British Empire Games 1938

British Empire Games 1938
venue	Sydney , Australia
participating countries	15th
Participating athletes	464
Competitions	71 in 7 sports
Opening ceremony	February 5, 1938
Closing ceremony	February 12, 1938

The 1938 British Empire Games were the third edition of the event now known as the Commonwealth Games . They took place in the Australian city of Sydney from February 5 to 12, 1938 , to coincide with the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the city's founding. It was the first time that Australia hosted a very large international championship. Originally it was planned to hold the event in South Africa , but since strict racial segregation was practiced there and black athletes (e.g. from Canada) were not allowed to start, the games were moved to Australia.

71 competitions were held in the sports of bowls , boxing , athletics , cycling , wrestling , rowing and swimming (including diving ). 464 athletes from 15 countries took part. The competition venues were Sydney Cricket Ground , Sydney Sports Ground , North Sydney Pool and Henson Park .

The undisputed star of the event was Australian Decima Norman , who won five gold medals in track and field disciplines.

participating countries

Participating countries (purple: first participation)

Australia Australia
Bermuda 1910 Bermuda
British Guiana 1919 British Guiana
Ceylon Ceylon
England England
Fiji Fiji
British India British India
Canada 1921 Canada

New Zealand New Zealand
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland
Scotland Scotland
South Africa 1928 South African Union
Rhodesia South 1923 Southern Rhodesia
Trinidad and Tobago 1889 Trinidad and Tobago
Wales 1807 Wales

Results

(The links lead to detailed results pages)

Medal table

space	country	gold	silver	bronze	total
1	Australia Australia	25th	19th	22nd	66
2	England England	15th	15th	10	40
3	Canada 1921 Canada	13	16	15th	44
4th	South Africa 1928 South African Union	10	10	6th	26th
5	New Zealand New Zealand	5	7th	13	25th
6th	Wales 1807 Wales	2	1	-	3
7th	Ceylon Ceylon	1	-	-	1
8th	Scotland Scotland	-	2	3	5
9	British Guiana 1919 British Guiana	-	1	-	1
10	Rhodesia South 1923 Southern Rhodesia	-	-	2	2

Web links

Commons : British Empire Games 1938 - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Commonwealth Games Federation

Individual evidence

^ Arnd Krüger : "Providing a magnificent advertisement for our young country": the origins of sport as a means of national representation. Conference Report. IXth Sporting Traditions Conference. Launceston, June 30 - July 3, 1993, 31pp. Reet Howell, Maxwell Howell : A history of Australian sport . Drummoyne, NSW: Shakespeare Head Press, 1987.
^ Bruce Kidd : The Campaign against Sport in South Africa. International Journal 43 (1988), 4, 643-664.

[1] Arnd Krüger : "Providing a magnificent advertisement for our young country": the origins of sport as a means of national representation. Conference Report. IXth Sporting Traditions Conference. Launceston, June 30 - July 3, 1993, 31pp. Reet Howell, Maxwell Howell : A history of Australian sport . Drummoyne, NSW: Shakespeare Head Press, 1987.

[2] Bruce Kidd : The Campaign against Sport in South Africa. International Journal 43 (1988), 4, 643-664.