1974 British Commonwealth Games

The 1974 British Commonwealth Games (Template:LangxTemplate:Citation needed) were 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
Template:Flagicon Christchurch	36
Template:Flagicon 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.

Logo

The logo was the second (after Edinburgh) to be protected and trademarked,<ref>Commonwealth games symbol protection act 1974</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In recent years the logo has been regarded as one of New Zealand's iconic symbols, being reproduced on clothing and elsewhere.<ref>FerritTemplate:Dead link</ref><ref>Zeald.comTemplate:Dead link</ref>

Venues

• Queen Elizabeth II Park – ceremonies, athletics, diving, swimming<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref>
• Cowles Stadium – badminton<ref name=":0" />
• Woolston Working Men's Club – bowls<ref name=":0" />
• Canterbury Court – boxing<ref name=":0" />
• Denton Park – track cycling<ref name=":0" />
• Christchurch Town Hall – weightlifting, wrestling<ref name=":0" />
• McLeans Island – shooting (smallbore)<ref name=":0" />
• West Melton – shooting (largebore)<ref name=":0" />
• Yaldhurst – shooting (trap)<ref name=":0" />
• Cashmere/Beckenham/Huntsbury – road cycling<ref name=":0" />
• University of Canterbury – athlete's village<ref name=":0" />

Opening ceremony

File:Royalty at the 1974 Commonwealth Games - Royals in crowd at Christchurch.jpg

Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Anne and Charles, Prince of Wales in attendance at the Games

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'.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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

File:Queen Elizabeth II at the 1974 Commonwealth Games (4).jpg

Elizabeth II at a medal ceremony

Christchurch was (and still is) the smallest city to host the modern televised Commonwealth Games.Template:Citation needed 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.

File:Princess Anne handing gold medal to Robin Tait (discus) of NZ - Commonwealth Games 1974.jpg

Robin Tait receives his gold medal from Princess Anne

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, 12Template:Frac; swimming for Fiji at the games, as her father was Registrar at the University of the South Pacific.<ref>Wellington's swim queen in "The Wellingtonian", 21 March 2013 p12</ref>

Participating teams

File:Commonwealth games 1974 countries map.PNG

Participating countries

38 teams were represented at the 1974 Games.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
(Teams competing for the first time are shown in bold).Template:Cn

• Template:Flag (168)
• Template:Flag (4)
• Template:Flag (5)
• Template:Flag (9)—first appearance
• Template:Flag (115)
• Template:Flag (6)—first appearance
• Template:Flag (154)
• Template:Flag (36)
• Template:Flag (21)
• Template:Flag (4)
• Template:Flag (1)
• Template:Flag (13)
• File:Flag of Hong Kong (1959–1997).svg Hong Kong (18)
• Template:Flag (20)
• Template:Flag (15)
• Template:Flag (13)
• Template:Flag (9)
• Template:Flag (58)
• Template:Flag (10)—first appearance
• Template:Flag (15)
• Template:Flag (14)
• File:Flag of Mauritius.svg Mauritius (10)
• Template:Flaglink (host) (146)
• Template:Flag (46)
• Template:Flag (43)
• Template:Flagicon Papua and New Guinea (33)
• Template:Flag (1)
• Template:Flag (88)
• Template:Flag (8)
• Template:Flag (4)
• Template:Flag (32)
• Template:Flag (12)—first appearance
• Template:Flag (2)
• Template:Flag (4)
• Template:Flag (27)
• Template:Flag (69)
• Template:Flag (28)—first appearance
• Template:Flag (15)

Medals by event

Badminton

Event		Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's Singles	Men	Template:Flagicon Punch Gunalan	Template:Flagicon Jamie Paulson	Template:Flagicon Derek Talbot
Men's Doubles	Men	Template:Flagicon Elliot Stuart & Derek Talbot	Template:Flagicon Ray Stevens & Mike Tredgett	Template:Flagicon Punch Gunalan & Dominic Soong
Women's Singles	Women	Template:Flagicon Gillian Gilks (Perrin)	Template:Flagicon Margaret Beck	Template:Flagicon Sylvia Ng
Women's Doubles	Women	Template:Flagicon Margaret Beck & Gillian Gilks	Template:Flagicon Margaret Boxall & Sue Whetnall	Template:Flagicon Rosalind Singha Ang & Sylvia Ng
Mixed Doubles	Mixed	Template:Flagicon Derek Talbot & Gillian Gilks	Template:Flagicon Paul Whetnall & Nora Gardner	Template:Flagicon Elliot Stuart & Sue Whetnall

