The Commonwealth Games is a multi-sport event that takes place every 4 years, alternating every 2 years with the olympic games. The name of the games has changed multiple times from "the British Empire Games" to "the British Empire and Commonwealth Games" to the "British Commonwealth Games" and eventually to the commonwealth games in 1974. The event hosts athletes from the commonwealth nations. The games originated in 1930, and has consistently taken place up until 2018 with the exception of 1942 and 1946 due to World War II. The most recent Commonwealth Games are being held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia from 4 - 15 April 2018.
There are 53 official Commonwealth of Nations, however, 71 teams participate in the Commonwealth Games, as a number of dependent territories compete under their own flags. More info on the games can be found here.
South Africa has done exceptionally well. In the image at the head of the article, Akani Simbine and Henricho Bruintjies are proudly waving the South african flag after taking the gold and the silver, respectively, in the 100m men's final yesterday, ahead of Jamaican star Yohan Blake. As of writing this article, the medals table is as follows for the top countries:
In South Africa's history, 16 was the highest gold medals we have taken home, and 46 was the highest number of total medals. Let's hope that in the next 5 days, we can put up a good show. South Africa's medal standings historically are as follows:
What do we still expect
Unfortunately Wade van niekerk is out of the games due to an injury. With the likes of our star log jumper Luvo Manyonga and our track star Caster Semenya we might still have a gold or two up our sleeve!