X British Commonwealth Games
Host cityChristchurch, New Zealand
Nations38
Athletes1276
Events121 events in 10 sports
Opening24 January 1974
Closing2 February 1974
Opened byPrince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Queen's Baton Final RunnerSylvia Potts
Main venueQEII Park

The 1974 British Commonwealth Games (Māori: 1974 Taumāhekeheke Commonwealth) was held in Christchurch, New Zealand from 24 January to 2 February 1974. The bid vote was held in Edinburgh at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games. The event was officially named "the friendly games". There were 1,276 competitors and 372 officials, according to the official history, and public attendance was excellent. The main venue was the QEII Park, purpose-built for this event. The Athletics Stadium and fully covered Olympic standard pool, diving tank, and practice pools were all on the one site. The theme song was "Join Together", sung by Steve Allen. The event was held after the 1974 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games in Dunedin for wheelchair athletes.

Host selection

1974 Commonwealth Games bidding results
City Round 1
New Zealand Christchurch 36
Australia Melbourne 2

Preparation

Security

The event was the first large international athletic event after the murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. The Athletes Village, the Student accommodation of the University of Canterbury, was temporarily fenced in and guarded for the duration of the games. Only official vehicles and persons were allowed into sensitive areas around the venues.

The logo was the second (after Edinburgh) to be protected and trademarked,[1] and set a design benchmark which was echoed in the logos of the next five games. The logo was designed by Wellington designer Colin Simons as the result of a design competition, and posters were designed by Bret de Thier.[2]

In recent years the logo has been regarded as one of New Zealand's iconic symbols, being reproduced on clothing and elsewhere.[3][4]

Venues

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony was held in the mid afternoon, with Prince Philip as the attending royal. A fanfare announced the guard of honour by the New Zealand Defence Forces, inspected by Prince Philip. This was followed by the raising of flags of the past, present, and future hosts. God Save the Queen was sung. The field was then invaded by 2500 school children in red, white and blue rain slicks all forming in the centre to create the NZ74 symbol. The official promotional song, 'Join Together', composed especially for the games by Steve Allen, was performed by a mass choir, as well as 'What the world needs now is love'.[6] A Māori concert group then performed action songs and a haka, before the teams march past. The athletes then took the oath and Sylvia Potts, the runner who fell mere meters from a gold medal finish in the 1970 Games, entered the stadium with the Queen's Baton. It was presented to Prince Philip who read the message from the Queen declaring the 1974 Christchurch 10th British Commonwealth Games open. The Commonwealth flag was then marched in and hauled up with a 21-gun salute.

Broadcasting

The Games were also an important milestone in New Zealand television, marking the introduction of colour television. However, due to the NZBC's limited colour facilities, only athletics, swimming, and boxing could be broadcast in colour.

Meanwhile, paralleling the television coverage, the National Film Unit produced Games '74, a feature-length documentary of the Christchurch games (and the many events) in full colour. This has since been restored and is available on DVD.

Legacy

Economic aspects

Elizabeth II at a medal ceremony

Christchurch was (and still is) the smallest city to host the modern televised Commonwealth Games. This was the first games that tried using the "Olympic" look with a standard colour scheme for facilities, passes, flags, stationery, and above all uniforms (which wearers only borrowed, but could buy outright as a memento thus helping keep costs down).

Its striking NZ74 design logo is now a well used (sometimes illegally) symbol of New Zealand as a nation and Christchurch as a city. It is still copyright owned by Christchurch City Council but is allowed for free use unless for commercial gain. Badges, lapels, stationery and postcards are still in re-manufactured circulation.

This was also the first time that a city had asked the Games Federation to allow commercial advertising. This was voted down as the Federation feared that advertising by big corporations would remove focus away from the amateur ethos of the Games. As no commercial hoardings were allowed, Christchurch got around this with the use of "sponsorship", one example being General Motors providing a lease fleet of Holden HQ Kingswood sedans that would be sold off after the games. The cars are now sought after by private and museum collectors and have depreciated little in value. Air New Zealand allowed large NZ74 symbols to be placed on the fuselage sides of the airline's brand new McDonnell Douglas DC-10s, giving free advertising around the world. This in itself set a trend since with airlines vying to be "official airline" of a particular event.

