As part of the new Strategic Roadmap approved at its 2021 General Assembly this week, the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) has revealed just two compulsory sports for future Games.
With a goal of providing ‘a blueprint for flexibility and certainty’, the CGF is recommending that athletics and swimming comprise the two mandatory sports included in future programs. These sports were selected based on their inclusion since 1930, as well as universality, participation, broadcasting, spectator interest, Para inclusion and gender balance.
With just two core sports, the idea is that future hosts will have the ability to propose entirely new sports relevant to their nation or culture.
Per the organization, the CGF will continue to work with future hosts to agree the minimum and maximum cap on athlete numbers, helping ensure that the size, scale and cost of the multi-sport event is continually optimized and carefully managed.
The Commonwealth Games is an international multi-sport event held quadrennially whose next edition is set to be hosted by Birmingham, England in 2022. The previous Games in 2018 were staged on the Gold Coast, Australia and marked the first time there was an equal number of men’s and women’s medal events.
The Gold Coast’s Commonwealth Games included 26 sports, with 10 of them identified as core, including the aforementioned athletics and swimming.
Of the new flexibility, CGF President Dame Louise Martin said, “We are delighted to unveil our direction of travel with this new Strategic Roadmap, which I believe marks the start of an exciting new era for the Commonwealth Games and Commonwealth Sport.
Our Games need to adapt, evolve and modernise to ensure we continue to maintain our relevance and prestige across the Commonwealth.
After a long period of hard work and consultation, incorporating the views and opinions of our membership and experts across the world, we are excited to move forwards with this Roadmap. I would like to thank all our 72 Commonwealth Games Associations for their support.
Our next step is to work closely with our International Federation partners to ensure they can contribute to the vision and direction of the Roadmap in order to underpin the future of the Games.”
