2006 Commonwealth Games: Melbourne, Australia
The 18th Commonwealth Games were held in Melbourne from 15-26 March 2006. About 4500 athletes competed in 16 sports and 24 disciplines.
Trivia
- Melbourne is the fourth Australian city to host the Games following Sydney (1938), Perth (1962) and Brisbane (1982).
- The 4500 athletes in 16 sports is greater than the number that attended the Melbourne 1956 Olympic Games, which had 3184 athletes competing in 15 sports.
- The 2006 Games in Melbourne was estimated to cost approximately $300m to organize not including the construction cost of facilities, compare to $30,000 to stage the first Games in Hamilton.
- There are 71 nations in the Commonwealth (see countries list), representing over a third of the world’s population. Only eleven nations, including Australia, participated in the first British Empire Games in Hamilton, Canada, in 1930.
- Fourteen of the 16 sports at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games were staged at venues within a three-kilometer radius of the CBD.
- A new 50m competition pool was constructed at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, ensuring that Melbourne has one of the best aquatic facilities in the world.
- The 27 hectare Commonwealth Games Village in Parkville was home-away-from-home for over 6000 athletes and officials. It was hidden behind 3 meter fences and was situated on the site of the Former Royal Park Psychiatric Hospital.
- The Games Village is traditionally open for a total of 25 days, starting 10 days before the Opening Ceremony to allow athletes the necessary time to acclimatize and adjust to their surrounds before they compete. The Games Village closes three days after the Closing Ceremony to allow enough time for each team’s departure.
- The MCG hosted the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and Track & Field in 2006. The ‘G’ as it is known, has a long history of hosting Track & Field competition; most famously the 1956 Olympic Games. The MCG was also the home of the first amateur Athletics meeting in Australia in September 1864 and the first-ever Australasian Athletics Championship in 1893.
- The track at the MCG was Italian-designed rubber, compared to the 1956 Olympic track at the same venue was made of red cinders.
- The Queen’s Baton Relay carries the Queen’s message to the athletes competing in the Games which is traditionally read at the Opening Ceremony. The Queen’s Baton traveled 16,936km from Buckingham Palace through the Commonwealth, before traveling around Australia on its journey to the MCG. (see more on the Queen's Baton)
- Up to 15,000 volunteers assisted with running the Games. They were joined by 1200 technical officials, 5000 contractors and over 500full - time staff.
- The main dining hall at the Games Village was able to seat 1800 athletes at any one time and cater to 20,000 meals per day.
Sports
- Melbourne presented 12 individual and four team sports involving 24 disciplines, while only six sports featured in the first Empire Games – Track & Field, Bowls, Boxing, Rowing, Swimming/Diving and Wrestling (see sports for more info).
- The sport of basketball was added to the sports program for the first time at the Commonwealth Games. After making their debut in Manchester, table tennis, mountain bike and triathlon returned to the program.
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