XIX Common Wealth Games 2010

The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games, were held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 2010. It was the first time that the Commonwealth Games were held in India and last time it was held in Melbourne, Australia in 2006.  Next XX edition of Common Wealth Games will be held in  Glasgow, Scotland in 2014.

- Official mascot of the Games was Shera and
- The official song of the Games, "Jiyo Utho Bado Jeeto", was composed by celebrated Indian musician A.R. Rahman.
- Nations participating - 71 Commonwealth Teams
- Athlete's Oath - Abhinav Bindra
- Queen's Baton Final Runner - Sushil Kumar

All member nations of the Commonwealth of Nations participated in the event, except Fiji, which is suspended from the Commonwealth, and Tokelau, which didn't send a team.

The final medal tally was led by Australia. The host nation India gave its strongest performance yet to emerge second, while England placed third.

Medal Table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Australia	74	55	48	177
2	India	38	27	36	101
3	England	37	60	46	143
4	Canada	26	17	33	76
5	South Africa	12	11	10	33
6	Kenya	12	11	9	32
7	Malaysia	12	10	14	36
8	Singapore	11	11	9	31
9	Nigeria	11	8	14	33
10	Scotland	09	10	7	26
	Total	272	274	282	828

Some Indian Gold Medalists:


- Ravi Kumar, Renu Bala win India's golds in weightlifting competition of men's 69 kg and women's 58 kg weight categories

- Gagan  Narang won gold and Abhinav Bindra won silver, Omkar Singh takes gold

- Indian grapplers Ravinder Singh (60kg), Sanjay (74kg) and Anil Kumar (96kg) pin three golds

- In the Women's Discus throw event,  Krishna Poonia won the gold medal with a throw of 61.51 metres

- Sania Nehwal wins Gold in Badminton in women’s singles by defeating Mew Choo Wong of Malaysia

- Sharath Kamal and Subhajit Saha strike gold in Table Tennis men's doubles

- Suranjoy, Manoj and Samota bag gold in boxing competitions of the Commonwealth Games

- Rahul Banerjee , Deepika Kumari  win gold medals in the Commonwealth Games archery competition

- Somdev  Devvarman  became India's first tennis gold medallist at the Commonwealth Games

- Alka Tomar and Anita clinched gold medals each in the women's wrestling

Some Highlights:

• New Zealand have won all 4 Rugby Sevens Gold since Kuala Lumpur 1998
• A. Coutts(AUS), 5 medals, was the most successful athlete at Delhi 2010
• Australia has been the most successful CGA in every Games since 1990
• Women’s Hockey team won Australia’s 800th Gold in Games history
• India became 4th CGA to win 100 medals in one Games
• Kasey Brown clinches Australia’s 2000th medal in the Games
• Croak (AUS) wins Gold in 2 different sports; Cycling & Diving
• Gagan Narang was the most successful male athlete winning 4 Golds
• Botswana and 3 other CGAs win their 1st Gold at Delhi 2010
• Canada kept its 100% record in Synchronised Swimming since 1986

Some History facts: The first Games were held in 1930 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The name changed to British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954, to British Commonwealth Games in 1970 and assumed the current name of the Commonwealth Games in 1978.

Since 1958, the Queen's Baton Relay has taken place, in which athletes carry a baton from Buckingham Palace to the games opening ceremony. This baton has within it Queen Elizabeth II's message of greeting to the athletes. The baton's final bearer is usually a famous sporting personage of the host nation.

Some Statistics of the Games

Australian Coutts and Indian Narang ‘Queen and King of the Games

• With five Gold medals in Swimming, Alicia Coutts (AUS) was the most successful athlete at the Games
• Gagan Narang (IND) was the most successful male athlete. He won four Gold medals in Shooting.

Australians Jones and Seebohm equal all-time medal records

• Leisel Marie Jones (AUS) became the third person to win 10 Gold medals in the Commonwealth Games history, tying the all-time record of Susie O’Neill (AUS) and Ian Thorpe (AUS)
• Emily Jane Seebohm (AUS) equalled the record of winning eight medals in total in one Games. Swimmers Ralph Hutton (AUS) in 1966 and Susie O’Neill (AUS) in 1998 were the only other athletes to achieve this feat

Australia was the most successful Commonwealth Games Association(CGA) in Delhi

• Australia was the most successful CGA at Delhi 2010. It won 74 Gold, 55 Silver and 48 Bronze medals. It was the 12th time they led the medal table
• Australia has been the most successful CGA in every Games since 1990
• England was the third-best CGA at this Games, behind India. Only once before, at the Victoria 1994 Games, have two CGAs performed better than England

Host nation India performs better than ever

• India won more Gold medals than it had won before in one Games. It took 38 Gold medals, its previous record was 30 in 2002
• With its 101 medals in total, India finished runner-up in the medal tally and became the fourth CGA to reach the century mark in one Games
• Every host nation of the Commonwealth Games has beaten its previous record number of medals, and India has joined that list in 2010

Four CGAs win their first Commonwealth Games Gold medals

• Natasha Mayers (SVG) clinched the first Gold for St. Vincent and the Grenadines, in the Women’s 100m in Athletics, on 7 October
• Amantle Montsho (BOT) won Botswana’s first Gold in the Women’s 400m in Athletics on 8 October
• Faavae Faauliuli (SAM) collected Samoa’s first Gold medal in Commonwealth Games history, in the Men’s 94kg Weightlifting on 9 October. One day later, two other Samoans won Gold in this sport
• On 11 October, Cydonie Camile Mothersill (CAY) won the first Gold medal for Cayman Islands, when she ran to victory in the Women’s 200m event in Athletics

Australia reaches medal milestones in Delhi

• On 8 October, Kasey Brown (AUS) clinched Australia’s 2000th medal in all Commonwealth Games. She took the Bronze medal for Australia in the Women’s Singles in Squash
• The Women’s Hockey team won Australia’s 800th Gold medal in Commonwealth Games history on 13 October

Australia’s Croak wins Gold in two different sports at the Commonwealth Games

• Alexandra Croak (AUS) became the first athlete to win Gold in two different sports at the Games, considering Cycling Road and Cycling Track as the same sport
• Croak won a Gold medal in Diving in Delhi 2010, and had previously won gold in Artistic Gymnastics in Manchester 2002

More podium sweeps than ever in Athletics

• In six Athletics events, one CGA swept the podium, more medal sweeps than ever at the Commonwealth Games in this sport
• Kenya clinched the Gold, Silver and Bronze medals in four events: the Women’s and Men’s 3000m Steeplechase, the Men’s 800m and the Women’s 5000m
• England swept the podium in the Men’s 110m Hurdles and India won all medals in the Women’s Discus Throw

Winning streaks in Rugby Sevens, Men’s Hockey and Synchronised Swimming extended

• New Zealand won the Rugby Sevens Gold in Delhi, as it had also done in the three previous Rugby Sevens tournaments at the Commonwealth Games. New Zealand has never lost a match in Rugby Sevens in Games history
• Australia won the title in Men’s Hockey, having won Gold in the event at all three previous Games in which it was held
• Canada kept its 100 per cent record in Synchronised Swimming alive. It has won all 14 events since the sport was included in the Games in 1986