Boxing

Event		Gold	Silver	Bronze
Light Flyweight	Men	Template:Flagicon Stephen Muchoki	Template:Flagicon James Odwori	Template:Flagicon Syed Abdul Kadir
				Template:Flagicon John Bambrick
Flyweight	Men	Template:Flagicon Davy Larmour	Template:Flagicon Chandra Narayanan	Template:Flagicon Saliu Ishola
				Template:Flagicon John Byaruhanga
Bantamweight	Men	Template:Flagicon Patrick Cowdell	Template:Flagicon Ali Rojo	Template:Flagicon Newton Chisanga
				Template:Flagicon Isaac Maina
Featherweight	Men	Template:Flagicon Eddie Ndukwu	Template:Flagicon Shadrack Odhiambo	Template:Flagicon Dale Anderson
				Template:Flagicon Samuel Mbugua
Lightweight	Men	Template:Flagicon Ayub Kalule	Template:Flagicon Kayin Amah	Template:Flagicon Muniswami Venu
				Template:Flagicon Robert Colley
Light Welterweight	Men	Template:Flagicon Obisia Nwankpa	Template:Flagicon Anthony Martey	Template:Flagicon Philip Mathenge
				Template:Flagicon James Douglas
Welterweight	Men	Template:Flagicon Mohamed Muruli	Template:Flagicon Errol McKenzie	Template:Flagicon John Rodgers
				Template:Flagicon Steve Cooney
Light Middleweight	Men	Template:Flagicon Lottie Mwale	Template:Flagicon Alex Harrison	Template:Flagicon Lance Revill
				Template:Flagicon Robert Davies
Middleweight	Men	Template:Flagicon Frankie Lucas	Template:Flagicon Julius Luipa	Template:Flagicon Carl Speare
				Template:Flagicon Les Rackley
Light Heavyweight	Men	Template:Flagicon Bill Knight	Template:Flagicon William Byrne	Template:Flagicon Gordon Ferris
				Template:Flagicon Isaac Ikhouria
Heavyweight	Men	Template:Flagicon Neville Meade	Template:Flagicon Fatai Ayinla	Template:Flagicon Benson Masanda
				Template:Flagicon Vai Samu

Cycling

Track

Event		Gold		Silver		Bronze
Time Trial	Men	Template:Flagicon Dick Paris	00:01:12	Template:Flagicon John Nicholson	00:01:12	Template:Flagicon Ian Hallam	00:01:12
Sprint	Men	Template:Flagicon John Nicholson		Template:Flagicon Xavier Mirander		Template:Flagicon Ian Atherly
Individual Pursuit	Men	Template:Flagicon Ian Hallam	00:05:05	Template:Flagicon Willi Moore	00:05:12	Template:Flagicon Gary Sutton	00:05:09
Team Pursuit	Men	Template:Flagicon Mick Bennett, Rik Evans, Ian Hallam & Willi Moore	00:04:41	Template:Flagicon Murray Hall, Kevin Nichols, Garry Reardon & Gary Sutton	00:04:49	Template:Flagicon Paul Brydon, René Heyde, Russell Nant & Blair Stockwell	overtook
10 Miles Scratch	Men	Template:Flagicon Steve Heffernan	00:20:51	Template:Flagicon Murray Hall	00:20:52	Template:Flagicon Ian Hallam	00:20:52
Tandem	Men	Template:Flagicon Geoffrey Cooke & Ernest Crutchlow	10.74	Template:Flagicon John Rush & Danny O'Neil		Template:Flagicon Paul Medhurst & Philip Harland

Road

Event		Gold		Silver		Bronze
Road Race	Men	Template:Flagicon Clyde Sefton	05:07:17	Template:Flagicon Phil Griffiths	05:07:46	Template:Flagicon Remo Sansonetti	05:17:27

Shooting

Pistol

Event		Gold		Silver		Bronze
50m Free Pistol	Men/Open	Template:Flagicon Jules Sobrian	549	Template:Flagicon Norman Harrison	549	Template:Flagicon Laszlo Antal	543
25m Rapid-Fire Pistol	Men/Open	Template:Flagicon William Hare	586	Template:Flagicon Jules Sobrian	583	Template:Flagicon Bruce McMillan	581

