The Commonwealth Games 2026
The Commonwealth Games will be held in Glasgow (mainly Glasgow but also other places in Scotland), from 23 July to 2 August 2026. It will comprise 10 sports:
Basketball*
Gymnastics
Athletics*
Bowls*
Boxing
Judo
Swimming*
Track cycling*
Weightlifting*
Sports marked with an * will include a para element.
The track and field element will be at Scotstoun Stadium, which will have a capacity of about 10,000 from 27 July to 1 August.
Originating in 1930, the Games take place every 4 years with currently 72 countries participating. While there is one UK (Great Britain and Northern Ireland) team in the Olympics, there are separate teams in the Commonwealth Games from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Guernsey, Jersey, and the Isle of Man. The significance of this difference should not be underestimated. Athletes like Laura Muir and Jemma Reekie could find themselves competing for Scotland against athletes like Keely Hodgkinson and Georgia Hunter Bell of England, rather than as GB teammates. Scottish and Welsh athletes love the opportunity of competing for their “nation”.
The Commonwealth Games also gives athletes who would not make a GB team an opportunity to compete in an international competition. Then there is the confusing case of athletes from Northern Ireland, like Kate O’Connor, who have a kind of dual nationality, competing for Northern Ireland in the Commonwealth Games and for Ireland in other international competitions. Based on the old British Empire, most countries are English-speaking (at least as a second language), making the Commonwealths the so-called “friendly games”.
The 2018 Games in Gold Coast, Australia, were magnificent. Since then, the Games have struggled. Durban, South Africa, was awarded the 2022 Games but then pulled out over spiraling costs. Birmingham (England) stepped in to host the Games at short notice. Birmingham did well on short notice, but with no Commonwealth Village, athletes were spread across hotels and University residences. The 2026 Games were awarded to Melbourne, but again, the host city canceled. Another Australian city, the previous host, Gold Coast, offered to host again, but the Australian Government vetoed the plan, vetoed in the sense of refusing any federal funding.
Glasgow agreed to host the 2026 games, but on a smaller scale – fewer sports, fewer athletes. While in 2014 Glasgow had converted the main soccer stadium, the 50,000-capacity Hampden Park, for athletics, this year they do not have the budget and will use the smaller Scotstoun.
There is also a more fundamental question about the event. Does an event which originated in the British Empire and which to some extent celebrates colonialism, have a place in the 21st-century world?
That said, the Commonwealth Games is a good event, popular with athletes and spectators. I should know, as Glasgow will be my fifth.