History of Commonwealth Games

Common Wealth Games (CWG) is a world class sporting event between the Commonwealth nations conducted every four years. The game started in the year 1930 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada with 11 countries and 400 athletes, participating in 6 sports and 59 events. It was through the pioneering efforts of Bobby Robinson, a major influence within athletics in Canada at the time, that the event came into existence. Now the games are organised and controlled by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF).

Originally known as the British Empire Games (from1930-1950), then British Empire and Commonwealth Games (from 1954-1966), British Commonwealth Games (from 1970-1974) and finally Common Wealth Games (from 1978),  the game has seen many changes over the years since its inception. 

Formerly holding only single competition sports, team events were introduced in the 1998 Games in Kuala Lumpur. Events for athletes with a disability were included in the CWG from 2002 Games in Manchester. Commonwealth Youth Games, open to athletes 18 years of age and under was introduced in the year 2000 as a separate event, with the inaugural games in Edinburgh. Since then, Youth Games has grown in stature and has been conducted at regular intervals.

The story of the Games evolved yet again on the 9th November 2007 when Glasgow (Scotland) was awarded the right to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

The following is a list of the venues, year and the number of participating Countries in the Commonwealth Games ever since its inception in 1930.