1982 Commonwealth Games

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The **1982 Commonwealth Games** were held in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia from 30 September–9 October 1982. The Opening Ceremony was held at the QEII Stadium (named for Elizabeth II), in the Brisbane suburb of Nathan. The QEII Stadium was also the venue which was used for the athletics and archery competitions during the Games. Other events were held at the purpose-built Sleeman Sports Complex in Chandler.

The Chairman of the 1982 Commonwealth Games was Sir Edward Williams.

The 1982 Commonwealth Games Logo was designed by Paulo Ferreira, who was the winner of a nationwide competition held in 1978. The symbol is derived from the form of a bounding kangaroo. The three bands, forming stylized A's (for Australia), are in colours which are common to flags of many Commonwealth countries.

Matilda the kangaroo mascot for the 1982 Commonwealth Games was represented by a cartoon kangaroo, and a gigantic 13-metre (42 feet 8 inches) high mechanical "winking" kangaroo, who travelled around the stadium and winked at the crowd.

The games were officially opened by The Duke of Edinburgh and closed by The Queen.

## Participating teams

 File:Commonwealth games 1982 countries map.PNG
46 Commonwealth nations and territories took part in the 1982 Commonwealth Games. A total of 1,583 athletes and 571 officials participated in the event. The Griffith University campus was used as an athletes village.
(Teams competing for the first time are shown in **bold**).

* Australia
* Bahamas
* File:Flag of Barbados.svg.png Barbados
* File:Flag of Bermuda.svg Bermuda
* File:Flag of Botswana.svg Botswana
* Canada
* File:Flag of the Cayman Islands (pre-1999).svg Cayman Islands
* File:Flag of Cyprus (1960–2006).svg Cyprus
* England
* **File:Flag of the Falkland Islands (1948–1999).svg Falkland Islands**
* File:Flag of Fiji.svg Fiji
* Ghana
* File:Flag of Gibraltar.svg Gibraltar
* File:Flag of Grenada.svg Grenada
* File:Flag of Guernsey (1936).svg Guernsey
* File:Flag of Guyana.svg Guyana
* File:Flag of Hong Kong 1959.svg.png Hong Kong
* India
* File:Flag of the Isle of Man.svg Isle of Man
* File:Flag of Jamaica.svg.png Jamaica

* File:Flag of Jersey.svg Jersey
* File:Flag of Kenya.svg.png Kenya
* File:Flag of Lesotho (1966–1987).svg Lesotho
* Malawi
* File:Flag of Malaysia.svg Malaysia
* File:Flag of Malta.svg Malta
* File:Flag of Mauritius.svg Mauritius
* New Zealand
* Nigeria
* Northern Ireland
* File:Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg.png Papua New Guinea
* **File:Flag of Saint Helena.svg Saint Helena**
* Scotland
* File:Flag of Singapore.svg Singapore
* **File:Flag of the Solomon Islands.svg Solomon Islands**
* File:Flag of Sri Lanka.svg Sri Lanka
* File:Flag of Eswatini.svg Swaziland
* File:Flag of Tanzania.svg Tanzania
* Template:Country data The Gambia
* File:Flag of Tonga.svg Tonga
* File:Flag of Trinidad and Tobago.svg Trinidad and Tobago
* Uganda
* **File:Flag of Vanuatu.svg Vanuatu**
* Wales
* Template:Country data Western Samoa
* File:Flag of Zambia.svg Zambia
* File:Flag of Zimbabwe.svg Zimbabwe

## Bidding Cities

Bidding for the XII Commonwealth Games was held in Montreal at the 1976 Summer Olympics: Lagos (Nigeria), Brisbane (Australia), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and Birmingham (England). On 14 July 1976 it was announced that Brisbane had won the rights to stage the Games after the other candidate cities withdrew bids earlier that year.

Brisbane was awarded by default of being the only Candidate City left at the bid election after Birmingham reversed its decision to submit an application. Nigeria's boycott of the Montreal Summer Olympics made Lagos' bid lobbying impractical.[*citation needed*] The Montreal Summer Olympics were plagued with cost overruns and bidding on a sports festival anywhere in the world was not good politically.[*citation needed*]

## Sports

Sports contested during the 1982 Commonwealth Games included athletics, archery, badminton, Lawn bowls, boxing, cycling, shooting, swimming, diving, weightlifting and wrestling.

The Bruce Highway was used for road cycling events, boxing was held at Brisbane Festival Hall while weightlifting and wrestling were held at Brisbane City Hall.

## Highlights

### Opening Ceremony (30 September)

Main article: 1982 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony
The ceremony at the QEII Stadium was held on a fine but extremely windy day. The wind was so strong that skydivers who were going to descend into the stadium were cancelled. Instead they made an entrance at the closing ceremony.

### Day 1 (1 October)

The first event of the Games was 100 kilometres (62 mi) Road Trial in cycling. England won the Gold Medal in the event, and Australia won the Silver Medal—coming second to England by only six seconds.

Other sports which were contested on the first day of competition included swimming and diving, weightlifting, shooting and bowls.

### Day 2 (2 October)

Sports contested included swimming, diving, weightlifting, shooting, cycling, bowls and archery.

The day was marred by both Australia and Canada being disqualified in the 4 × 100 metres relay in swimming, both problems occurring during change-overs. The medals awarded for this race went to England, Scotland and New Zealand.

