bm_commonwealth_and_olympic_games

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The 1956 Olympic Games, in Melbourne, were the first to be held in the Southern Hemisphere. This gave Melbourne a great opportunity to show the world that it was a great sporting city. There were 3314 athletes from 72 countries that competed in the Games 145 events, despite political problems before hand. For the 325 Australian athletes that competed in the Olympics, they had a great advantage, since they had all of the home support and lots of spectators cheering for them. This seemed to work as Australia got a record medal tally of 35: 13 gold, 8 silver and 14 bronze, at that time. Overall they came third, behind two powerhouses in Russia and the USA, which was a great achievement in the greatest sporting celebration in the world.

Before the games even started there was controversy. The Chinese team refused to come because of their enemy, Taiwan, was competing. In Europe, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland didn't participate in protest to Russia invading Hungary and due to the Suez War many Middle eastern countries also didn't attend. These withdrawals wouldn't have mattered because Melbourne nearly wasn't ready for the Games. On November the 22nd the Olympics started and they finished on December the 8th.

When Melbourne won the rights to host the 16th Olympic Games in 1949 many thought that Melbourne would be a complete failure. Never had there been an Olympic Games held outside of the US and Europe. The games would be held during the Northern winter, so it upset many athletes. Melbourne nearly lost the Games to Rome, who were well ahead of schedule for the 1960 Olympics. The construction was way behind schedule, but government money helped speed up the process and by early 1956, Melbourne was well on the way to finishing in time. Other problems that occurred were that the equestrian events were being held in Stockholm because quarantine laws didn't allow them to host the event and that the Olympic Village wasn't funded by the government so there was no money to build it.

Despite all the setbacks and political problems the Games were peaceful and friendly. America dominated the athletics and won fifteen of the twenty-four events. Betty Cuthbert, Australia's "Golden Girl", won 3 gold medals in track, she won in the 100m, 200m and the 4x100m relay. There is now a statue at the MCG of Cuthbert, mid-stride. The dominance from America continued in the Basketball, where in every game the team doubled their opponents score. Australia had there shining moments also, this time in the pool. The swimming team won 8 gold medals, 4 silver and 2 bronze and all of the freestyle events. Standouts were Dawn Frasier, who won 2 gold medals in world record time and Murray Rose who also won 2 gold in the 400m and 1500m events.

The Games had their good times and bad times. The Olympic commitee united East and West Germany into one team. The countries that made their Olympic Games debut were: Ethiopia, Fiji, Kenya, Liberia, Malaya, Borneo and Uganda. The first idea of countries walking together at the closing ceremony to show unity was thought of by John Ian Wing. This has been a tradition ever since. Hungary's mens water polo team had a very heated clash against Soviet Union's team because of Soviet's invading Hungary. The pool turned into a blood bath with many players with open cuts. Hungary won when the game was finally called off. The demonstration sports introduced at the 1956 Olympic Games were Australian Rules Football and Baseball. A demonstration sport is a sport that is played to promote itself, usually during the Olympic games.

2006 Commonwealth Games Exactly 50 years later Melbourne had another major international event come to town, the Commonwealth Games. Competing in the Games were 4,500 athletes from 71 countries. The athletes competed in 247 events in 16 sports. The Games' Opening Ceremony was on the 15th of March, finishing off with the Closing Ceremony on the 26th of March. They were officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II. The sports were held at many different venues in Melbourne and also in Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and Taralgon. Over the 12 days of competition there was triumph, heartache and many memorable moments.

Melbourne came to get the Games by writing a proposal to the Commonwealth Games Federation. The members voted on which city they thought was suitable for hosting the Games. The other cities that were contesting for the Games pulled out becasue they couldn't afford it, while other countries decided that they couldn't compete with the city of Melbourne. So, in 1999, the Games were given to Melbourne. Money to fund the event was given by the Commonwealth Games Association and the State and Federal government. Most of the stadiums and complexs were already built like the MCG, Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre and Etihad Stadium. The athletes village was built in Parkville on a twenty hectare site. It held 6000 athletes and is now used as public housing. Staging the Commonwealth Games cost over 1 billion dollars.

The Games were dominated by Australia, once again. They totalled 221 medals with 84 gold, 69 silver and 68 bronze. Australia doubled England's efforts of 110 medals, who ended up second. Some of the stand out Australian performers were John Stephenson in the 400m, winning gold, with an under 45 second haul, Jana Pittman won the 400m hurdles, but the dominance was in the pool. Australia won 16 out of the 19 events. Leisel Jones won four gold and broke two world records, Libby Trickett finished off with 5 gold and 2 silver medals. Meanwhile the men's swimming team was struggling because they were missing Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett. Unfortunately there wasn't always triumph, Craig Mottram fell in the 1500m and finished ninth. He was expected to come first. The youngest competitor of Australia's team, Melissa Wu, won silver in her diving debut at the age of 13.

The Games were over-shadowed by the missing athletes from Sierra Leone. They disapperead, presumably to suburbs in Sydney where there is more of a population of them. Several days later seven more went missing. Cameroon athletes also fled. A few of the athletes from Sierra Leone were found, they said they wanted to find asylum.

The closing ceremony was a night to remember and after many fireworks the Games were over, for another four years.

**__THE PRIZE__** In both the Olympic and Commonwealth Games there are three medals that the top three athletes of that event receive. These are a gold, silver and bronze medal. The Olympic commitee doesn't reward medalists with money, but the individual country does. This is an extra incentive for the athletes to excel in their events. The flags are raised and the winner's national anthem is rejoiced. The winner's also receive flowers and a token from the country that holds the event.