Although the Games themselves were a success, making a then sizable profit of $500,000, the "sponsorship" was nowhere near enough. The City of Christchurch was left with a financial facilities management debt (QEII Park) of what would be in today's (2016) amount of NZ$120 million. This deterred the city from hosting major events until 1990 when the government stepped in with lotteries funding to clear the remaining debt. By then, Auckland's 1990 games had been fully commercialized.

Queen Elizabeth II Park The most visible facility left behind by the 1974 Commonwealth Games was the purpose-built stadium and swimming complex. For a few years after, the stadium was a popular destination for sports and leisure patrons who were well indulged in first class facilities. However the costs of maintaining the complex grew over time and soon other additions included hydro-slides and fun park outside on the large grassed area that was once the race course. Christchurch City Council, the owner of the complex continued to develop the ground and for five years from 1990, allowed the Canterbury Greyhound Club to run a track on the inner oval. The main swimming pool was adapted so it could be decked over for Basketball and Netball. Football and Rugby League returned to the stadium in 1995 on a more permanent basis and a minor refurbishment of the track saw athletics events become a main summer event again. Early plans for a hosting of the 2022 Commonwealth Games were in hand when the September 2010 earthquake of around 7.1 hit near Christchurch and damaged the facility. Assessors immediately reported that the damage was repairable and could be covered by insurance. The swimming pools were drained to await repair when the more devastating 22 February 2011 earthquake struck Christchurch, damaging the entire facility, already weakened, beyond economic repair. After laying abandoned for three years, the stadium was demolished and by 2016 the ground stabilized in preparation of more economical facilities and a connecting high school.

Robin Tait receives his gold medal from Anne, Princess Royal

Future 2026/2030 Bids proposals As a rebuilding legacy, there have been calls for Christchurch to bid for the new style Commonwealth Games that allow a core central city to host a more nationwide event. This has been seen as a more economical format for smaller cities, and countries to host what had become an expensive event for a singular city to host.

Precedents set

While the opening ceremony was a regimented and very formal affair, the late afternoon closing ceremony was anything but. This set a precedent for other closing ceremonies since then. With the formalities out of the way, the handing over of the flag to representatives of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, the athletes broke ranks and ran amok, much to the delight of the packed stadium and the Queen herself. A flypast of the then Red Checkers RNZAF display team brought the ceremony to a close as the Queen and Prince Philip did a lap of honour around the stadium and departed.

The youngest competitor at the games was New Zealander Rebecca Perrott, 1212; swimming for Fiji at the games, as her father was Registrar at the University of the South Pacific.[7]

Participating teams

Participating countries

38 teams were represented at the 1974 Games.
(Teams competing for the first time are shown in bold).

Participating Commonwealth countries and territories

Medals by country

  *   Host nation (New Zealand)

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Australia (AUS)29282582
2 England (ENG)28312180
3 Canada (CAN)25191862
4 New Zealand (NZL)*981835
5 Kenya (KEN)72918
6 India (IND)48315
7 Scotland (SCO)351119
8 Nigeria (NGR)33410
9 Northern Ireland (NIR)3126
10 Uganda (UGA)2439
11 Jamaica (JAM)2103
12 Wales (WAL)15410
13 Ghana (GHA)1359
14 Zambia (ZAM)1113
15 Malaysia (MAS)1034
16 Tanzania (TAN)1012
17 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG)1001
18 Trinidad and Tobago (TRI)0112
 Western Samoa (WSM)0112
20 Singapore (SIN)0011
 Swaziland0011
Totals (21 entries)121121132374

Medals by event

Athletics

Badminton

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Men's SinglesMenMalaysia Punch GunalanCanada Jamie PaulsonEngland Derek Talbot
Men's DoublesMenEngland Elliot Stuart & Derek TalbotEngland Ray Stevens & Mike TredgettMalaysia Punch Gunalan & Dominic Soong
Women's SinglesWomenEngland Gillian Gilks (Perrin)England Margaret BeckMalaysia Sylvia Ng
Women's DoublesWomenEngland Margaret Beck & Gillian GilksEngland Margaret Boxall & Sue WhetnallMalaysia Rosalind Singha Ang & Sylvia Ng
Mixed DoublesMixedEngland Derek Talbot & Gillian GilksEngland Paul Whetnall & Nora GardnerEngland Elliot Stuart & Sue Whetnall

