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The 18th Commonwealth games took place in Melbourne, Australia earlier this year. This web page aims to give you a brief overview of what the Commonwealth Games are all about and how our South African athletes have done in Melbourne. The Official Commonwealth Games Website
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To the Top · What is the Commonwealth · History of the Commonwealth Games · What's News · Commonwealth Games Events · The Commonwealth Games Mascot · South Africa at the Games · Medals won by South African Athletes · Medals Table · Interesting facts about the Melbourne Commonwealth Games · The Queen's Baton Relay · |
What is the Commonwealth?Simply speaking, the Commonwealth is a group of countries that at some stage in their history, used to be governed by Britain. Most of these countries are now independent, with leaders who have been democratically elected, but they choose to keep loose ties with Britain by being part of the Commonwealth. A special thing about the Commonwealth Games is that they are the only Games which share a common language. All athletes and officials can talk to one other in English, creating an atmosphere that has led to the Commonwealth Games being long known as the "Friendly Games".
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History of the Commonwealth GamesThe first Commonwealth Games took place in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in 1930. Eleven nations boasting 400 athletes in total participated in the first Games. Since then the Games have been held every four years except for 1942 and 1946, when World War II intervened. Sixteen Games have been held in total. In an effort to keep the Games vibrant and relevant, the Commonwealth Games Federation allowed Kuala Lumpur in 1998 to include team sports for the first time, a decision which proved an outstanding success. Unlike other sporting occasions, the Commonwealth Games brings together nations from every corner of the world in a unique family spirit of shared history, common experiences, a unifying language, and links that transcend cultural barriers and physical borders. |
SA claim first Swimming Relay
South Africa's Ryk Neethling was part of the winning 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay team. Reigning Olympic 4 x 100m Men's Relay champions South Africa, have held on to their dominance with a winning performance in the first Swimming relay of the Games. Australia's new look team stayed with the champions throughout the race. Canada finished with the bronze medal. In qualifying, the South Africans set a fast pace of 3:13.17 with the Australians coming in third fastest at 3:15.76. The South Africa men pulled off a major shock in 2004 when they won the Olympic Games 4x100m Freestyle title in world record time. Their hopes of recapturing their Olympics performance has been realised. |
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Natalie Du Toit beat her own
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Our own Lize-Mari Retief wins Bronze Friday 17 March 2006
Lize-Mari Retief, who matriculated from St Mary's last year, won a bronze medal in the women's 50m Butterfly. Well done Lize-Mari, we are proud of you. |
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Wow,
says new high jump star
"Wow!" This was the first thing Anika Smith said after winning the high jump for women at the Commonwealth Games Anika Smith of South Africa won the women's high jump
title at the Commonwealth Games on Thursday. |
Roland takes gold again South Africa's Roland Schoeman won his third gold medal at the Commonwealth Games with
victory in the men's 50-metres freestyle final on Tuesday. He also won a gold medal for
the Men's 50m Butterfly and the |
Hurdle Kings: South African Louis van Zyl and Alwyn Myburgh celebrate after winning gold and silver respectively in the 400 metre hurdles at the Commonwealth Games on Thursday. World junior champion Louis van Zyl led home a South
African 1-2 in the men's 400 metres hurdles final at the Commonwealth
Games on Thursday. |
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Commonwealth Games (2006) Events
Badminton, Basketball, Boxing, Table Tennis, Squash, Hockey, Netball, Rugby, Lawn bowls,
Triathlon, Weightlifting, Gymnastics. You can read about many of these
sports on kidcyber pages here
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South Africa at the Games
As a multi-sports event, the Commonwealth Games rank second only to the Summer Olympics,
and all 71 Commonwealth countries are expected to have teams in the Games' host city,
Melbourne, from 15 to 26 March. |
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Medals won by South African Athletes (23 March 2006) |
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To the Top · What is the Commonwealth · History of the Commonwealth Games · What's News · Commonwealth Games Events · The Commonwealth Games Mascot · South Africa at the Games · Medals won by South African Athletes · Medals Table · Interesting facts about the Melbourne Commonwealth Games · The Queen's Baton Relay · |
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Medals Table(Host nation highlighted; sorted in terms of most gold medals - IOC ranking) |
Interesting Facts about the Melbourne Commonwealth Games |
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Taken from: 20 things about the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games |
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GOLD 
SILVER 
BRONZE 
The Queen's Baton RelayThe Queen’s Baton Relay is one of the great traditions of the Commonwealth Games, having been the curtain-raiser to every games since Cardiff, Wales, in 1958. The relay symbolises the gathering of people from across the Commonwealth at the four-yearly festival of sport and culture. |
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The relay traditionally begins with a commencement ceremony at Buckingham Palace,
London, which coincides with the city’s Commonwealth Day festivities. There Her
Majesty Queen Elizabeth II entrusts the baton containing Her ‘message to the
athletes’ to the first honorary relay runner. The relay concludes at the Opening Ceremony, as the final relay runner hands the baton back to Her Majesty, or Her representative, and the message is read aloud. At that moment the relay ends and the Games begin. |
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| Over the years, the Queen’s Baton Relay has evolved into a powerful symbol of the unity and diversity of the Commonwealth of Nations. With each Games, the tradition grows in scale and significance – including more nations, involving more participants and generating more excitement than ever before. |  |
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| The Kuala Lumpur 1998 Queen’s Baton Relay was the first to deliver the relay to
other nations of the Commonwealth, besides England and the host country. The Manchester
2002 Queen’s Jubilee Baton travelled more than 100,000 kilometres in 87 days, and
visited 23 Commonwealth nations. The Melbourne 2006 Queen’s Baton travels an epic journey of more than 180,000 kilometres in a year and a day, and visits all 71 nations of the Commonwealth – home to almost one third of the world’s population.The Melbourne 2006 Queen’s Baton Relay is the world’s longest, most inclusive relay. No other Games relay has visited all member nations. |
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More than 60 per cent of Commonwealth nations will be hosting their first
Queen’s Baton Relay, including the tiny island nations of Saint Helena off the coast
of Africa and Niue in the South Pacific. Hundreds of welcome ceremonies and other community festivities are being held along the relay route, enabling many millions of people across the globe to join in the celebrations for the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games. |