Commonwealth Games facts

• In 1911, as part of the celebrations for the coronation of King George V, a "Festival of Empire" was held which included events such as boxing, wrestling, swimming and athletics. Teams from Australia, Canada, South Africa and the United Kingdom participated.
• The first official Commonwealth Games, which were known as the "British Empire Games", were held in Canada in 1930. Four hundred athletes from 11 countries competed. At these Games women only competed in the swimming events.
• Since 1930 the Games have taken place every four years, except in 1942 and 1946 due to World War II.
• The Games have had several name changes since they started and have only been known as the Commonwealth Games since 1978.
• The Commonwealth Games are the only Games at which all athletes share a common language, English. This has led to them being known as the "Friendly Games".
• The number of sports at the Games has slowly increased from six in 1930 to 18 in 2006. Nowadays, the Games must have a minimum of 10 sports and there will be 17 in Delhi.
• Swimming, athletics, lawn bowls, rugby 7's and netball are all compulsory sports at the Commonwealth Games. The host country then chooses from a list of sports to complete the program. Other sports can include: archery, badminton, gymnastics, weightlifting, shooting or cycling.
• Seventy-one countries are eligible to compete in the Commonwealth Games.
• Only six teams (Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales) have attended every Commonwealth Games.
• The 1930 Games cost £20,000 (approx $33,000) to run. The Melbourne Games in 2006 cost approximately $300,000,000 which did not include the cost of building the facilities.
• Team sports have only been included in the Commonwealth Games since 1998.
• The Commonwealth Games in Delhi are the 19th Games to be held.

About Australia and the Commonwealth Games

• Athletes from Australia have been to all the Commonwealth Games since they first (officially) began in 1930.
• In 1930, the first Australian team took almost a month to travel from Sydney to Hamilton, Canada. They travelled by ship, on the RMS Aorangi.
• The Commonwealth Games have been held in Australia four times: 1938 (Sydney), 1962 (Perth), 1982 (Brisbane) and 2006 (Melbourne). The Gold Coast is hoping to host the Games in 2018.
• Australia's most successful Games were in 2006 (Melbourne), at which the athletes won 221 medals (84 gold, 69 silver and 68 bronze).
• Australia is sending over 600 athletes to compete in Delhi.
• Australia is the overall champion of the Commonwealth. We have won 1905 medals in total. England is second with 1692 and Canada is third with 1314.
• Australia's most successful male athlete is shooter Phillip Adams. He has won seven gold, nine silver and two bronze medals over five Games.
• Australia's most successful female athlete is swimmer Susan O'Neill. She has won 10 gold and five silver medals over three Games.
• Australia's oldest gold medal winner was lawn bowler Dorothy Roche, who was 61 when she competed at the 1990 Games in Auckland.
• Australia's youngest gold medal winner was swimmer Jenny Turrell, who was just 13 when she competed at the 1974 Games in Christchurch.

About India and Delhi

• Delhi is the capital city of India. It is located in northern India, on the banks of the River Yamuna.
• India is in southern Asia and is the seventh largest country in the world (just over twice the area of Queensland).
• India currently has a population of about 1,179 million people. This is approximately 15 percent of the world's total population.
• The official language of India is Hindi, but English is also spoken.
• India's currency is called the rupee ($1 Aus = approximately 41.8 rupee).
• The National Capital Territory of Delhi (including New Delhi, the Indian capital, and surrounding areas) has an estimated population of over 21.5 million people living in an area that is one tenth the size of Sydney.