Bowls

Boxing

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Light FlyweightMenKenya Stephen MuchokiUganda James OdworiSingapore Syed Abdul Kadir
Scotland John Bambrick
FlyweightMenNorthern Ireland Davy LarmourIndia Chandra NarayananNigeria Saliu Ishola
Uganda John Byaruhanga
BantamweightMenEngland Patrick CowdellUganda Ali RojoZambia Newton Chisanga
Kenya Isaac Maina
FeatherweightMenNigeria Eddie NdukwuUganda Shadrack OdhiamboCanada Dale Anderson
Kenya Samuel Mbugua
LightweightMenUganda Ayub KaluleNigeria Kayin AmahIndia Muniswami Venu
New Zealand Robert Colley
Light WelterweightMenNigeria Obisia NwankpaGhana Anthony MarteyKenya Philip Mathenge
Scotland James Douglas
WelterweightMenUganda Mohamed MuruliWales Errol McKenzieNorthern Ireland John Rodgers
Scotland Steve Cooney
Light MiddleweightMenZambia Lottie MwaleScotland Alex HarrisonNew Zealand Lance Revill
England Robert Davies
MiddleweightMenSaint Vincent and the Grenadines Frankie LucasZambia Julius LuipaEngland Carl Speare
New Zealand Les Rackley
Light HeavyweightMenEngland Bill KnightNew Zealand William ByrneNorthern Ireland Gordon Ferris
Nigeria Isaac Ikhouria
HeavyweightMenEngland Neville MeadeNigeria Fatai AyinlaUganda Benson Masanda
Samoa Vai Samu

Cycling

Track

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Time TrialMenAustralia Dick Paris00:01:12Australia John Nicholson00:01:12England Ian Hallam00:01:12
SprintMenAustralia John NicholsonJamaica Xavier MiranderTrinidad and Tobago Ian Atherly
Individual PursuitMenEngland Ian Hallam00:05:05England Willi Moore00:05:12Australia Gary Sutton00:05:09
Team PursuitMenEngland Mick Bennett, Rik Evans, Ian Hallam & Willi Moore00:04:41Australia Murray Hall, Kevin Nichols, Garry Reardon & Gary Sutton00:04:49New Zealand Paul Brydon, René Heyde, Russell Nant & Blair Stockwellovertook
10 Miles ScratchMenEngland Steve Heffernan00:20:51Australia Murray Hall00:20:52England Ian Hallam00:20:52
TandemMenEngland Geoffrey Cooke & Ernest Crutchlow10.74Australia John Rush & Danny O'NeilNew Zealand Paul Medhurst & Philip Harland

Road

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Road RaceMenAustralia Clyde Sefton05:07:17England Phil Griffiths05:07:46Australia Remo Sansonetti05:17:27

Diving

Shooting

Pistol

Event Gold Silver Bronze
50m Free PistolMen/OpenCanada Jules Sobrian549Australia Norman Harrison549England Laszlo Antal543
25m Rapid-Fire PistolMen/OpenCanada William Hare586Canada Jules Sobrian583New Zealand Bruce McMillan581

Rifle

Event Gold Silver Bronze
50m Rifle ProneMen/OpenAustralia Yvonne Gowland594Wales Bill Watkins591Scotland Alister Allan591
Full Bore RifleMen/OpenNew Zealand Maurie Gordon387.26Scotland Colin McEachran386.27England James Spaight383.35

Shotgun

Event Gold Silver Bronze
TrapMen/OpenCanada John Primrose196England Brian Bailey193Wales Philip Lewis191
SkeetMen/OpenCanada Harry Willsie194England Joe Neville191Australia Robin Bailey189