Rifle

Event		Gold		Silver		Bronze
50m Rifle Prone	Men/Open	Template:Flagicon Yvonne Gowland	594	Template:Flagicon Bill Watkins	591	Template:Flagicon Alister Allan	591
Full Bore Rifle	Men/Open	Template:Flagicon Maurie Gordon	387.26	Template:Flagicon Colin McEachran	386.27	Template:Flagicon James Spaight	383.35

Shotgun

Event		Gold		Silver		Bronze
Trap	Men/Open	Template:Flagicon John Primrose	196	Template:Flagicon Brian Bailey	193	Template:Flagicon Philip Lewis	191
Skeet	Men/Open	Template:Flagicon Harry Willsie	194	Template:Flagicon Joe Neville	191	Template:Flagicon Robin Bailey	189

Swimming

Men's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 m freestyle	Template:FlagCGFathlete	52.73	Template:FlagCGFathlete	53.78	Template:FlagCGFathlete	54.11
200 m freestyle	Template:FlagCGFathlete	1:56.72	Template:FlagCGFathlete	1:57.21	Template:FlagCGFathlete	1:57.83
400 m freestyle	Template:FlagCGFathlete	4:01.44	Template:FlagCGFathlete	4:02.12	Template:FlagCGFathlete	4:04.07
1500 m freestyle	Template:FlagCGFathlete	15:34.73	Template:FlagCGFathlete	15:59.82	Template:FlagCGFathlete	16:22.23
100 m backstroke	Template:FlagCGFathlete	59.65	Template:FlagCGFathlete	59.88	Template:FlagCGFathlete	1:00.17
200 m backstroke	Template:FlagCGFathlete	2:06.31	Template:FlagCGFathlete	2:09.47	Template:FlagCGFathlete	2:09.83
100 m breaststroke	Template:FlagCGFathlete	1:06.52	Template:FlagCGFathlete	1:07.37	Template:FlagCGFathlete	1:08.52
200 m breaststroke	Template:FlagCGFathlete	2:24.42	Template:FlagCGFathlete	2:24.75	Template:FlagCGFathlete	2:27.36
100 m butterfly	Template:FlagCGFathlete	56.58	Template:FlagCGFathlete	56.83	Template:FlagCGFathlete	56.84
200 m butterfly	Template:FlagCGFathlete	2:04.51	Template:FlagCGFathlete	2:06.64	Template:FlagCGFathlete	2:07.03
200 m individual medley	Template:FlagCGFathlete	2:10.11	Template:FlagCGFathlete	2:12.73	Template:FlagCGFathlete	2:12.98
400 m individual medley	Template:FlagCGFathlete	4:35.90	Template:FlagCGFathlete	4:41.29	Template:FlagCGFathlete	4:42.94
4×100 m freestyle relay	Template:FlagCGF Brian Phillips Bruce Robertson Gary MacDonald Ian MacKenzie	3:33.79	Template:FlagCGF Michael Wenden Neil Rogers Peter Coughlan Ross Patterson	3:34.26	Template:FlagCGF Brian Brinkley Colin Cunningham Keith Walton Raymond Terrell	3:38.22
4×200 m freestyle relay	Template:FlagCGF John Kulasalu Michael Wenden Robert Nay Steve Badger	7:50.13	Template:FlagCGF Brian Brinkley Colin Cunningham Neil Dexter Raymond Terrell	7:52.90	Template:FlagCGF Bruce Robertson Gary MacDonald Ian MacKenzie Jim Fowlie	7:53.38
4×100 m medley relay	Template:FlagCGF Brian Phillips Bruce Robertson Steve Pickell William Mahony	3:52.93	Template:FlagCGF Mark Tonelli Michael Wenden Neil Rogers Nigel Cluer	3:55.76	Template:FlagCGF Brian Brinkley Colin Cunningham David Leigh Stephen Nash	4:00.48

