Dec 212022
1938 Commonwealth Games – Sydney, Australia

The 1938 British Empire Games were the 2nd edition of what is now known as the Commonwealth Games. They were held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia between 4 and 11 February 1938.

Opening Ceremony … 5 Feb 1938Host City … Sydney, AustraliaClosing Ceremony … 12 Feb 1938
Participants … 466 athletes, 15 Commonwealth Nations
1938 Games   1938 Medals …This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is medal-g-sm.gifGoldThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is medal-s-sm-2.gifSilverThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is medal-b-sm-2.gifBronzeGames Main Page

A FAVOURITE AT THE GAMES was “Dashing Dess”, Australian Decima Norman from Albany, WA. She won gold in the women’s long jump, 220 and 100 sprints, and two team relays. That gave her a total of 5 gold medals in track and field. Her impressive wins were still remembered over 40 years later when she was selected as the first carrier of the Queen’s Baton for the 1982 Games.

Although the next Games (1942) was awarded to Montreal, it had to be cancelled. World War II caused a 12 year span between the 1938 Games and the next one in 1950.

The 1938 Games logo was in black and white. It had seven panels showing the seven sports the athletes would compete in that year – Aquatics, Athletics, Boxing, Cycling, Lawn Bowls, Rowing and Wrestling.

The lower half of the symbol is reproduced from an actual photograph of Sydney Harbour showing the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The photograph was taken at the Botanical Gardens looking across Farm Cove towards the bridge.

Top 10 Countries By Total Medals

Host country listed in bold.

CountryThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is medal-g-sm.gifThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is medal-s-sm-2.gifThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is medal-b-sm-2.gifTotal
1Australia24192265
2Canada13161544
3England15141039
4South Africa1010626
5New Zealand571224
CountryThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is medal-g-sm.gifThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is medal-s-sm-2.gifThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is medal-b-sm-2.gifTotal
6Scotland0235
7Wales2103
8Rhodesia0022
9Ceylon1001
10British Guiana0101

Participating Teams

Countries returning to the games were: Australia, Bermuda, British Guiana, Canada, Ceylon, England, Fiji, India, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Southern Rhodesia, Scotland, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales. Competing for the first time were: Ceylon, Fiji, Southern Rhodesia.


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