1994 Commonwealth Games
Multi-sport event held in Canada
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 1994 Commonwealth Games (French: XVéme Jeux du Commonwealth) were held in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, between 18 and 28 August 1994. It was the 15th Commonwealth Games. These were the fourth and most recent Commonwealth Games to be hosted by Canada, after Hamilton 1930, Vancouver 1954, and Edmonton 1978.
Logo of 1994 Commonwealth Games | |
| Host city | Victoria, Canada |
|---|---|
| Motto | Catch The Spirit |
| Nations | 63 |
| Athletes | 2,557 |
| Events | 217 events in 10 sports |
| Opening | 18 August 1994 |
| Closing | 28 August 1994 |
| Opened by | Elizabeth II |
| Closed by | Prince Edward |
| Queen's Baton Final Runner | Myriam Bédard |
| Main venue | Centennial Stadium |
The Games featured ten sports: athletics, aquatics (diving and swimming), badminton, boxing, cycling, gymnastics, lawn bowls, shooting, weightlifting and wrestling. Judo which had replaced wrestling in 1990 was dropped in favour of wrestling returning, the latter being dropped from the Games for the first time in 1990.[1]
Host selection
Three bids for the 1994 Commonwealth Games were submitted. Victoria, New Delhi, and Cardiff were the bidding cities. On 15 September 1988, the Commonwealth Games Federation voted to award Victoria the 1994 Commonwealth Games.[2]
Venues
Many of the venues were existing, with the Saanich Commonwealth Place being built for $22 million CAD being the biggest cost for a new building.[3] Other new venues included four new lawn bowl courts and the velodrome.[3] [4]
- University of Victoria – Athletes' Village
- Centennial Stadium – Athletics
- Saanich Commonwealth Place – Aquatics[5][6]
- McKinnon Gymnasium – Badminton[7][8]
- Archie Browning Sports Centre (Esquimalt) – Boxing
- Victoria Memorial Arena – Gymnastics[7]
- Royal Athletic Park – Field Lacrosse (demonstration)
- Heal's Range – Shooting[7][9]
- Royal Theatre – Weightlifting[10]
- Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre
- Juan de Fuca Velodrome – Track cycling [11]
- Juan de Fuca Bowling Club – Lawn bowls
- Juan de Fuca Arena – Wrestling[12]
Highway 17 (Patricia Bay Highway) – Road cycling[7]
Final "Original Games"
The 1994 games was the last time team sports were excluded. In 1991, the Commonwealth Games Federation deemed the original setup of ten sports to be obsolete. Beginning with the 1998 games, team sports such as Rugby sevens, Basketball, and Field hockey were added. The decision was taken to encourage more revenue streams from television by making the games more attractive to viewing audiences.
Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony featured production design by Mary Kerr in collaboration with Chief Adam Dick, Clan Chief Kwaxistella of the Kwaxkwaka'wakw (then known as the Kwakiutl), and Kim Recalma Clutesi.[13] A simple friendly atmosphere was the theme to the Opening Ceremonies. In the presence of Prince Edward, the Athletes had a long march past to their seated area (an idea created four years previously and emulated since at the 2014 Games in Glasgow). Welcome speeches and flag raisings were followed by a precision horse riding display by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. A visual and theatrical display by the Four Nations Tribes culminated in a massive Thunderbird symbol covering the entire inner field.[13] This was followed by a flypast by the Snowbirds Canadian Forces aerobatic display team.
Games
Participating teams
There were 63 participating nations at the 1994 Commonwealth Games. The XV Commonwealth Games marked South Africa's return to the Commonwealth Games following the apartheid era, and 36 years since the country last competed in the Games in 1958. Namibia participated in its first Games after gaining independence from South Africa in 1990, and the Caribbean island of Montserrat also made their Games debut. This was Hong Kong's last appearance at the Games before the transfer of sovereignty from Britain to China.
| Participating Commonwealth Countries & Territories |
|---|
|
| Debuting Commonwealth Countries and Territories |
|
Sports
There were events in 14 disciplines across 10 sports for the 1994 Commonwealth Games.