Women's events

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 m freestyle	Template:Flagicon Sonya Gray	59.13	Template:Flagicon Gail Amundrud	59.36	Template:Flagicon Judy Wright	59.46
200 m freestyle	Template:Flagicon Sonya Gray	2:04.27	Template:Flagicon Jenny Turrall	2:06.90	Template:Flagicon Gail Amundrud	2:07.03
400 m freestyle	Template:Flagicon Jenny Turrall	4:22.09	Template:Flagicon Wendy Quirk	4:22.96	Template:Flagicon Jaynie Parkhouse	4:23.09
800 m freestyle	Template:Flagicon Jaynie Parkhouse	8:58.49	Template:Flagicon Jenny Turrall	8:58.53	Template:Flagicon Rosemary Milgate	8:58.59
100 m backstroke	Template:Flagicon Wendy Cook	1:06.37	Template:Flagicon Donna-Marie Gurr	1:06.55	Template:Flagicon Linda Young	1:07.52
200 m backstroke	Template:Flagicon Wendy Cook	2:20.37	Template:Flagicon Sandra Yost	2:22.07	Template:Flagicon Donna-Marie Gurr	2:23.74
100 m breaststroke	Template:Flagicon Christine Gaskell	1:16.42	Template:Flagicon Marian Stuart	1:16.61	Template:Flagicon Sandra Dickie	1:17.17
200 m breaststroke	Template:Flagicon Pat Beavan	2:43.11	Template:Flagicon Beverley Whitfield	2:43.58	Template:Flagicon Allison Smith	2:45.08
100 m butterfly	Template:Flagicon Patti Stenhouse	1:05.38	Template:Flagicon Kim Wickham	1:05.96	Template:Flagicon Sandra Yost	1:06.04
200 m butterfly	Template:Flagicon Sandra Yost	2:20.57	Template:Flagicon Patti Stenhouse	2:20.66	Template:Flagicon Gail Neall	2:21.66
200 m individual medley	Template:Flagicon Leslie Cliff	2:24.13	Template:Flagicon Becky Smith	2:25.17	Template:Flagicon Susan Hunter	2:26.18
400 m individual medley	Template:Flagicon Leslie Cliff	5:01.35	Template:Flagicon Becky Smith	5:03.68	Template:Flagicon Susan Hunter	5:07.20
4 × 100 m freestyle relay	Template:Flagicon Anne Jardin Becky Smith Gail Amundrud Judy Wright	3:57.14	Template:Flagicon Debra Cain Jennifer Turrall Sonya Gray Suzy Anderson	4:02.37	Template:Flagicon Alyson Jones Avis Willington Lesley Allardice Susan Edmondson	4:05.59
4 × 100 m medley relay	Template:Flagicon Gail Amundrud Marian Stuart Patti Stenhouse Wendy Cook	4:24.77	Template:Flagicon Beverley Whitfield Debra Cain Linda Young Sonya Gray	4:30.55	Template:Flagicon Gillian Fordyce Kim Wickham Morag McGlashan Sandra Dickie	4:31.68

Weightlifting

Event		Gold		Silver		Bronze
Flyweight – Overall	Men	Template:Flagathlete	215	Template:Flagathlete	200	Template:Flagathlete	192.5
Bantamweight – Overall	Men	Template:Flagathlete	222.5	Template:Flagathlete	212.5	Template:Flagathlete	212.5
Featherweight – Overall	Men	Template:Flagathlete	237.5	Template:Flagathlete	235	Template:Flagathlete	232.5
Lightweight – Overall	Men	Template:Flagathlete	260	Template:Flagathlete	255	Template:Flagathlete	252.5
Middleweight – Overall	Men	Template:Flagathlete	275	Template:Flagathlete	275	Template:Flagathlete	270
Light Heavyweight – Overall	Men	Template:Flagathlete	302.5	Template:Flagathlete	300	Template:Flagathlete	292.5
Middle Heavyweight – Overall	Men	Template:Flagathlete	330	Template:Flagathlete	315	Template:Flagathlete	310
Heavyweight – Overall	Men	Template:Flagathlete	352.5	Template:Flagathlete	340	Template:Flagathlete	320
Super Heavyweight – Overall	Men	Template:Flagathlete	342.5	Template:Flagathlete	337.5	Template:Flagathlete	330

Wrestling

Event		Gold	Silver	Bronze
Light Flyweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
Flyweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
Bantamweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
Featherweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
Lightweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
Welterweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
Middleweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
Light Heavyweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
Heavyweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
Super Heavyweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete

See also

• The Games Affair
• Sir Ron Scott

References

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

External links

• "Christchurch 1974". Commnwealthsport.com. Commonwealth Sport.
• Games 74 – a full-length documentary film of the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch on NZ On Screen