Apr 04, 2018
2018 Commonwealth Games
This Doodle’s Key Themes
The 2018 Commonwealth Games are officially underway on Australia’s Gold Coast. Over the next two weeks, thousands of athletes from 70 Commonwealth countries and territories will compete in 18 sports and 7 para-sports. Today’s Doodle jumps right into the action as one of the Google “Os” takes us through various sports in the Games, including boxing, lawn bowls, para-cycling, and netball.
This multi-sport event started in 1930, when 11 countries from the Commonwealth of Nations sent athletes to Ontario, Canada to partake in what were then called the British Empire Games. The inaugural Games included six sports: athletics, boxing, lawn bowls, rowing, swimming and diving, and wrestling.
Though competitive by nature, the Games were meant to foster camaraderie and sportsmanship. Since 1930, they’ve taken place every four years, excluding 1942 and 1946, and have grown in teams, athletes, events, and traditions.
2018 is already setting records: this year features the largest integrated program of events and para-events, and for the first time, women will compete for the same number of medals as men.
Let the Games begin!
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