The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exception of 1942 and 1946, have successively run every four years since. The Games were called the British Empire Games from 1930 to 1950, the British Empire and Commonwealth Games from 1954 to 1966, and British Commonwealth Games from 1970 to 1974. Athletes with a disability are included as full members of their national teams since 2002, making the Commonwealth Games the first fully inclusive international multi-sport event. In 2018, the Games became the first global multi-sport event to feature an equal number of men's and women's medal events and four years later they are the first global multi-sport event to have more events for women than men.
The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002 were held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August, 2002. The 2002 Games were to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coincide with the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II, head of the Commonwealth, and Manchester was selected for the 2002 Games ahead of London using a recycled part of the project, which lost the 2000 Summer Olympics and Paralympics to Sydney, Australia. The 2002 Commonwealth Games were, prior to the 2012 Summer Olympics, the largest multi-sport event ever to be held in the UK, eclipsing the London 1948 Summer Olympics in terms of teams and athletes participating. The 2002 Commonwealth Games had the largest number of events of any Commonwealth Games in history, featuring 281 events across 17 sports.
The City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England, also known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., with a domestic football capacity of 53,400, making it the 6th-largest in England and tenth-largest in the United Kingdom.
Sarah Elizabeth Ulmer is a former Olympic cyclist. She is the first New Zealander to win an Olympic cycling gold medal, which she won in the 3km individual pursuit at the 2004 Athens Olympics setting a world record.
Manchester Velodrome is an indoor Olympic-standard cycle-racing track in Manchester, England, which opened in 1994. Part of the National Cycling Centre, the facility has been home to British Cycling since 1994, coinciding with the nations rise to track cycling dominance at World and Olympic level. The velodrome was also home to UCI ProTeam Ineos Grenadiers, formerly known as Team Sky between 2010 and 2019, a period when the team won 6 Tour de France, 2 Vuelta a Espana and 1 Giro d'Italia with Great Britain riders.
The Manchester Aquatics Centre, abbreviated MAC, is a public aquatics sports facility south of the city centre of Manchester, England, north of the main buildings of the University of Manchester near Manchester Metropolitan University. It was purpose built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, and cost £32 million to build.
Natalie du Toit OIG MBE is a South African swimmer. She is best known for the gold medals she won at the 2004 Paralympic Games as well as the Commonwealth Games. She was one of two Paralympians to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; the other being table tennis player Natalia Partyka. Du Toit became the third amputee ever to qualify for the Olympics, where she placed 16th in the 10K, "Marathon", swim.
Cultureshock was the Commonwealth Games cultural programme which ran alongside the Games themselves. The events ranged from images of the athlete as hero in sculpture and photography to a Zulu performance at The Lowry. There was an exhibition at the Whitworth Art Gallery called Tales of Power: West African Textiles, and a performance of the film Monsoon Wedding at Clwyd Theatr Cymru. The geographical range was from Cheshire in the south to Blackburn and Cumbria in the north, and included that year the various Melas that take place around the region.
The Commonwealth Water Polo Championships are held in conjunction with the Commonwealth Games, although they are no longer included in the Commonwealth Games programme. They are in a round robin format.
The second city of the United Kingdom is an unofficial claim made at various times by several cities since the establishment of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. Commonly a country's "second city" is the city that is thought to be the second-most important, according to criteria such as population size, economic importance and cultural contribution. The UK adheres to the primate city rule, meaning that its largest city is disproportionately larger than all the others. London, the UK's capital, is by far its largest city, with the UK's other major cities generally more like each other in population and economy than any one of them is to London. As the title is unofficial and there is no agreed set of criteria, the 'second city' debate is ultimately a subjective one.
At the 2002 Commonwealth Games, the athletics events were held at the City of Manchester Stadium on 26–30 July 2002. The route for the marathon event crossed Manchester city centre and finished in the stadium. The race walk events began alongside the Lowry Centre at Salford Quays. There were twenty-five men's events and 23 women's events; the schedules were identical except that there were men's 3000 metres steeplechase and 50 kilometres walk events. Pole vaulter Dominic Johnson won a bronze medal, Saint Lucia's only medal of the Games.
The boxing tournaments at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester took place from July 26 to August 3 at the Forum Centre, and the Manchester Evening News Arena.
Judo at the 2002 Commonwealth Games was the third time that Judo at the Commonwealth Games was included as a sport. It had been held as a demonstration sport at the 1986 Commonwealth Games and made its official debut at the 1990 Commonwealth Games. The sport took place in the GMEX.
The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England between 28 July and 8 August 2022.
Leon Dunne is an Australian freestyle swimmer.
Jason Cram is an Australian freestyle swimmer.
The lawn bowls competition at the 2002 Commonwealth Games took place in Heaton Park, Manchester, England from 25 July until 4 August 2002.
The men's 1500 metre freestyle event at the 2002 Commonwealth Games as part of the swimming programme took place on 3 and 4 August at the Manchester Aquatics Centre in Manchester, England.
The 2022 Commonwealth Games was a multi-sport event held in Birmingham, England, from 28 July to 8 August 2022. It was the first time that Birmingham hosted the games and also marked England's third time hosting the Commonwealth Games after London 1934 and Manchester 2002, and the seventh Games in the United Kingdom after London and Manchester, Cardiff 1958, Edinburgh 1970 and 1986, and Glasgow 2014.
