The Games, by the letter
With the XXII Commonwealth Games getting under way in Birmingham, Sam Wilson gets you in the zone for the 11-day competition with quirky facts and key figures from the event’s history.
A – is for Auckland
New Zealand’s biggest city has hosted the Commonwealth Games twice – in 1950 and 1990.
The only other time the Games came to these shores was back in 1974, when Christchurch did the honours.
B – is for boycott
The 1986 Edinburgh Games are perhaps best remembered for the political boycott that saw some 32 nations from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean refuse to participate due to the British government’s refusal to impose sanctions on South Africa’s apartheid regime.
In 1978, Nigeria also boycotted the Edmonton Games in Canada over New Zealand’s sporting contacts with South Africa, which culminated in the notorious Springboks tour three years later.
C – is for Charles
the Prince of Wales, who opened the Birmingham Games in the absence of his ailing 96-year-old mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
Buckingham Palace confirmed last week that Her Majesty would not be attending the opening ceremony at Alexander Stadium as she scales back on her public appearances.
D – is for Dame Sophie Pascoe
New Zealand’s most decorated Paralympian with 19 medals, who will seek to add to her haul in Birmingham where she competes in the women’s 100m freestyle S9 event.
Pascoe clinched two gold medals in the pool in 2018 in the 100m backstroke and 200m individual medley, adding to the two she won in Glasgow. Can she bag a fifth in England?
E – is for Edmonton
one of four Canadian cities (the others being Victoria, Vancouver and Hamilton), to have hosted the Games.
F – is for ‘Friendly Games’
Since the first edition in the Canadian city of Hamilton in 1930 – when they were known as the British Empire Games – the competition has carried this moniker.
The original aim of the fouryearly event was to bring together members of the Commonwealth of nations to compete against each other in a spirit of friendship and fair play, hence the term ‘Friendly Games’.
G – is for Gault, Mick
an English shooter who shares the record for most individual Commonwealth Games medals with Australian counterpart Phillip Adams.
Both men have won an incredible 18 medals across six Games. Curiously, Gault was never selected to represent Great Britain at the Olympics.
South African swimmer Chad le Clos has 17 and could usurp the pair in Birmingham.
H – is for Halberg, Murray
the New Zealand middle-distance runner who struck gold in the three-mile events at the 1958 and 1962 Games in Cardiff and Perth. Sandwiched in between those triumphs, Halberg became an Olympic champion with victory in the 5000m in Rome.
The country’s most prestigious sports awards, the Halbergs, are named in his honour in recognition of his work with children with disabilities.
I – is for India
the Asian country that held the Games for the first and only time in 2010 in the city of Delhi.
With a passionate crowd willing them on, the host nation came second on the medal table behind Australia with 38 golds, 27 silvers and 36 bronze medals.
J – is for ‘Join Together’
Steve Allen’s song that won a national contest to become the official theme tune for the 1974 Games in Christchurch.
The iconic anthem made it to No 2 in the New Zealand chart, kept off top spot by Helen Reddy’s ‘Delta Dawn’.
It proved less popular in apartheid era South Africa, where the lyrics calling for ‘‘fostering of peace and love’’ and for ‘‘every race and creed’’ to unite saw it banned from the airwaves.
K – is for Kuala Lumpur
the Malaysian capital which hosted the 1998 Games. It was the first time the showpiece had been hosted in Asia, and it would be 12 years before it returned to that part of the world.
L – is for Lennox Lewis
the boxing legend who won super heavyweight gold for Canada at the 1986 Games in Edinburgh.
Born in London but raised in Ontario, Lewis held dual British and Canadian citizenship and opted to represent the country of his birth as a professional, capturing the undisputed heavyweight championship in a glittering career.
M – is for medal table
that all-important barometer of a nation’s success and a source of bragging rights.
New Zealand have consistently punched above their weight on the world stage and placed fifth on the Gold Coast four years ago with a haul of 46 medals (15 gold, 16 silver and 15 bronze).
Historically, Australia are the top dogs of the Commonwealth with a whopping 2416 medals (including 932 golds), followed by England (2144 in total), Canada and India.
