Dec 152022
1990 Commonwealth Games – Auckland, New Zealand
Opening Ceremony … 24 Jan 1990Host City … Auckland, New ZealandClosing Ceremony … 3 Feb 1990
Participants … 1,949 athletes, 54 Commonwealth Nations
1990 Games   1990 Medals …gold-medalGoldsilver-medalSilverbronze-medalBronzeGames Main Page

The 1990 Commonwealth Games were held in Auckland, New Zealand from 24 January to 2 February 1990. The bid mainly took inspiration and motivation from the country’s previous hosting of the games in Auckland in 1950.

THE 14TH COMMONWEALTH GAMES 1990 became a part of New Zealand’s 1990 sesquicentennial celebrations. The opening and closing ceremonies took place at Ericsson Stadium.

The 1,500 metre swimming freestyle race was one of the highlights of the Games. Australian Glen Housman set a fast pace from the beginning as he tried to beat the world record of 14:54.6 set in 1984 by Victor Salnikov. That record was thought to be un-breakable. Housman came within a half second of the record and won gold. Right behind him was 16 year old Aussie Kieren Perkins who took silver. That made only 3 people to break the 15 minute barrier: Salnikov, Housman, and Perkins. It would be Perkins who would go on to win gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, just the first of many.

Another memorable moment came at the awarding of the medals for flyweight boxing. The gold medal winner was Wayne McCullough of Northern Ireland. As customary, the winning athletes stood on the victory podium and the official started the tape of McCullough’s home anthem. Unfortunately it wouldn’t play no matter what the official Bob Gibson tried. Quick thinking Gibson took the microphone and began singing an emotionally charged rendition of the song “Danny Boy”. The crowd joined in and created a most memorable moment for Wayne.

The athletes competed in 206 events in ten sports: athletics, aquatics, badminton, boxing, cycling, gymnastics, judo, lawn bowls, shooting and weightlifting.

The 1990 Games logo used a shooting star motif and was sometimes called the “Hungry Enzyme”. This year’s mascot was the redesigned Kiwi Bird “Goldie”. The popular Goldie had been the mascot for New Zealand teams at earlier Olympic and Commonwealth Games.

Top 29 Countries By Total Medals

Host country listed in bold, Australia in green.

Countrygold-medalsilver-medalbronze-medalTotal
1Australia525456162
2England474042129
3Canada354137113
4New Zealand17142758
5India1381132
6Wales1031225
7Nigeria513725
8Scotland571022
9Kenya69318
10Northern Ireland1359
11Hong Kong1135
12Malaysia2204
13Jamaica2024
14Uganda2024
15Nauru1203
16Zimbabwe0213
17Tanzania0123
18Zambia0033
19Cyprus1102
20Bangladesh1012
21Jersey1012
22Ghana0202
23Bahamas0022
24Western Samoa0022
25Bermuda1001
26Guernsey1001
27Papua New Guinea1001
28Guyana0011
29Malta0011

Participating Teams

Countries attending the games were: Australia, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bermuda, Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, Cyprus, England, Falkland Islands, The Gambia, Ghana, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Guyana, Hong Kong, India, Isle of Man, Jamaica, Jersey, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Nauru, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norfolk Island, Northern Ireland, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, St Kitts, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tonga, Trinidad & Tobago, Uganda, Vanuatu, Wales, Western Samoa, Zambia, Zimbabwe.


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