Swimming

Men's events
Event Gold Silver Bronze
100 m freestyle  Michael Wenden (AUS)52.73  Bruce Robertson (CAN)53.78  Brian Phillips (CAN)54.11
200 m freestyle  Steve Badger (AUS)1:56.72  Bruce Robertson (CAN)1:57.21  Michael Wenden (AUS)1:57.83
400 m freestyle  John Kulasalu (AUS)4:01.44  Brad Cooper (AUS)4:02.12  Steve Badger (AUS)4:04.07
1500 m freestyle  Steve Holland (AUS)15:34.73  Mark Treffers (NZL)15:59.82  Steve Badger (AUS)16:22.23
100 m backstroke  Mark Tonelli (AUS)59.65  Steve Pickell (CAN)59.88  Brad Cooper (AUS)1:00.17
200 m backstroke  Brad Cooper (AUS)2:06.31  Mark Tonelli (AUS)2:09.47  Robert Williams (AUS)2:09.83
100 m breaststroke  David Leigh (ENG)1:06.52  David Wilkie (SCO)1:07.37  Paul Naisby (ENG)1:08.52
200 m breaststroke  David Wilkie (SCO)2:24.42  David Leigh (ENG)2:24.75  Paul Naisby (ENG)2:27.36
100 m butterfly  Neil Rogers (AUS)56.58  Byron MacDonald (CAN)56.83  Bruce Robertson (CAN)56.84
200 m butterfly  Brian Brinkley (ENG)2:04.51  Ross Seymour (AUS)2:06.64  John Coutts (NZL)2:07.03
200 m individual medley  David Wilkie (SCO)2:10.11  Brian Brinkley (ENG)2:12.73  Gary MacDonald (CAN)2:12.98
400 m individual medley  Mark Treffers (NZL)4:35.90  Brian Brinkley (ENG)4:41.29  Raymond Terrell (ENG)4:42.94
4×100 m freestyle relay  Canada (CAN)
Brian Phillips
Bruce Robertson
Gary MacDonald
Ian MacKenzie
3:33.79  Australia (AUS)
Michael Wenden
Neil Rogers
Peter Coughlan
Ross Patterson
3:34.26  England (ENG)
Brian Brinkley
Colin Cunningham
Keith Walton
Raymond Terrell
3:38.22
4×200 m freestyle relay  Australia (AUS)
John Kulasalu
Michael Wenden
Robert Nay
Steve Badger
7:50.13  England (ENG)
Brian Brinkley
Colin Cunningham
Neil Dexter
Raymond Terrell
7:52.90  Canada (CAN)
Bruce Robertson
Gary MacDonald
Ian MacKenzie
Jim Fowlie
7:53.38
4×100 m medley relay  Canada (CAN)
Brian Phillips
Bruce Robertson
Steve Pickell
William Mahony
3:52.93  Australia (AUS)
Mark Tonelli
Michael Wenden
Neil Rogers
Nigel Cluer
3:55.76  England (ENG)
Brian Brinkley
Colin Cunningham
David Leigh
Stephen Nash
4:00.48
Women's events
Event Gold Silver Bronze
100 m freestyleAustralia Sonya Gray59.13Canada Gail Amundrud59.36Canada Judy Wright59.46
200 m freestyleAustralia Sonya Gray2:04.27Australia Jenny Turrall2:06.90Canada Gail Amundrud2:07.03
400 m freestyleAustralia Jenny Turrall4:22.09Canada Wendy Quirk4:22.96New Zealand Jaynie Parkhouse4:23.09
800 m freestyleNew Zealand Jaynie Parkhouse8:58.49Australia Jenny Turrall8:58.53Australia Rosemary Milgate8:58.59
100 m backstrokeCanada Wendy Cook1:06.37Canada Donna-Marie Gurr1:06.55Australia Linda Young1:07.52
200 m backstrokeCanada Wendy Cook2:20.37Australia Sandra Yost2:22.07Canada Donna-Marie Gurr2:23.74
100 m breaststrokeEngland Christine Gaskell1:16.42Canada Marian Stuart1:16.61Scotland Sandra Dickie1:17.17
200 m breaststrokeWales Pat Beavan2:43.11Australia Beverley Whitfield2:43.58Australia Allison Smith2:45.08
100 m butterflyCanada Patti Stenhouse1:05.38Scotland Kim Wickham1:05.96Australia Sandra Yost1:06.04
200 m butterflyAustralia Sandra Yost2:20.57Canada Patti Stenhouse2:20.66Australia Gail Neall2:21.66
200 m individual medleyCanada Leslie Cliff2:24.13Canada Becky Smith2:25.17New Zealand Susan Hunter2:26.18
400 m individual medleyCanada Leslie Cliff5:01.35Canada Becky Smith5:03.68New Zealand Susan Hunter5:07.20
4 × 100 m freestyle relayCanada
Anne Jardin
Becky Smith
Gail Amundrud
Judy Wright
3:57.14Australia
Debra Cain
Jennifer Turrall
Sonya Gray
Suzy Anderson
4:02.37England
Alyson Jones
Avis Willington
Lesley Allardice
Susan Edmondson
4:05.59
4 × 100 m medley relayCanada
Gail Amundrud
Marian Stuart
Patti Stenhouse
Wendy Cook
4:24.77Australia
Beverley Whitfield
Debra Cain
Linda Young
Sonya Gray
4:30.55Scotland
Gillian Fordyce
Kim Wickham
Morag McGlashan
Sandra Dickie
4:31.68

