2014 Commonwealth Games

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XX Commonwealth Games
20mh Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
Queen's Baton Final RunnerSir Chris Hoy
Main venueCeltic Park (opening ceremony)
Hampden Park (closing ceremony)
WebsiteGlasgow2014.com

The 2014 Commonwealth Games (

Scottish Gaelic: Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF). It took place in Glasgow, Scotland
, from 23 July to 3 August 2014.

Glasgow was selected as the host city on 9 November 2007 during CGF General Assembly in Colombo, Sri Lanka, defeating Abuja, Nigeria. It was the largest multi-sport event ever held in Scotland with around 4,950 athletes from 71 different nations and territories competing in 18 different sports, outranking the 1970 and 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. Over the last 10 years, however, Glasgow and Scotland had staged World, Commonwealth, European, or British events in all sports proposed for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, including the World Badminton Championships in 1997.[4]

The Games received acclaim for their organisation, attendance, and the public enthusiasm of the people of Scotland, with CGF chief executive Mike Hooper hailing them as "the standout games in the history of the movement".

105 kg men's weightlifting competition.[9]

Host selection

Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland
as the main Scottish candidate city for the 2014 Commonwealth Games

Scotland was the first country to consider hosting the 2014 Commonwealth Games in 2004, with Scottish cities being invited by the

United Kingdom government and all main parties in the Scottish Parliament, formally announced Glasgow's intention to host the games on 16 August 2005.[10][11]

In March 2006, the bidding process began, with the Glasgow Bidding team presenting their case to the Commonwealth Games Federation at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, along with the other confirmed candidate cities; the Nigerian capital, Abuja and Halifax in Canada.[12] In October 2006, the first voting delegates arrived in Glasgow, to inspect the city's existing and proposed amenities and facilities. Glasgow announced on 16 January 2007, the 17 sports to be included should its bid be successful.[13] Halifax later withdrew its bid on 8 March 2007, following the withdrawal of funding from the municipal government.[14]

Special liveries in support of Glasgow's bid were applied to numerous subway carriages.

That left Abuja and Glasgow as the remaining bidders, with Abuja seen as a likely favourite due to the basis of its campaign that an African nation has never before hosted the Commonwealth Games.[15] The deadline for formal submission of bids to the Commonwealth Games Federation, in the form of a Candidate City File, was set for May 2007.[16] Both bids were highly recommended, though Glasgow's bid team had made use of extensive benchmarking against the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester and the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and as a result, its bid was deemed technically superior according to the CGF Evaluation Report that was released in September 2007. The Commonwealth Games Evaluation Commission concluded that: "Glasgow has shown it has the ability to stage the 2014 Commonwealth Games to a standard which would continue to enhance the image and prestige of the Games." This put Glasgow ahead in terms of the technical comprehensiveness of its bid.[17]

The final decision on the host city of the 2014 Commonwealth Games was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 9 November 2007 at the Commonwealth Games Federation General Assembly, attended by all 71 Commonwealth Games member associations. Each bid city made a presentation to the General Assembly, the order of which was determined by drawing lots. Glasgow's delegation was led by Louise Martin, chair of the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland, First Minister Alex Salmond, athlete Jamie Quarry and Leader of Glasgow City Council Steven Purcell. The presentation also included a promotional film narrated by Sean Connery.[18] Abuja's delegation was led by General Yakubu Gowon, head of the Abuja 2014 Commonwealth Games bid team.

The CGF members later voted for their preferred candidate in a secret ballot. As there were only two bids, the winner was announced by the CGF President, Mike Fennel, after the first round of voting, with the winner only requiring a simple majority. The results of the bidding process were as follows:

2014 Commonwealth Games bidding results
City Country Votes
Glasgow  Scotland 47
Abuja  Nigeria 24

Development and preparation

The Glasgow 2014 Organising Committee was responsible for organising and delivering the Games.

Commonwealth Games Scotland. The Glasgow City Council was responsible for delivering a number of the venues and lasting benefits from the Games for the city and people of Glasgow. The Scottish Government was the third organisation in the partnership and was the main funder of the Games.[21] Lord Robert Smith was the chairman of the Glasgow 2014 Organising Committee.[22]

Venues

Celtic Park hosted the opening ceremony
Royal Commonwealth Pool hosted Diving events
Commonwealth Arena and Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome hosted the Badminton and Track Cycling events
Hampden Park hosted athletics and closing ceremony
SSE Hydro
hosted Gymnastics and Netball events
Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre

Olympic standard 50 metre swimming pool, which was extensively upgraded, and a second 50-metre pool was added for the Games as a warm-up facility. The existing permanent seating capacity was increased by 1,000. Combined with additional temporary seating the venue had over 5,000 seats for the Games.[27]

Rugby Sevens tournament.[28] Mountain biking was held on the Cathkin Braes in Rutherglen, the Royal Burgh neighbouring the City.[29] Hampden Park hosted all the track and field events as well as the closing ceremony.[30]

The

The

Edinburgh Festival at the same time as the 2014 Commonwealth Games.[35] Strathclyde Country Park, beside Hamilton and Motherwell, hosted the Triathlon event.[36]