### Day 4 (4 October)

Sports contested included swimming, diving, cycling, athletics, archery, hammer throwing and shooting.

The day was marred when Canada was again disqualified, this time in the 4 × 200 metres freestyle relay. Canada protested against the winners, Australia, as well as against their own disqualification.

### Closing Ceremony

Elizabeth II closed the Games during a colourful ceremony, which included parachute jumpers (who had originally been also intended as part of the Opening Ceremony display) jumping and landing in a special target area within the stadium and red, white and blue balloons. Matilda the Kangaroo also winked at the Queen. Following the closing of the Games, the Queen and Duke left the stand to be driven from the stadium. However, nobody wanted the Games to end and the Australian team formed a 'guard of honour' and ran beside and behind the car in which Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were travelling, as it circled the stadium several times before finally leaving. Team members from other countries also joined in running after the royal car.

## Medals by country

This is the full table of the **medal count** of the **1982 Commonwealth Games**. These rankings sort by the number of gold medals earned by a country. The number of silvers is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze. If, after the above, countries are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically. This follows the system used by the IOC, IAAF and BBC.

## Medals by event

### Aquatics

Main article: Aquatics at the 1982 Commonwealth Games
### Archery

Main article: Archery at the 1982 Commonwealth Games
### Athletics

Main article: Athletics at the 1982 Commonwealth Games
### Badminton

Main article: Badminton at the 1982 Commonwealth Games
### Bowls

Main article: Lawn Bowls at the 1982 Commonwealth Games

### Cycling

Main article: Cycling at the 1982 Commonwealth Games
### Diving

Main article: Aquatics at the 1982 Commonwealth Games

### Swimming

Main article: Aquatics at the 1982 Commonwealth Games

## Aboriginal movement protests

The Brisbane Commonwealth Games were also noted by large-scale protests by the Aboriginal rights movement in Australia, which brought to the centre of international media attention the lack of land rights, poor living condition and suppression of personal and political rights in Queensland in particular, and in Australia as a whole. The protests, which were followed by large-scale arrests, are a significant event in the history of the Australian Aboriginal movement.

## Games identity

### Mascot

 File:Opening ceremony (8075978683).jpg
The massive Matilda prop from the opening ceremony was relocated to Wet'n'Wild Water World, a water park in the Gold Coast hinterland. Unfortunately, in 2007, Matilda lay out the back of Wet'n'Wild in pieces, until 2011, when the winking icon found a new home at the back of the Kybong Matilda fuel station (now a Puma fuel station), near Gympie in South East Queensland, and has been thrilling visitors and locals with her impressive stature.

## See also

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* 1982 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony
* Australia at the Commonwealth Games
* Australia at the 1982 Commonwealth Games
* Canada at the 1982 Commonwealth Games

## Footnotes

1. ↑ "Queensland Sport and Athletic Centre". *Austadiums.com*. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
2. ↑ "Commemorating the life of Sir Edward Williams". *2004*. Supreme Court of Queensland Library. Archived from the original on 20 July 2008. Retrieved 7 December 2015. Unknown parameter `|deadurl=` ignored (`|url-status=` suggested) (help)
3. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 June 2005. Retrieved 2007-02-08. Unknown parameter `|deadurl=` ignored (`|url-status=` suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
4. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 June 2005. Retrieved 2007-02-08. Unknown parameter `|deadurl=` ignored (`|url-status=` suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
5. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 13 May 2006. Retrieved 2006-03-17. Unknown parameter `|deadurl=` ignored (`|url-status=` suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Phil Lutton. "Could the Gold Coast ever beat Brisbane's Games?". *Brisbane Times*. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
7. ↑ "Past Commonwealth Games". Commonwealth Games Federation. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Cole, John R. (1984). *Shaping a city*. Albion, Queensland: William Brooks Queensland. pp. 350–353. ISBN 0-85568-619-7.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 McBride, Frank; et al. (2009). *Brisbane 150 Stories*. Brisbane City Council Publication. pp. 274–275. ISBN 978-1-876091-60-6.
10. ↑ "Could the Gold Coast ever beat Brisbane's Games?". *Brisbanetimes.com.au*. 11 November 2011. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
11. ↑ "Commonwealth Games Medallists - Boxing". *Gbrathletics.com*. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
12. ↑ Spencer Reiss with Carl Robinson, "Aborigines Vs. Queensland", Newsweek: International Edition, 11 October 1982, p. 13
13. ↑ Foley, Gary. "A Short History of the Australian Indigenous Resistance 1950 - 1990". *The Koori History Website*. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
14. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 17 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-28. Unknown parameter `|deadurl=` ignored (`|url-status=` suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
15. ↑ Peters, Daniel (4 August 2015). "'Winking Matilda' from 1982 Commonwealth Games sits outside a service station | Daily Mail Online". *Dailymail.co.uk*. Retrieved 28 August 2016.

## References

* "*XII Commonwealth Games - The Official Pictorial History*" —Channel 9 "Today Tonight", O & B Holdings Pty. Ltd., (1982)

## External links

* Commonwealth Games Official Site
* 1982 Commonwealth Games - Australian Commonwealth Games Association official website

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Coordinates: 27°33′30″S 153°3′44″E﻿ / ﻿27.55833°S 153.06222°E﻿ / -27.55833; 153.06222

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