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Power point presenttion

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Wordsearch

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Summary

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The Commonwealth

March 11th is Commonwealth Day, but what exactly is the Commonwealth?

Where is the Commonwealth, and who lives there?

The Commonwealth is a group of 54 countries, spread all over the globe, north to south, east to west. The countries range in size from the tiny island of Nauru in the Pacific ocean (which is so small that it doesn't have a capital), to Canada, the largest territory in the world. Both rich and poor countries are members - the GDP of Singapore is about 200 times that of Sierra Leone. Over one and a half billion people (a quarter of the world's population) live in the Commonwealth, and between them represent nearly every religion, race and political system on the planet.

What is the Commonwealth?

Hot and cold, rich and poor, wet and dry, island and land-locked, the list of opposites used to describe the countries which make up the Commonwealth seems endless. Just what do they all have in common?

The member states all use English as a common working language, and have similar legal and education systems. The countries support each other in their aims to reduce poverty, prejudice, ignorance and disease, and to promote human rights and social development.

Historically, the modern Commonwealth is a product of the British Empire, and began in the late 1940s, after India and Pakistan gained independence. As more and more countries took charge of their own affairs in the 1950s and 1960s, many were attracted to the aims and values of the Commonwealth, resulting in the family of nations seen today.

Activities and events

The Commonwealth is active in a huge number of areas, including ecology, health and economics, providing and sharing information, training and expertise to further the aims of the organisation. The Heads of Government Meeting is held every two years, where the leaders of the member states get together to discuss current issues. Commonwealth Day is held in the second week of March every year, where Commonwealth citizens, particularly children, have a chance to celebrate their friendship.

The Commonwealth also hosts sporting and arts events. There is an annual writers prize, which has been won in previous years by famous authors such as Peter Carey and Louis de Bernieres, and a yearly arts and crafts competition. Perhaps the most well-known event sponsored by the organisation is the Commonwealth Games, which is held every four years in one of the member countries. The games have gained the nickname 'the Friendly Games' because of their reputation for good-natured competitiveness.

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March 11th is Commonwealth Day, but what exactly is the Commonwealth? The Commonwealth is a group of 54 countries, spread all over the globe, north to south, east to west. The countries range in size from the tiny island of Nauru in the Pacific ocean (which is so small that it doesn't have a capital), to Canada, the largest territory in the world.

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Wikipedia

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The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Gold Coast 2018, is an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that is currently being held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, between 4 and 15 April 2018.

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The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations.

The following information about the Commonwealth Games can be found below:

A printable PDF of the information on this page is available in the right-hand column.

A brief history of the Commonwealth Games

In 1891, John Astley Cooper first wrote about a sporting competition that would bring together members of the British Empire, but it wasn't until 1911, at the coronation of King George V, that an 'Inter-Empire Championships' was held. This event included teams from Australasia, Canada, South Africa and the United Kingdom. They competed in athletics, boxing, wrestling and swimming events.

The first official Commonwealth Games (called the British Empire Games) were held in 1930 in Hamilton, Canada. Four hundred athletes from 11 countries competed in 59 events across six sports: athletics, boxing, lawn bowls, rowing, aquatics (swimming and diving) and wrestling. Interestingly, women only competed in swimming events. The competing nations were: Australia, Bermuda, British Guyana, Canada, England, Northern Ireland, Newfoundland, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa and Wales.

Since 1930, the Games have taken place every four years, except in 1942 and 1946 (due to World War II), but they have had a few name changes:

British Empire Games (from 1930 to 1950)

British Empire and Commonwealth Games (from 1954 to 1966)

British Commonwealth Games (from 1970 to 1974)

Commonwealth Games (since 1978)

Nine nations have hosted the Commonwealth Games:

Australia (1938, 1962, 1982, 2006, 2018)

Canada (1930, 1954, 1978, 1994)

New Zealand (1950, 1974, 1990)

Scotland (1970, 1986, 2014)

England (1934, 2002)

Wales (1958)

Jamaica (1966)

Malaysia (1998)

India (2010)

The sports

The first Commonwealth Games only included six sports. Today, the host nation must include a minimum of 10 core sports on their program:

Aquatics (swimming)

Athletics

Badminton

Boxing (men, with an option to add women's events)

Hockey

Lawn Bowls

Netball (women)

Rugby 7s (men, with an option to add women's sevens)

Squash

Weightlifting

The host nation can then add up to seven more events from a list including: archery, basketball, gymnastics, rowing, softball, cycling and table tennis.