Athletes' village

The Athletes Village for the 2014 Commonwealth Games was situated on a 35-hectare (86-acre) site, in Dalmarnock, Glasgow.[37] The whole project was designed by RMJM.[38] Primarily the site was used as accommodation for the athletes competing in the games as well as team officials from every competing nation for the duration of the games. As well as accommodation, the athletes' village also housed a retail zone, dining hall, medical facilities, gym, religious centre and recreational spaces.[39]

The 2014 Commonwealth Games athlete's village at Dalmarnock, Glasgow

Countdown

Launch of the countdown clock of Glasgow 2014.
Glasgow 2014 countdown clock at the Glasgow Central railway station

The countdown clock was unveiled at the

Glasgow Central Station on 10 March 2014 during the Commonwealth Day. The clock was sponsored by the Swiss watchmaker Longines. A special ceremony was organized for the clock inauguration at the station which was attended by the members of the organising committee of the Games and Scottish swimmer Michael Jamieson.[40][41]

Budget

The total budget for the Games was £575.6 million. This figure included £472.3 million for Glasgow 2014 and £90 million for security. The Glasgow 2014 budget of £472.3 million was made up of £372 million of public money with the remainder coming from commercial income generated through sponsorship, ticket sales, broadcasting rights and merchandise sales. The budget included contingency of £66.1 million, which was made up of a £42.3 million general contingency and £23.8 million special reserves. In February 2015, it was reported that the Games was delivered £35.5 million under budget.[42]

Ticketing

Launch of the tickets to Glasgow 2014 going on sale

The first round of the Games ticket sales were from 19 August to 16 September 2013.[43] Over two-thirds of tickets sold were priced at £25 or less. The ticket price ranges for the opening ceremony and the closing ceremony were £40-£250 and £30-£200 respectively.[44][45] The 100m men's final event received over 100,000 applications which was the most of any event of the Games.[46] Boxing had the most expensive ticket of any sport in the Games whose category 1 tickets cost £120.[47] A total of 96% of tickets were sold.[48] Ticketmaster was the official ticket services provider of the Games.[49]

Medals

The medals for the Games were unveiled on 14 April 2014 at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow.[50] The medals were designed and hand-crafted by the renowned jeweller Jonathan Boyd and a team of specialist jewellery-makers from the prestigious Glasgow School of Art.[51] The hand-turned quaichs gifted to winning athletes and the carved ceremonial podiums were all created from local woods by Glasgow-based artisan Paul Hodgkiss.[52] Scottish designer Kerry Nixon designed the medalbearers' dresses.[53]

Queen's baton relay

Queen's Baton Relay in Thurso, Scotland
Queen's Baton
Ford Kuga at the rear of the Queen's Baton Relay, in Olrig Street in Thurso

The

Queen who then declared the games open.[54]

The Queen's Baton was designed by the Glasgow based firm 4c Design.[55][56] The BBC provided coverage of the relay. Adventurer Mark Beaumont presented a series of documentaries filmed on the relay for BBC One Scotland, there were also weekly updates for BBC News and a BBC News website and blog written by Mark.[57]

Transport

The Glasgow Airport was used to welcome and depart the athletes and officials of the Games.[58] The main terminal building of the Glasgow Airport was upgraded at a cost of £17 million.[59]

During the games, spectators were encouraged to use the public transport, particularly for longer journeys as they make their way to the venues of the games. The Glasgow 2014 ticket included access to local public transport services (trains, buses and Subway) to and from the venue on the day of the event. In order to access those services, the spectators had to show the valid event ticket on request. The spectators were also encouraged to walk or use bicycles instead of motor vehicles to reach the venues in order to avoid traffic jam.[60]

The athletes were transported in minibuses or coaches, which used, where necessary, dedicated lanes – known as the Games Route Network – to ensure they were given priority over other traffic in a similar way buses are in bus lanes. These lanes formed part of a larger dedicated Games Route Network that was also used by the people working on the Games.[61]

Volunteering

Approximately 12,500 volunteers were hired for the Games[62] out of over 50,000 applicants which was more than the number who applied for Melbourne 2006 and Manchester 2002.[63] The army of volunteers enlisted to help during the Games were known as Clyde-siders.[64] The uniforms for the volunteers were created by the outdoor clothing manufacturer Trespass.[65]

Security

An integrated security team which involved Police Scotland, Glasgow 2014's Security team and private sector partners, was developed to manage the security and stewarding requirements for the Games.[66][67] More than 17,000 individuals were involved in this operation, where over 2,000 members were from the armed forces and the rest from the Police Scotland and 17 private sector companies.[68][69] The budget for the Games security was around £90 million.[70]

Opening ceremony

The programme, which included about 2,000 performers, featured

Prince Imran and the Queen. The display of the message concealed within the baton was delayed by a difficulty in opening the device. The Games were launched in partnership with UNICEF, to save and change children's lives. The unique partnership aimed "to use the power of sport to reach every child in Scotland and benefit children in every Commonwealth nation and territory." In the culmination of a groundbreaking partnership with UNICEF, the ceremony inspired millions to text donations to our shared 'Put Children First' campaign, which raised £3.5 million on the night and more than £5 million to date. The ceremony was directed by David Zolkwer with David Proctor (Executive Producer) and Sarah Gardiner (Creative Producer).[71]

Closing ceremony