The Commonwealth Games, a sporting event held every four years bringing together Commonwealth member states, was held in Birmingham, England from July 28th to August 9th.
Commonwealth member state New Zealand also participated with 233 athletes and achieved some fantastic results!
What is Commonwealth anyway?
Commonwealth is the common name for the Commonwealth of Nations, which is called the British Commonwealth in Japanese.
The Commonwealth is an economic alliance formed by countries that were originally British colonies coming together as independent nations and regions. According to the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade website, the Commonwealth is an alliance that promotes peace and prosperity among its member countries and protects and supports the economies, laws, electoral systems, and human rights of smaller nations.
There are currently 56 member countries in the Commonwealth (British Commonwealth). Of these, 16 countries, including New Zealand, are constitutional monarchies, with Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom currently serving as the national monarch. Six countries have their own monarchs, and 34 are republics. Incidentally, the Republic of Gabon and the Republic of Togo only joined in June of this year. (At the time of the author's check, the number of member countries remained at 54 on the websites of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the British Royal Family.)
Although there are no legal obligations between member countries, the three values of "democracy," "human rights," and "rule of law" are shared under the Commonwealth Charter established in 2012. The Commonwealth Games are held with the aim of reaffirming and promoting these values.
Diverse NZ team
The 22nd Commonwealth Games, 2022, will be held in Birmingham, England's second largest city, from July 29 to August 9, with approximately 4,500 athletes from 72 countries and regions participating.
By the way, even though there are 56 member states of the Commonwealth, why are there 72 countries and regions participating? For example, in the United Kingdom, the participating countries are divided into England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales.
New Zealand has previously hosted the tournament three times, in Christchurch in 1974, and Auckland in 1950 and 1990.
A total of 233 athletes from New Zealand participated in the Games, of which 125 were female athletes. 54% of the total were female athletes, the highest percentage of any competition, including the Commonwealth Games and the Olympic Games.
The athletes also had a wide variety of roots, including Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands, Fiji, the Philippines, China, Australia, Europe, and Africa, with 20% of the athletes being of Māori descent.
The age range was also wide: the youngest athlete was 16-year-old diver Maggie Squire, and the oldest was 75-year-old lawn bowls player Sue Curran.
Curren:
“I’m a little older than the rest of my teammates (laughs), but it’s still great to be able to make the national team.”
He commented,
New Zealand wins a record 20 gold medals
New Zealand won a total of 49 medals in this tournament, including 20 gold medals, the most ever won at a Commonwealth Games!
The cycling team was a big success, winning a total of 17 medals: 10 gold, 5 silver and 2 bronze.
Among them, Aaron Gate won medals in four cycling races: team pursuit, individual pursuit, points race and road race. This is the most gold medals won by a single athlete in a single Olympics. Gate also served as the flag bearer at the closing ceremony.
Swimming also won nine medals, five of which were gold, the most ever in the history of the Commonwealth Games. Lewis Clareburt won three medals, a gold in the 400m individual medley, a gold in the 200m butterfly, and a bronze in the 200m individual medley.
The squash team also did well. Paul Coll was the first NZ squash player to win gold in the men's singles, and he and Joelle King also won gold in the mixed doubles. King also won gold in the women's doubles.
The next Commonwealth Games will be held in Victoria, Australia in 2026.
