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.

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.

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.

+ 1994 Commonwealth Games bidding resultsCityCountry Votes Victoria Canada 29 New Delhi India 18 Cardiff Wales 7

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. Other new venues included four new lawn bowl courts and the velodrome. Venue list University of Victoria – Athletes' Village Centennial Stadium – Athletics Saanich Commonwealth Place – Aquatics McKinnon Gymnasium – Badminton Archie Browning Sports Centre (Esquimalt) – Boxing Victoria Memorial Arena – Gymnastics Royal Athletic Park – Field Lacrosse (demonstration) Heal's Range – Shooting Royal Theatre – Weightlifting Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre Juan de Fuca Velodrome – Track cycling Juan de Fuca Bowling Club – Lawn bowls Juan de Fuca Arena – Wrestling  (Patricia Bay Highway) – Road cycling

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. 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. 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

(host)

Western Samoa

Debuting Commonwealth Countries and Territories

Sports There were events in 14 disciplines across 10 sports for the 1994 Commonwealth Games.

Cycling () Road (4) Track (9) Gymnastics () Artistic gymnastics (14) Rhythmic gymnastics (6)

Calendar The following table shows a summary of the competition schedule. OCOpening ceremony●Event competitions1Event finalsCCClosing ceremony August18Thu19Fri20Sat21Sun22Mon23Tue24Wed25Thu26Fri27Sat28SunEvents Ceremonies OC CC Athletics

| style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |1 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |9 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |4 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |2 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |11 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |6 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |11 | 44 Badminton | | style="background-color:#3399ff;" |● | style="background-color:#3399ff;" |● | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |1 | | style="background-color:#3399ff;" |● | style="background-color:#3399ff;" |● | style="background-color:#3399ff;" |● | style="background-color:#3399ff;" |● | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |5 | | 6 Boxing | | style="background-color:#3399ff;" |● | style="background-color:#3399ff;" |● | style="background-color:#3399ff;" |● | style="background-color:#3399ff;" |● | style="background-color:#3399ff;" |● | style="background-color:#3399ff;" |● | style="background-color:#3399ff;" |● | | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |12 | | 12 Cycling | | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |2 | | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |2

| style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |1 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |3 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |2 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |3 | | 13 Diving | | style="background-color:#3399ff;" |● | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |2

| style="background-color:#3399ff;" |● | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |2 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |2

| 6 Gymnastics | | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |1 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |1 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |2 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |10

| style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |1 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |1 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |4 | | 20 Lawn bowls | | style="background-color:#3399ff;" |● | style="background-color:#3399ff;" |● | style="background-color:#3399ff;" |● | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |2 | style="background-color:#3399ff;" |● | style="background-color:#3399ff;" |● | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |2 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |2 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |2 | | 8 Shooting | | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |4 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |4 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |4 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |4 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |4 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |3 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |3 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |3 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |3 | | 32 Synchronised swimming | | style="background-color:#3399ff;" |● | style="background-color:#3399ff;" |● | style="background-color:#3399ff;" |● | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |2

| 2 Swimming | | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |6 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |5 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |6 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |5 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |6 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |6

| 34 Weightlifting

| style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |6 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |6 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |6 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |6 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |6 | | 30 Wrestling | | style="background-color:#3399ff;" |● | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |5 | style="background-color:#ffcc00;" |5

| 10Total events | | 13 | 17 | 20 | 24 | 25 | 22 | 19 | 25 | 41 | 11 | 217Cumulative total | | 13 | 30 | 50 | 74 | 99 | 121 | 140 | 165 | 206 | 217 | August18Thu19Fri20Sat21Sun22Mon23Tue24Wed25Thu26Fri27Sat28SunEvents

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.

Marketing Mascot The official mascot of the Games was an anthropomorphic killer whale named "Klee Wyck". This nickname, meaning "the laughing one", was given to Canadian painter and sculptor Emily Carr by the Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ Nation.

See also Knowledge Totem Pole Victoria bid for the 2022 Commonwealth Games

References

External links Commonwealth Games Official Site 1994 Commonwealth Games Legacy Fund website