| Opening Ceremony … 24 July 1986 | Host City … Edinburgh, Scotland | Closing Ceremony … 2 Aug 1986 |
| Participants … 1,660 athletes, 27 Commonwealth Nations |
| 1986 Games 1986 Medals … |  | Gold |  | Silver |  | Bronze | Games Main Page |
The Games logo was based on the Game number roman numerals XVII. The mascot was called “Max”. He was a black Scottie dog.
THE OPENING AND CLOSING CEREMONIES took place at the same location as the 1970 Games, the Meadowbank Stadium.The 1986 Games were noteworthy because they were boycotted by a large number of African, Asia and Caribbean countries.
This ultimately reduced it to an almost whites-only Game. The boycott was caused by the British sporting links with South Africa.The 1986 Games were planned to be 100% privately funded, a first in Games history. Unfortunately political events made that impossible as businesses were reluctant to fund the event that was soon to be embroiled in boycotts and might not even be held.The organizers persuaded the publishing magnate Sir Robert Maxwell for his financial help and influence. He became chairman of the Games and partially succeeded in bringing business onboard to reduce the obvious deficit that was inevitable. In the end the Games still ended up £ 3.8 million in the red.
Australian Lisa Martin won the first ever Games Women’s marathon in record time of 2:26:07. Fellow Australian Rob de Castella, defending champion, won the 1986 Men’s marathon, making him the first back-to-back winner in Games history. This was in addition to his record winning time of 2:07:51 at the Boston Marathon three months earlier. Debbie Flintoff-King, 1988 gold medallist for Australia, took gold in the Women’s 400 metres. Audrey Tuckey and Mike Scandolera won the first ever gold for Australia in badminton mixed doubles. The 1986 Games had 165 events in 10 sports.
Top 15 Countries By Total Medals
Host country listed in bold
| Country | | | | Total | |
| 1 | England | 52 | 43 | 49 | 144 |
| 2 | Australia | 40 | 46 | 35 | 121 |
| 3 | Canada | 51 | 35 | 31 | 117 |
| 4 | New Zealand | 8 | 16 | 14 | 38 |
| 5 | Scotland | 3 | 12 | 18 | 33 |
| 6 | Wales | 6 | 5 | 11 | 22 |
| 7 | Northern Ireland | 2 | 4 | 9 | 15 |
| 8 | Hong Kong | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Country | | | | Total | |
| 9 | Guernsey | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | Malawi | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 11 | Swaziland | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | Isle of Man | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 | Botswana | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 14 | Jersey | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 15 | Singapore | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Participating Teams
Countries attending the games were: Australia, Botswana, Canada, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, England, Falkland Islands, Fiji, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Isle of Man, Jersey, Lesotho, Malawi, Maldives, Malta, New Zealand, Norfolk Island, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Singapore, Swaziland, Vanuatu, Wales, Western Samoa.