New Zealand are fifth in the alltime standings with 159 golds, 220 silvers and 278 bronze, and have the Indians firmly in their sights.
N – is for Nyika, David
the Hamilton boxer who captured two golds for New Zealand at the Glasgow and Gold Coast Games at light heavyweight and heavyweight respectively.
Nyika was meant to chase a historic third gold in Birmingham, but a hand injury sustained in a pro bout nixed those plans.
O – is for Olympic Games
the global sporting event to which the Commonwealth Games is often unfavourably compared.
Unlike the Olympics, participation in the Commonwealth Games is limited to member states of the Commonwealth of nations, along with their territories.
While that waters down the quality of the competition somewhat, it does give smaller countries like New Zealand a greater chance of glory.
P – is for podium
which New Zealand athletes have stood on top of on 159 occasions across 21 Games. How many will they add to that tally in Birmingham?
Q – is for the Queen
patron of the Games and the monarch of 14 of the Commonwealth countries competing in England, including New Zealand, Australia, the Bahamas, Canada, Jamaica and Papua New Guinea.
Most of the 54 nations and 18 territories taking part used to be part of the British Empire, though many have since ended their association with the monarchy.
R – is for Rowing
which hasn’t been a part of the Games schedule since 1986 in Edinburgh.
Given New Zealand’s success on the water at the Olympics, that has undoubtedly had a negative impact on our medal tally.
S – is for six
the number of countries who have participated in all 21 iterations of the Games. They are Australia, Canada, England, Scotland, Wales and, of course, New Zealand.
T – is for Thunder, Jimmy
the Samoan-born slugger who captured boxing gold for New Zealand in Edinburgh in 1986.
Then known by his birth name Peau, the heavyweight knocked out Scottish rival Doug Young in his hometown with a vicious uppercut to top the podium.
Thunder went on to have a long professional career, winning 35 of his 49 fights, 28 by knockout.
He sadly died in his sleep in February 2020, following an operation on a brain tumour, aged just 54.
U – is for underdogs
Despite having a population of under 11,000 people, the tiny island nation of Nauru has performed well above reasonable expectations at the Commonwealth Games, claiming an astonishing 29 medals from eight appearances.
Every one of Nauru’s medals (10 golds, 10 silvers and nine bronze) have been won in weightlifting. Seven of their 16-strong team in Birmingham will compete in the discipline and look to continue
their country’s proud record.
V – is for Valerie
as in Valerie Young (ne´ e Sloper), New Zealand’s golden girl having brought home a recordbreaking five golds from her four Games appearances. Young competed in the shot put and discus, winning both events at the 1962 and 1966 Games for a rare double.
Had she not retired to start a family after her heroics in Kingston (returning in 1974 to compete in her home city of Christchurch) she may well have won more.
Her namesake, shot putter Dame Valerie Adams, claimed five Commonwealth Games medals in total – three of a golden hue and two silvers.
W – is for Wellington
the home town of swimming gold medal hope Lewis Clareburt, who in recent years opted to stay and train in a public pool in the capital over the high performance programme in Auckland.
X – is for Roman numerals
which are often used to signify the edition of the Games. Birmingham is the 22nd showpiece – that’s XXII the old-fashioned way.
Y – is for Yelavich, Greg
the prolific pistol shooter who holds the distinction of having won more Games medals than any other New Zealander, with 12.
Auckland’s Yelavich won two golds and a bronze on his debut in Edinburgh in 1986, before snaring two silvers and a bronze in his home city four years later.
He brought home silver and two bronzes from Victoria (1994), a bronze in Kuala Lumpur (1998) and a silver in Melbourne (2006) and Delhi (2010) to complete his remarkable individual haul.
Z – is for zero
the number of medals won by 14 countries and territories competing at the Commonwealth Games.
Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Brunei, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Maldives, Montserrat, Niue, Rwanda, Saint Helena, Sierra Leone, Turks and Caicos Islands and Tuvalu have all never made it onto the podium.
Here’s hoping at least one of them breaks their duck this year.