Aquatics ()
Diving (6) ()- Swimming (34) ()
Synchronised swimming (2) ()
Athletics (44) ()
Badminton (5) ()
Boxing (12) ()- Cycling ()
- Gymnastics ()
Artistic gymnastics (14)
Rhythmic gymnastics (6)
Lawn bowls (8) ()
Shooting (32) ()
Weightlifting (30) ()
Wrestling (10) ()
_pictogram.svg){kind=small}
_pictogram.svg){kind=small}
_pictogram.svg){kind=small}
_pictogram.svg){kind=small}
Calendar
The following table shows a summary of the competition schedule.
| OC | Opening ceremony | ● | Event competitions | 1 | Event finals | CC | Closing ceremony |
| August | 18 Thu |
19 Fri |
20 Sat |
21 Sun |
22 Mon |
23 Tue |
24 Wed |
25 Thu |
26 Fri |
27 Sat |
28 Sun |
Events | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ceremonies | OC | CC | |||||||||||
 Athletics
| 1 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 6 | 11 | 44 | |||||
 Badminton
| ● | ● | 1 | ● | ● | ● | ● | 5 | 6 | ||||
 Boxing
| ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 12 | 12 | ||||
 Cycling
| 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 13 | ||||||
 Diving
| ● | 2 | ● | 2 | 2 | 6 | |||||||
 Gymnastics
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 20 | |||||
 Lawn bowls
| ● | ● | ● | 2 | ● | ● | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | |||
 Shooting
| 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 32 | |||
 Synchronised swimming
| ● | ● | ● | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
 Swimming
| 6 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 34 | ||||||
 Weightlifting
| 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 30 | |||||||
 Wrestling
| ● | 5 | 5 | 10 | |||||||||
| Total events | 13 | 17 | 20 | 24 | 25 | 22 | 19 | 25 | 41 | 11 | 217 | ||
| Cumulative total | 13 | 30 | 50 | 74 | 99 | 121 | 140 | 165 | 206 | 217 | |||
| August | 18 Thu | 19 Fri | 20 Sat | 21 Sun | 22 Mon | 23 Tue | 24 Wed | 25 Thu | 26 Fri | 27 Sat | 28 Sun | Events | |
Medal table
This is a full table of the medal count of the 1994 Commonwealth Games. These rankings sort by the number of gold medals earned by a country. The number of silvers is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze. If, after the above, countries are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically. This follows the system used by the IOC, IAAF and BBC.
This was the first time since the commencement of the British Empire Games (in 1930) that England did not achieve a medal ranking in the top two.
* Host nation (Canada)
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Australia | 87 | 52 | 43 | 182 |
| 2 |  Canada* | 40 | 42 | 46 | 128 |
| 3 |  England | 31 | 45 | 49 | 125 |
| 4 |  Nigeria | 11 | 13 | 13 | 37 |
| 5 |  Kenya | 7 | 4 | 5 | 16 |
| 6 |  India | 6 | 11 | 7 | 24 |
| 7 |  Scotland | 6 | 3 | 11 | 20 |
| 8 |  New Zealand | 5 | 16 | 20 | 41 |
| 9 |  Wales | 5 | 8 | 6 | 19 |
| 10 |  Northern Ireland | 5 | 2 | 3 | 10 |
| 11 |  Nauru | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 12 |  South Africa | 2 | 4 | 5 | 11 |
| 13 |  Jamaica | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 |
| 14 |  Malaysia | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 |
| 15 |  Cyprus | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 16 |  Sri Lanka | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 17 |  Zambia | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 18 |  Namibia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 19 |  Zimbabwe | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 20 |  Papua New Guinea | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 Western Samoa | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 22 |  Hong Kong | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| 23 |  Pakistan | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 24 |  Trinidad and Tobago | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
 Uganda | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| 26 |  Bermuda | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Botswana | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Ghana | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Guernsey | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Norfolk Island | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Seychelles | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Tanzania | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Tonga | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (33 entries) | 217 | 216 | 239 | 672 | |
Marketing
Mascot
The official mascot of the Games was an anthropomorphic killer whale named "Klee Wyck".[14] This nickname, meaning "the laughing one", was given to Canadian painter and sculptor Emily Carr by the Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ Nation.[15]
.svg){kind=small}