As the world was plunged into a global pandemic, sporting events worldwide were halted or postponed to protect the athletes, staff, and spectator. Fortunately, the Commonwealth Games, having last been hosted in 2018 were not effected.
This created a unique situation in that the Olympics were postponed by a single year, meaning that the Olympics and Commonwealth Games, which would usually alternate every two years, are now being held back to back.
Not only is this great for spectators as we get to see more of our favourite athletes competing to the best of their ability, but it also presents a unique challenge for athletes who now have to accommodate another major games in already busy schedule.
‘Will this affect the overall standards or performance of the athletes competing?’ I hear you ask in the comments section… In short, no, it won’t. The reality is that these people are less human than they are machines, and are more than capable of managing multiple events every year
Let’s get into the meat and potatoes of this year’s Commonwealth Games. Firstly, the events.
Aquatics, Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Bowls, Boxing, Cricket (women’s), Cycling, Gymnastics, Judo, Hockey, Netball, Rugby 7s, Squash, Table tennis, Triathlon, Weightlifting and Wrestling will all feature with multiple events available in most sports for both men, women, and para-athletes meaning that this Commonwealth Games is the most inclusive international sporting event ever!
Going into Birmingham 2022, you will be happy to hear that Judo and Cricket have returned, however, unfortunately, shooting has been dropped which brings our roster to a total of 19 disciplines this year.
And for those wondering- Ten Pin Bowling does not look like it will make its triumphant return after being featured for the first and last time in Kuala Lumpur, 1998.
But I digress… Let’s dive into the full list of sports and break it down into how many events are planned to be held under each discipline!
The largest category this year is the aquatic events. The brand new Sandwell Aquatics Centre will be hosting 66 events ranging from diving to swimming. What’s interesting about this is that the venue for the aquatic events has been purposely built for the games and it looks amazing, and university students attending the University of Wolverhampton will be allowed to study and train at the state-of-the-art facility completely free as part of a 10-year agreement starting from 2023.
Next up is the grandfather of international sporting disciplines; athletics. 59 Athletics events will be held in the newly revamped Alexander Stadium (pictured further up) which has seen a massive redevelopment meaning it will seat more than double the amount pre-redevelopment as the capacity goes from ~18,000 to ~40,000 seats.
Martial Arts is the third largest discipline on the roster this year coming in with 42 events that will be held in the NEC Arena.
Following that is cycling which will hold 26 different events at four different venues as the majority of events will be held at Lee Valley VeloPark, however, Warwick will host the road race, West Park will host the time trials and Cannock Chase Forest will host the mountain biking events.
With just one less event than cycling, racket/ bat sports like Badminton are up next with 25 events. Similar to cycling, specific events will be held at different venues as Cricket will take place in Edgbaston Stadium, Badminton and Table Tennis will be held at the NEC and the University of Birmingham will host the Hockey and Squash events.
Gymnastics and weightlifting follow both with 20 events on the schedule. All gymnastics events will be held in the Arena Birmingham along with the weightlifting events being held at the NEC Arena.
Lawn Bowls are up next, with 11 events being held at Victoria Park, we have truly been spoiled with Lawn Bowls this year.
Finally, our three smallest disciplines; Triathlon, Netball and Basketball and a category that is mysteriously called ‘Other’.
We assumed that this ‘Other’ section could be alluding to the eSports events that are being held as a part of the Commonwealth Games but are disconnected in terms of branding, which we also assumed had been done to help ease eSports events into the Commonwealth Games roster.
Our four mystery events will likely be eSports based and are scheduled to be held at the ICC in Birmingham from 6-7 August.
There will be five Triathlon events held at Sutton Park and the remaining five Netball and Basketball events are being held at Smithfield and The NEC.
And with that, we are brought to the end of our Commonwealth Games event roundup. There are 283 events to watch at this Commonwealth Games, and they will all be broadcast on the BBC from July 28th through to August 8th.
