The XVII Commonwealth Games
2002 MANCHESTER |
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The Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games was one of the proudest moments for this country in a year of highlights including the World Cup and HM The Queen's Golden Jubilee.
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What was the cost of the venues? |
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The City Of Manchester Stadium cost approx £103 million this includes the National Squash Centre, which opened in Dec 2001 and the Indoor Tennis Centre, which was completed in December 2001. These three venues plus National Cycling Centre form Sportcity, it is one mile from City Centre and the stadium has now become home to Manchester City FC.
The Belle Vue Leisure Centre cost £3.2 million and played host to the Hockey.
The Aquatics Centre hosted the swimming, synchronised swimming and diving and cost £32 million. It opened in July 2000.
The MEN was an existing venue and hosted the Netball and boxing semi finals and finals. It opened in 1995 as an indoor sport and entertainment venue.
The GMEX Centre hosted the gymnastics, judo and wrestling and was also an existing venue.
The International Convention Centre hosted the weightlifting and opened in April 2001.
Heaton Park hosted the Bowls and was part of a £32million restoration programme for the whole of the municipal Park.
The Bolton Arena hosted the Badminton and cost £15 million. It officially opened in July 2001
The National Shooting Centre in Bisley was an existing venue but £6 million was spent upgrading the site.
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Why does the number of competing teams vary between each Games? |
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The number of teams competing in the Commonwealth Games is dependent upon the number of countries in the Commonwealth itself as, from year to year countries are admitted and suspended, for various reasons.
The number of teams is also dependent upon the final sports programmes established for each Games.
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What about sports for elite athletes with a disability - Was this a token gesture? |
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Manchester held the first ever fully inclusive Games.
200 elite athletes with a disability competed over eight events during the same ten day period as able bodied athletes.
With medals counting towards the overall medal table all athletes were accommodated together, although there were a finite number of athletes that could be accommodated at the Games.
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Why was the track ripped up after the Games? |
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The future of the stadium has been secured through Manchester City Football Club adopting the venue as its home ground.
With more than 30,000 dedicated Manchester City supporters, the future of the stadium looks good.
The track was removed in order to add 10,000 more seats, making the stadium a 48,000 seat stadium.
The warm up track for use in the Games (next to the stadium) has become the home for Sale Harriers AC after the Games as well as being part of the English Institute of Sport development, which will include a complementary indoor facility for regional athletics.
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Who were the sponsors? |
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The official Sponsors were::
- Manchester Airport
- Adecco
- Guardian Media Group
- Microsoft
- Cadbury
- Asda
- Cussons
- Addleshaw Booth and Co
- Bupa
- Rover
The official Partners were:
- United Utilities
- Bruntwood
- Guilbert
- Xerox
- Claremont Business Environments
- First Group
- Boddingtons
- Trafford Centre
- Virgin Trains
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When were the first Commonwealth Games held? |
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The first ever Commonwealth Games (then called the British Empire Games) took place in 1930 in the Canadian city of Hamilton. Eleven nations took part with a total of 400 athletes competing in 6 sports. |
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Who leads the all time medals table? |
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The country which has won the most medals since the games began is Australia with 1681 (646 gold). England are currently second in the all time medals table with 1584 (542 gold). |
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What kind of support was provided by central government? |
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Central government made a very significant contribution to public investment in for example, the transport infrastructure, as well as supporting the programme of physical improvements in the run up to Manchester 2002. Tony Blair personally endorsed the Games and the City Council’s approach of integrating them within the wider regeneration process to maximise the long term benefits to the city and the region. |
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How was the Games publicised? |
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The main vehicle for providing publicity was the Queens Baton Relay. It provided 5000 people across the UK with the opportunity to be directly involved in the XVII Commonwealth Games. As the relay passed within one hours drive of 95% of the population, millions more were able to share the experience as spectators along the route or at evening celebrations. The City also received wide coverage from journalists all over the world who wrote great things about its life style, tourist attractions and architecture. During the Games the Council also worked closely with thousands of writers and broadcasters to get the best possible publicity for Manchester. |
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What extra policing measures were implemented during the Games? |
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During the Games a 24 Hour command centre was put into operation enabling the police to deal swiftly with any nuisance. The City Council’s enforcement teams were also on call to respond to those issues such as unlicensed street traders, illegal parking, and obstructions to highways and footpaths. |
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What urban regeneration did the Games create? |
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The Games have been the catalyst for the regeneration of East Manchester and the Ashton Canal corridor.
A total of Ј103 million was committed to Sportcity. The Games was the catalyst for a number of major physical improvements, including Piccadilly Plaza and Gardens and the Ancoats Urban Village.
In addition, there are a number of other developments across the region, including the Ј16.5M investment of the Economic and Social Legacy programme which involves significant investment in health, educational, social and business programmes in over 35 local authority areas. Legacy initiatives include the Pre-Volunteer Programme, the Commonwealth Curriculum Pack, and specific projects to benefit North West businesses.
