Opening Ceremony … 18 July 1958 | Host City … Cardiff, Wales | Closing Ceremony … 26 July 1958 |
Participants … 1,130 athletes, 36 Commonwealth Nations |
1958 Games 1958 Medals … | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Games Main Page |
The 1958 Commonwealth Games were held in Cardiff, Wales from 18 July to 22 July 1958. It was originally supposed to be held in Nairobi as part of a “British Empire Games Federation”, but following protests from Canada and Australia, who wanted the games for themselves, it was decided that it would be best held in London instead.
THE 1958 GAMES WAS the largest sporting event ever held in Wales.
Australian Dawn Fraser won 2 gold and 2 silver medals in swimming events at the 1958 Games. She won 4 more gold at the 1962 Perth Games.
Dawn was beaten for gold in the 440 yards freestyle by Ilsa Konrads, a young 14 year old fellow Aussie. Her brother John Konrads also won gold for Australia in the 440 and the 1660 yard Men’s freestyle. Over their career, Ilsa set 12 world freestyle records and John set 25.
The 1958 Games saw the beginning of a 19 year old Aussie, Herb Elliot’s collection of gold. He won the 880 yards and mile running gold medals. Elliot, from Western Australia, set a Games record of 1:49.3 in the 880. He went on to become an Olympic gold medallist.
Australian Tony Madigan, competing in the light-welterweight boxing event, won gold at the Games. Two years later at the 1960 Rome Olympics he would face American Cassius Clay and lose, ending up with bronze. This was the beginning of the boxing career of the world’s most famous boxer, Mohamed Ali (Cassius Clay).
This was the last Games to see the South African team entered. They had been to every Games since the first, winning 60 gold medals, but always entered an all-white team. Facing pressure from other countries, in 1961 South Africa declared itself a republic and withdrew from the Commonwealth.
The 1958 Games logo is the red dragon of Wales resting upon the emblem of the British Empire and Commonwealth Games Federation. The emblem was so popular that it eventually became the central theme of Cardiff’s main streets decoration.
Top 23 Countries By Total Medals
Dual bronzes awarded in boxing. Host country listed in bold.
Country | Total | ||||
1 | England | 29 | 22 | 29 | 80 |
2 | Australia | 27 | 22 | 17 | 66 |
3 | South Africa | 13 | 10 | 8 | 31 |
4 | Canada | 1 | 10 | 16 | 27 |
5 | New Zealand | 4 | 6 | 9 | 19 |
6 | Scotland | 5 | 5 | 3 | 13 |
7 | Wales | 1 | 3 | 7 | 11 |
8 | Pakistan | 3 | 5 | 2 | 10 |
9 | Jamaica | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
10 | Northern Ireland | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
11 | India | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
12 | Rhodesia | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
Country | Total | ||||
13 | Singapore | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
14 | Bahamas | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
15 | Barbados | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
16 | Malaya | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
17 | Nigeria | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
18 | Kenya | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
19 | British Guiana | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
20 | Uganda | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
21 | Ghana | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
22 | Isle of Man | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
23 | Trinidad & Tobago | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Participating Teams
Countries returning to the games were: Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, British Guiana, Canada, Ceylon, England, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, Kenya, New Zealand, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Northern Rhodesia, Pakistan, Rhodesia, Scotland, South Africa, Trinidad & Tobago, Uganda, Wales.
Competing for the first time were: Brunei, Dominica, Ghana, Gibraltar, Isle of Man, Jersey, Malaya, Malta, North Borneo, Penang, Sarawak, Singapore, St Vincent.