren't held. Grant65 | Talk 03:53, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

Missing sports

Why is it that there is no football (soccer) for example? Why isn't badminton regularly played? What is the inclusion rationle? Kevlar67 04:40, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

No football I'd hazard because FIFA (football's ruling body) wouldn't allow it in an already busy international competitive schedule (the World Cup is held in the same years as the games), it would require a qualifying competition, the Home Countries would most likely not be interested, and the Premier League managers wouldn't be happy at losing players to international duty yet again... Chunkymonkey2 02:02, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

St Kitts and Nevis

St Kitts and Nevis does not exsit until 1980 the spilt of Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla. Matthew_hk tc 09:42, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Good call, made note of it now. That-Vela-Fella 00:57, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

Nations/dependencies that have competed

Looking at the list it could do with linking territories/countries that changed names after independence, either by asterisk or brackets or slash perhaps e.g. British Honduras - Belize; Gold Coast - Ghana; Ceylon - Sri Lanka; Northern Rhodesia - Zambia; Southern Rhodesia - Rhodesia - Zimbabwe

Chunkymonkey2 01:17, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

They are listed as the name(s) when they competed at the time & best left that way as it shows now. I'm sure if one had wanted to see what name it changed to, they could just click on the respective names to find out themselves. That-Vela-Fella 09:54, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Fair enough. Must have been late at night when I looked and failed to see the footnotes...!

Check the flag being used for Rhodesia 1934-1950. Is this correct as the green/white flag shown is the (Southern) Rhodesian flag of 1968-1979? (See Wikipedia/Flags of Rhodesia 1896-1979). Northern & Southern Rhodesia were seperate entities during the period covered (1934-50); if the Rhodesian teams of this time brought together athletes from both colonies I guess both colonies' flags need to be shown. Alternatively it could be that the team from 34-50 was just Southern Rhodesian in composition? Chunkymonkey2 01:51, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

Is there a list available for the three-letter codes used for the participating nations during the Games? Paploo 19:25, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Commonwealth nations/dependencies yet to send teams

Outside of Tokelau and Pitcairn, who else is there that could (at the moment) participate? Paploo 19:25, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

I don't think there are many other permanently inhabited states within the Commonwealth that could other than what has already been mentioned. All I could see for now not said are the Cocos Islands & Christmas Island. I'll double check if there are more & list it later. That-Vela-Fella 02:34, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Federation

Why are the 2002–2010 games listed as "Commonwealth Games Federation"? Isn't that the name of the organization rather than the name of the event? -- Jao 18:22, 6 August 2007 (UTC)

You're correct, not sure as to why it was so named since the federation is the governing body. Made note of it already & fixed the matter. That-Vela-Fella 21:53, 6 August 2007 (UTC)

Population

I believe the total population from all the countries participating should be included. In my mind, this would help show what a global and large competition this really is. Perhaps total GDP as a percentage of world population as well? Canking (talk) 05:52, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

Commonwealth Federation Championships

I've come across this a few times - what is it? Is it like the junior games or what?--Vintagekits (talk) 14:52, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

As far as I can tell, it's a national competition to decide who will advance to represent the respective nation in the Commonwealth Games. That-Vela-Fella (talk) 02:01, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

No, its an international competition.--Vintagekits (talk) 13:47, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Approved sports

The section in included sports says:

"7The approved list of sports also includes archery, badminton, billiards and snooker, boxing, canoeing, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, judo, rowing, sailing, shooting, squash, table tennis, tennis, ten-pin bowling, triathlon, weightlifting, and wrestling. Some of these are often included in the programme, while others, like billiards and sailing, have not yet been approved.

[...]

On November 18, 2006, tennis and archery were added to the list of disciplines for the 2010 games in New Delhi, bringing the total number of sports to 17. Billiards and snooker were considered but not accepted."

