We collected a lot of facts about the Commonwealth Games, and found that they fitted into 4 main areas.We then located more information in these 4 areas, and we would like to share it with you
here.
Ceremonies and Traditions
The Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony always includes certain events, and we saw these in the 2006 Opening Ceremony. The Performance in Melbourne highlighted aspects of our country such as an Aboriginal “Welcome to Country” and Australian animals.
The Opening Ceremony always includes the arrival of the Queen’s Baton, which this time had travelled for one year, and over 186,000kms carrying a message from Queen Elizabeth 11.
The Ceremony also includes a Parade of Athletes and this year there were over 4,500 athletes.The athletes entered according to the region they came from.
During the Ceremony Adam Pine took the
Athelete’s Oath on behalf of all athletes, promising to uphold good sportsmanship and obey the rules.The Commonwealth Flag was also raised.
An important part of the Ceremony was when the Queen announced that the Commonwealth Games were open.
Games History
The first Commonwealth Games were held in 1930 in Canada.Since then the Games have been held every four years except in 1942 and 1946 whenWorld War 2 was happening.
When the Commonwealth Games started there were only 11 countries and 400 athletes competing.The 2006 Games have athletes from over 70 countries.
The Games used to be called the British Empire Games, then the name changed to the British Commonwealth Games and now it is called the Commonwealth Games. The countries that compete in the Games all speak a common language: English.
One Team Sport
At the 2006 Commonwealth Games there are 4 team sports, including hockey.We found some interesting facts about hockey. The game
needs two teams, with 11 players in each team. The “Hockyroos” is the name of the Australian women’s hockey team, and they have won 3 gold medals at the Olympics, whereas the Australian men’s hockey team have only won one medal. The men’s hockey team is called the “Kookaburras”.
One Individual Sporting Event
We chose to investigate shooting.There are 3 different shooting events:Clay target, Pistol shooting and rifle
shooting.Clay target uses a firearm and needs a lot of equipment, particularly the right clothes.
For pistol shooting you will need a pistol gun, safety gear and a shooting board.Rifle shooting includes air rifle shooting and smallbore rifle shooting. If we’d had time we would like to have found out more about these sports.
We hope you enjoyed reading our information.We look forward to reading your next responses.
