BBC News Online: Sport: Commonwealth Games

Golden memories

1930 Hamilton, Canada
1934 London, England
1954 Vancouver, Canada
1966 Kingston, Jamaica
1974 Christchurch, New Zealand
1986 Edinburgh, Scotland

1930 Hamilton, Canada

The first Commonwealth Games provide in stark contrast to the current extravaganza.

The city of Hamilton donated $30,000 dollars to help defray the travelling costs of eight of the competing ten teams.

For the 400 or so athletes who took part, a local school served as accommodation for the men, while the women, who only competed in swimming, stayed in a hotel.

One of the stars of the Hamilton Games was the Canadian sprinter Percy Williams. The world record holder at 100 metres, he won the 100 yards final despite tearing a thigh muscle in the closing stages, staggering over the line before collapsing in a heap.

Unfortunately there was little medical support then, and the injury virtually ended his career.

The friendly attitude of the people of Hamilton, and the spirit of the competition ensured the Games would go on.

1934 London, England

The Games were originally scheduled to take place in South Africa, but concerns by black and Asian athletes about how they would be treated, resulted in a switch to London.

India, Rhodesia and Jamaica were among the countries making their first appearance.

But the star of the Games was Jack Lovelock, who carried the New Zealand flag at the opening ceremony.

On a soaking wet track, Lovelock overcame the tactics of his two chief rivals who intended to set such a fast pace that the New Zealanders famous sprint finish would be neutralised.

Lovelock completed the last lap in 58 seconds to take gold. Two years later he won the Olympic title in Berlin Games running against the greatest 1500 metres field ever assembled.

1954 Vancouver, Canada

Sports fans from all over the world were enthralled by one race at the Vancouver Games. It became known as the "Miracle Mile".

It brought together the Englishman Roger Bannister, the first man to break the four minute mile barrier, and Australian John Landy, who had broken that record only six weeks later.

The race lived up to its billing.

Landy was a front runner and built up a 15 yard lead, but Bannister slowly closed the gap and drew level coming into the final straight.

The two battled towards the line to the roar of the crowd, but Bannister proved the stronger winning in 3 mins 58.6 secs.

A few minutes later, the ecstatic crowd were hushed by the sight of Jim Peters entering the stadium at the end of the marathon.

The Englishman led the field but he could only stagger along the track totally exhausted. His legs had turned to jelly, and he fell ten times before getting up to resume his fight to the line.

With 200 yards to go, he finally collapsed into the arms of an English team official and was disqualified.

1966 Kingston, Jamaica

Kingston won the right to stage the games by a single vote, and some of the larger member countries were doubtful if Jamaica could cope. Instead the Games produced a wealth of quality performances.

Fifteen world records were set in the swimming pool which had been fitted with revolutionary lane markers that stopped waves splashing from one lane to another. Australian men won ten of the 13 events.

On the track, the meeting of the rising Kenyan star Kip Keino and the Australian Ron Clarke was eagerly anticipated. The battle proved to be one-sided with Keino winning the three mile race with ease, and then knocked three and a half seconds off Bannister's games record in the mile.

Harry Jerome of Canada and England's Louis Martin scored emotional victories. Both had Jamaican ancestry - Jerome won the 100 yards and Martin a gold in weightlifting.

1974 Christchurch, New Zealand

The small city of Christchurch, with less than a quarter of a million inhabitants, produced one of the most friendly and best organised games in history.

The highlight of the athletics competition came in the 1500 metres when Filbert Bayi of Tanzania broke the world record, taking almost a second off the mark set by Jim Ryan seven years earlier.

Bayi outpaced a world class field, leaving the Munich bronze medallist Rod Dixon without a medal although the New Zealander clocked the fifth fastest time in history.

The Kenyan Ben Jipcho was another African hero, finishing third behind Bayi after winning gold in the 3000 metre steeplechase and the 5000 metres.

Two world records were set in the swimming pool, while one of the Commonwealth Games legends, the weight lifter Precious McKenzie won the third of his four gold medals.

1986 Edinburgh, Scotland

The Games went to Scotland for the second time but it was a depleted gathering.

Thirty two countries boycotted the games after Britain refused to impose economic sanctions on South Africa because of its apartheid policies.

The Games were also a financial disaster. Yet there were some outstanding performances from past and future Olympic champions including Daley thompson, Linford Christie, Ben Johnson (who was to make his mark in two years time for all the wrong reasons), Steve Cram, Steve Ovett and boxer Lennox Lewis.

In the swimming pool, Alex Baumann - born in Czechoslovakia but competing for Canada - was the star with three gold medals to add to his two golds from the Brisbane Games four years earlier.