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Commonwealth Games
Profile
of the month: The Australian
Directory
Melbourne,
Australia Commonwealth Games website
The
Commonwealth Games is a multi-sport event held every
four years involving the elite athletes of the Commonwealth
of Nations. The first such event, then known as the
British Empire Games, was held in 1930. 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.
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.
Unlike
other regional games of this type (i.e., Pan-American
Games, Asian Games, All-Africa Games) which usually
attract second-tier athletes, 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 5,000
athletes, which puts these games in third place behind
the Olympics and the World Police & Fire Games.
The
three constituent countries of the United Kingdom
— England, Scotland and Wales, in addition to
Northern Ireland — send separate teams to the
Commonwealth Games, and individual teams are also
sent from crown dependencies such as the Isle of Man
and Jersey.
Only
six nations have attended every Commonwealth Games:
Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, Scotland
and Wales.
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Credit:
Wikipedia
and Official
Commonwealth Games website
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