In Manchester (2002), the Commonwealth Games became the first multi-sport event to include Para-Sports events in a fully inclusive program. Host cities must now include four core Para-Sports in their program and can include up to three more. The mandatory events are:

The total number of events at a Games must not exceed 20.

The Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games will include 18 events. In addition to the ten core events there is:

Basketball

Beach volleyball

Cycling (road, mountain bike and track)

Gymnastics (rhythmic and artistic)

Para power lifting

Shooting

Table tennis

Triathlon

Australia and the Commonwealth Games

Athletes from Australia have been to all the Commonwealth Games since they first (officially) began in 1930. For those Games the team took almost a month to travel from Sydney to Hamilton, Canada. International air travel was not common and very expensive in those days, so they travelled by ship, on the RMS Aorangi.

Australia has hosted the Commonwealth Games four times: 1938 (Sydney), 1962 (Perth), 1982 (Brisbane) and 2006 (Melbourne), and the Gold Coast will host the Games in April 2018.

We should be very proud because Australia is the overall champion of the Commonwealth! We have won 2218 medals in total. England is second with 2008 and Canada is third with 1473.

Our most successful Games was in 2006 (Melbourne), at which the athletes won 221 medals (84 gold, 69 silver and 68 bronze). At the last Games in Glasgow, we won 137 medals (49 gold, 42 silver and 46 bronze). As the host nation, the 2018 team will be eager to break their 2006 record.

The 2018 host city - Gold Coast

The host city for the 2018 Commonwealth Games is the Gold Coast.

Located just north of the Queensland/New South Wales border, and about 66 kilometres south of Brisbane, the Gold Coast is a coastal city with a population of around 640,000 people. It is the sixth-largest city in Australia (the largest non-capital city) and the second largest in Queensland (after Brisbane).

The Gold Coast is one of Australia's major tourist destinations with its sunny sub-tropical climate, beautiful surfing beaches, theme parks and rainforest hinterland. More than 10 million people visit the Gold Coast every year, including around one million international visitors.

The Gold Coast is also a film production hub with movies such as Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Thor: Ragnarok being filmed there.

Commonwealth Games fast facts

The highest number of nations to compete at a Games was 72 at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games. Although, the largest number of athletes (4,929) were present at the 2014 Glasgow Games.

Often referred to as the 'Friendly Games', only single competition sports were on the program until the 1998 Games which included team sports for the first time. Nations then competed in cricket, hockey, netball and rugby 7s.

Not all athletes are under the age of 30! Lawn bowler Dorothy Roche, was 61 when she won gold at the 1990 Games in Auckland, making her Australia's oldest Commonwealth Games gold medal winner ever.

Australia's youngest gold medal winner was swimmer Jenny Turrell, who was just 13 when she competed at the 1974 Games in Christchurch.

Amazingly, while 71 countries are eligible to compete in the Commonwealth Games, only six have attended every Games since 1930. These are Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales.

Nations that are eligible to compete in the Commonwealth Games

Nations that have competed in ALL Commonwealth Games

The 1930 Games cost £20,000 (approx. $33,000) to run. The Melbourne Games in 2006 cost approximately $300,000,000 and this amount didn't even include the cost of building the facilities!

The 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast is the 21st Games to be held. They will run from 4 April to 15 April 2018.

The slogan for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games is 'Share the Dream' and the mascot is a blue, surfing koala named Borobi.

References

The following links will direct you to the homepage of the websites used as references for this topic.

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The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The following information about the Commonwealth Games can be found below: A printable PDF of the information on this page is available in the right-hand column.

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The Commonwealth is a family of 56 countries from all over the world. And more than half the people in the Commonwealth are young people just like you.

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Lesson and acrtivities