Weightlifting

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Flyweight – OverallMen Precious McKenzie (ENG)215 Anil Mondal (IND)200 John McNiven (SCO)192.5
Bantamweight – OverallMen Michael Adams (AUS)222.5 Yves Carignan (CAN)212.5 Shanmug Velliswamy (IND)212.5
Featherweight – OverallMen George Vasiliades (AUS)237.5 Gerald Hay (AUS)235 Brian Duffy (NZL)232.5
Lightweight – OverallMen George Newton (ENG)260 Ieuan Owen (WAL)255 Bruce Cameron (NZL)252.5
Middleweight – OverallMen Tony Ebert (NZL)275 Stanley Bailey (TRI)275 Robert Wrench (WAL)270
Light Heavyweight – OverallMen Tony Ford (ENG)302.5 Paul Wallwork (SAM)300 Mike Pearman (ENG)292.5
Middle Heavyweight – OverallMen Nicolo Ciancio (AUS)330 Brian Marsden (NZL)315 Steve Wyatt (AUS)310
Heavyweight – OverallMen Russ Prior (CAN)352.5 John Bolton (NZL)340 Rory Barrett (NZL)320
Super Heavyweight – OverallMen Graham May (NZL)342.5 Andy Kerr (ENG)337.5 Terry Perdue (WAL)330

Wrestling

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Light FlyweightMen Mitchell Kawasaki (CAN) Wally Koenig (AUS) Radhey Shyam (IND)
FlyweightMen Sudesh Kumar (IND) Gordon Bertie (CAN) John Navie (AUS)
BantamweightMen Prem Nath (IND) Amrik Singh Gill (ENG) Kevin Burke (AUS)
FeatherweightMen Egon Beiler (CAN) Shivaji Chingle (IND) Ray Brown (AUS)
LightweightMen Jagrup Singh (IND) Joey Gilligan (ENG) Stephen Martin (CAN)
WelterweightMen Raghunath Pawar (IND) Tony Shacklady (ENG) Gordon Mackay (NZL)
MiddleweightMen Dave Aspin (NZL) Satpal Singh (IND) Taras Hryb (CAN)
Light HeavyweightMen Terry Paice (CAN) Netra Pal Singh (IND) Maurice Allan (SCO)
HeavyweightMen Claude Pilon (CAN) Dadu Chaugule (IND) Ian Duncan (SCO)
Super HeavyweightMen Bill Benko (CAN) Bishwanath Singh (IND) Gary Knight (NZL)

See also

Footnotes

  1. Commonwealth games symbol protection act 1974
  2. Yee, Lindsay. "Design Assembly: NZ Design Icons". The Big Idea. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  3. Ferrit
  4. Zeald.com
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "The Post Office, too, is ready... (advert)". The Press. 24 January 1974. pp. S6.
  6. "'Join together' song, 1974 Commonwealth Games". New Zealand History. NZ Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  7. Wellington's swim queen in "The Wellingtonian", 21 March 2013 p12

References

Official History of the Xth British Commonwealth Games edited by A. R. Cant (1974, Christchurch)

Preceded by
Edinburgh
British Commonwealth Games
Christchurch
X British Commonwealth Games
Succeeded by
Edmonton
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