new delhi, Jul 23
The 23rd edition of the Commonwealth Games gets underway on Thursday, but it lacks the usual fanfare that is associated with the quadrennial event.
A much-curtailed sports fixture, lack of a traditional Games Village and the very fact that it was a struggle to find a willing host for the 2026 Games are pointers to the event’s declining popularity.
The ten sports present in Glasgow will be athletics, swimming, track cycling, weightlifting, 3×3 basketball, lawns bowls, netball, artistic gymnastics, judo and boxing.
Six of these — athletics, swimming, track cycling, weightlifting, lawn bowls and basketball — will simultaneously be running para events. Missing in action will be badminton, cricket, hockey, squash, table tennis, triathlon, wrestling, beach volleyball and rugby sevens — and that means India’s medal hopes will be impacted.
Given that the country is the next host, and very willing ones at that, one can only hope that the 2030 edition in Ahmedabad will feature more events. But that is in the future.
The question that comes to mind now is whether the Commonwealth Games are losing their relevance.
While the Games remain steeped in history and continue to provide memorable sporting moments, changing geopolitical realities, mounting financial pressures and shifting priorities of athletes have steadily eroded their place in the international sporting calendar.
First staged in 1930 in Hamilton, Canada, the event was created to promote camaraderie among the countries of the British Empire. Over the decades, it evolved along with the political identity of its member states.
The name was changed to the British Empire and Common-wealth Games in 1954, then to the British Common-wealth Games in 1970, and it was officially titled the Commonwealth Games in 1978. For decades, they offered athletes from smaller Commonwealth countries an opportunity to compete on the global stage, while powerhouse nations such as Australia, England, Canada, India, New Zeal-and and South Africa developed fierce rivalries.
However, the world has changed and the Commonwealth itself, with 56 member nations, no longer carries the political or economic influence it once enjoyed. And with it, the significance and appeal of the flagship event has also somewhat diminished.
The difficulties surrounding the 2026 Games illustrate the problem. Victoria in Australia initially accepted hosting rights before withdrawing in 2023 after projected costs ballooned from around A$2.6 billion to nearly A$7 billion.
The city of Gold Coast, Queensland, briefly offered to co-host the event but later withdrew for similar reasons.
Eventually, Glasgow agreed to host only after proposing a radically reduced version and relying largely on existing infrastructure.
This was not an isolated incident. Durban was stripped of the 2022 Games after failing to meet financial and organisational commitments, forcing Birmingham to step in at relatively short notice. Even Birmingham’s successful staging came at considerable public expense, prompting questions about whether the economic benefits justified the investment.
Increasingly, governments have become reluctant to spend billions on events that offer limited long-term returns.
Athletes, too, increasingly view the Commonwealth Games as secondary. The Olympics remain the ultimate prize, while sport-specific World Championships often carry greater prestige and ranking points. In athletics, for example, the Diamond League offers stronger competition, substantial prize money and greater commercial value than the Commonwealth Games.
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe has repeatedly described the World Championships and Olympics as the pinnacle of the sport, a sentiment shared by many elite competitors.
Australian sprint star Sally Pearson, an Olympic champion, once remarked that every athlete dreams first of Olympic gold, while the Commonwealth Games occupy a different level altogether.
Former British distance runner Mo Farah similarly noted that Olympic and World Championship medals define an athlete’s legacy.
Many skip the Games altogether if they clash with preparations for world events.
This time, top swimmers Summer McIntosh (Canada), and Kaylee McKeown (Australia) will give the CWG a miss.
One of the worst-hit Games as far as celebrity withdrawals go was the New Delhi one in 2010. Besides injuries, security concerns, scheduling conflicts and preparation for the Olympics contributed to the exodus. The list included Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell, Andy Murray, Lleyton Hewitt, Samantha Stosur, Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton.
India’s decision to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games, however, presents an opportunity to strengthen sporting infrastructure, provide home athletes with valuable exposure and reinforce India’s growing ambitions as a sporting power.
However, one must remember that only India and Nigeria had finally bid for the Games. So that question also arises — did India secure the Games simply because few others wanted the financial burden?
For India, therefore, success should not be measured merely by staging the event efficiently in 2030. The larger challenge will be to demonstrate that the Commonwealth Games can still be relevant and not just merely remain as a nostalgic fixture in the global sporting calendar.