So have billiards and snooker been accepted or not? They're mentioned again later in the article, too, as an event not yet held. 81.109.159.93 (talk) 10:10, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

There are a number of sports that can take place in the games. Some always have to take place (eg athletics). Some have taken place in some Games and not others (Judo, ten pin bowling). Others have never been part of a games (billiards). Sports inclusion in the commonwealth games is not like the Olympics. There is not a central commitee which says which sports are part of a Games shedule where all future games will have the same sports unless this commitee changes the list. Instead there is a large list of sports and those in each Games are picked by from this large list by those organising each Games.

So with billiards - billiards is an approved sport, meaning it could be part of the Commonwealth Games. Howeevr, it has never been chosen by any host country to be part of a Games. Yet it appears that it was seriously being considered for 2010.

However, that whole section is quite misleading. It implies some sports are part of the Commonwealth Games programme, while others are no longer part of it. That doesn't make sense when the sports in an individual Games are chosen each time from a big list. Only the 5 'core' sports are guarantted to be part of a Games schedule. The rest (whether they nearly always appear, sometimes appear, or never have yet appeared) are all on the same level as being possibilities in future Games...so I'm going to work on removing the misleading parts of this section. Evil Eye (talk) 21:10, 22 September 2008 (UTC)

That section lists handball and claims it was contested in 1930, however there is no link to 'Handball at the 1930 British Empire Games' nor is it listed at the 1930 British Empire Games article. So was it played or not? 82.141.94.241 (talk) 03:19, 16 September 2010 (UTC)

Tokelau

The article says "Tokelau is expected to take part in the 2010 Games in Delhi." That's very interesting if it's true, but what's the source? Aridd (talk) 10:47, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

All-time medal tally

I have removed the all-time medal table and replaced it with a link to the separate article. As there is a separate article, there seems no need to duplicate it on this page. This will also ensure in the future that it only needs to be updated on the one page. Ozzieboy (talk) 20:14, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Commonwealth Games WikiProject Proposal

I invite editors of this article to signup to support a Proposed Commonwealth Games WikiProject. The Commonwealth Games series of articles are much in need of attention. The first task of this project would be to standardise article, template and category naming and to format all existing results and medal tables using Template:MedalistTable and Template:RankedMedalTable for example. Additionally an audit of the results is needed - as an example many of the swimming results show mm:ss and should show mm:ss.00 in the time column. Add your support here: Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Proposals/Commonwealth Games. Yboy83 (talk) 11:36, 11 January 2010 (UTC)

The Commonwealth Games is a multinational, multi-sport event. Held every four years, it involves the elite athletes of the Commonwealth of Nations. Attendance at the Commonwealth Games is typically around 5,000 athletes. The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) is the organisation that is responsible for the direction and control of the Commonwealth Games.

The first such event, then known as the British Empire Games, was held in 1930 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The name changed to British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954, to British Commonwealth Games in 1970 and assumed the current name of the Commonwealth Games in 1978.[1]

As well as many Olympic sports, the Games also include some sports that are played mainly in Commonwealth countries, such as lawn bowls, rugby sevens and netball.

There are currently 54 members of the Commonwealth of Nations, and 71 teams participate in the Games. The four constituent countries of the United Kingdom – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – send separate teams to the Commonwealth Games (unlike at the Olympic Games, where the United Kingdom sends a single team), and individual teams are also sent from the British Crown dependencies – Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man – and many of the British overseas territories. The Australian external territory of Norfolk Island also sends its own team, as do the Cook Islands and Niue, two states in free association with New Zealand.

Only six teams have attended every Commonwealth Games: Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales. Australia has been the highest scoring team for ten games, England for seven and Canada for one.

At the 1930 games, women competed in the Swimming events only.[2] From 1934, women also competed in some Athletics events[citation needed].

The next edition will be held in 2010 in Delhi, India. In 2014 the Games will be held in Glasgow, Scotland. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.184.26.97 (talk) 07:57, 11 February 2010 (UTC)

Speculation

Does the article really benefit from speculation that Northern Cyprus (not recognised by any Commonwealth country) could apply to participate or that Yemen might joint too etc? Crystal balls etc...I have added Brazil for completeness in terms of speculation as now any country in the world that has democratic values can join etc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.203.65.14 (talk) 17:58, 21 March 2010 (UTC)

WTF?? Gymnastics??...