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What improvements have been made to the City’s transport infrastructure? |
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The Games brought forward a number of major transport schemes such as the completion of the final link of the Inner Relief Road. Piccadilly Railway station has been totally refurbished and a new £25m Multi-modal transport interchange is being constructed at Shudehill in the city centre. |
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What were the plans for venues/stadium after the Games? |
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The swimming complex, owned by the three universities of Manchester and Manchester City Council, will be a resource for the community as well as a centre for elite training.
This long-term strategy is crucial and the programme is needed to satisfy the Sport England lottery funders.
The Stadium has now become the home ground for Manchester City Football Club.
The other elements of Sportcity, the athletics facility, indoor tennis and squash facilities has been utilised by regional and local clubs and will become a centre of excellence in sports training of the North West and for community use.
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Why was the uniform chosen? |
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A bold and characteristic Manchester statement was made through the use of strong colours and the unique `flat cap' to give Crew 2002 a uniform to be proud to wear. The uniform proved to be a great success, standing out in the crowd and providing a clear and important focal point for spectators and clients. The distinctive uniform shone through brilliantly on televised coverage with a true and reflective statement made to encapsulate the Manchester spirit. |
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Is there a DVD / Video of the Commonwealth Games? |
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The BBC own the copyright to the footage of the Commonwealth Games and they presently have no plans to release a DVD or Video |
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Who made the medals? |
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Medals were procured from the Royal Mint in the following numbers:
- 1,642 victory medals (gold, silver and bronze) for presentation to athletes.
- 2,500 replica prize medal box sets for presentation to VIPs.
- 25,000 commemorative medals that were awarded to M2002 staff, volunteers, ceremony performers, athletes, team and technical officials.
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How many people applied to be a Volunteer? |
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There was 24,000 Volunteer applications 53% female 47% male between the ages of 16 and 87. Nearly 600 (2.5% of applications came from overseas and 52% of those were from Australia. There were 39 applications from Nigeria, 13 from the USA and 1 from the Ukraine. |
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How many people were issued with Official Passes / accreditation? |
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Overall there were over 40,000 people accredited into 39 categories broadly encompassing Games Family, Workforce, VIP's and Sponsors, Media, Broadcasters and Contractors.
Athletes and Team Officials were accredited ,5,717 accredited over a period of 12 days. The Media and Broadcasters were accredited at the Media Accreditation Centre located at Heron House, with up to 3,996 Media and Broadcasters accredited over a period of 19 days.
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How were all the Athletes fed? |
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In order to satisfy the Games Family, that satisfied the cultural and dietary requirements of athletes and team officials from 72 nations. A selection of 10 main dishes was offered at every meal identifying the correct balance of ingredients required for competing athletes.
In total a staggering 300,000 meals were prepared at the Village with an enormous shopping list consisting of the following:
- 7,000 kgs of rice
- 8,000 kgs of pasta
- 5,500 kgs of seafood
- 8,600 kgs of beef
- 6,800 kgs of poultry
- 90,000 eggs
- 75,000 loaves of bread
- 20,000 litres of milk
- 300,000 pieces of fruit
- 25,000 kgs of cheese
The contractor successfully achieved the challenge of producing up to 2,000 meals per hour. These meals were provided with a round the clock service for a period of just over 19 days.
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How many tickets were sold? |
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Ticket sales to the public reached 700,000 of which the most significant were Athletics (316,000), Rugby 7s (110,000), Netball (48,000) and Hockey (46,000). Estimated crowds at the various Road Events (free of charge) exceeded all expectations helped by good weather in the first half of the Games. In Manchester, figures supplied by the BBC broadcast helicopter indicated that 120,000 spectators watched the Triathlon event and 80,000 people lined the Marathon course. At Rivington corresponding figures for the Cycle Road Race, Time Trial and Mountain Bike event were 65,000, 38,000 and 50,000 respectively. |
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Was there any press coverage of the Games overseas? |
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There was a television audience of 1 billion and articles about Manchester and the Games were read by over 44 million people worldwide. |
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Did schools in the UK get involved with the Commonwealth Games? |
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A Spirit of Friendship education pack was sent to every school in the UK with activities linked to the National Curriculum and Citizenship.
Around 75.000 primary aged people participated in over 750 events as a part of the Top Link Programme organised by the Youth Sports Trust.
The Commonwealth Curriculum legacy programme produced a DVD featuring the educational web site www.ccp2002.com
and an inspirational video on the legacy of the games. This was sent to every school in the North West.
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Was the Games a Commercial success? |
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The Games were a huge commercial success with more than Ј56 million raised from sales of sponsorship, TV rights, tickets, merchandise and accommodation. The actual commercial income generated was Ј4 million greater than projected in 2000, when the Games final budget was prepared, and this was principally as a result of the unprecedented numbers of ticket sales.
The commercial income was more than double that raised by previous Commonwealth Games and more than three times more tickets were sold than any previous Games.
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