...is a sport that is "played mainly in Commonwealth countries" (from the intro)??? Fooking ridiculous! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.156.169.38 (talk) 04:42, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

Map is wrong (Pacific islands)

The map of participating nations is fractionally wrong in the Pacific. It shows Samoa in grey and Fiji in russet; Samoa should be russet and Fiji should be green. Grutness...wha? 07:08, 27 August 2010 (UTC)

Ireland flag 1930

The flag of Leinster is used to represent the 1930 Ireland team. Since there is no flag for the island of Ireland, there is a guideline for this subject. In essence, it is to use the flag used at the event or use no flag. It may have been the flag of Leinster that was used (I don't know but I would be surprised if it was) - or it may have been some other or none. Could someone verify which, if any, was used? --RA (talk) 18:28, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Protection

I've semi-protected the page - there seems to be an upsurge in minor vandalism by unregistered users, and this will probably increase as the 2010 Games start and progress. The protection's for a month, until a week or so after the games finish. Grutness...wha? 05:57, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

Edit request from 200.14.152.100, 30 September 2010

{{edit semi-protected}}

dx-fl,{.,d{f

200.14.152.100 (talk) 19:15, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Not done: please be more specific about what needs to be changed. Salvio ^{Let's talk about it!} 20:29, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

es7t5dutrrrrtredt —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.89.38.144 (talk) 01:54, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

New Section - Transgender Qualification

Whats required for a born male/XY chromo person to qualify as female for the Commonwealth games? Is it testosterone level? Change of birth certificate? Clearly its not breast implants!

Is it the IOC rules or different? IOC rules being

"2.2. The athlete must demonstrate that her total testosterone level in serum has been below 10 nmol/L for at least 12 months prior to her first competition"

10nmol/L being 4 times the max an adult female should have.

Should be added when a developed male of 35 years with 35 years of muscle building with high testosterone can now qualify as female and easily beat every female who did not have this advantage.

--DaraOBrien (talk) 05:42, 8 April 2018 (UTC)

Claim that there was an official Irish Free State (not Ireland or Northern Ireland) team at the 1934 games needs to be backed by sound sources, not flaky sources or speculation.

I have made some changes to flag that, at the very least, there is doubt about whether there was an official Irish Free State representation at the 1934 games. The topic is discussed at Ireland at the British Empire Games. Readers can weigh up the evidence. To my mind, the evidence that there was an offficial Irish Free State team is simply not there. I’ve modified the article to remove unqualified claims that there was. Frenchmalawi (talk) 15:34, 19 September 2020 (UTC)

Broadcasting rights

Maybe we should mention which countries & their networks, have broadcasting rights to these Games. GoodDay (talk) 04:30, 8 February 2022 (UTC)

Plural

Shouldn't it be "The Commonwealth Games are"? Wolf O'Donnel (talk) 21:00, 30 July 2022 (UTC)

How many medals did the woman and men win at the commonwealth games who got more??

How many medals did the woman and men win at the commonwealth games and who got more??? 210.55.79.79 (talk) 22:04, 31 July 2022 (UTC)

How meany did the woman win

How meany did the women win 210.55.79.79 (talk) 22:08, 31 July 2022 (UTC)

Did the men win most of the gold medals?

Did the men win most of the gold medals? 210.55.79.79 (talk) 22:11, 31 July 2022 (UTC)

What does this sentence mean?

"Unlike other multisport events, the Games can adapt to the host cities climate and infrastructure as they have 26 cities in nine countries (counting England, Scotland and Wales separately) have hosted the games."

I would reword it myself but I actually can't tell what this is trying to convey, it's in the third to last paragraph of the summary. 193.61.206.9 (talk) 08:36, 4 August 2022 (UTC)

Asia map incorrect

date and geographic location for Malaysia hosting is wrong. Image shows Kuala Lumpur in Indonesia for wrong date 1997. RT (talk) 12:11, 5 December 2023 (UTC)