2022 Commonwealth Games (Birmingham)

[MadAsHell 4,089]

So in about a week and a half time we have yet another games event on our hands as the Commonwealth Games rolls around again. This time the white sandy beaches of Gold Coast will be replaced with the Industrial jungle of Birmingham.

With the Games back in the UK the medal table race between England and Australia will be interesting. Back in 2014 in Glasgow they knocked us off the top of table, but we got that back with some in Gold Coast.

Some interesting sports of note to keep an eye on for this games will be the return of Cricket for the first time since 1998, but only for the women in T20. We'll also have Basketball but in the 3 on 3 format.

Feel free to post all comments related to the games here. Time difference won't be ideal, but I'll be burning the midnight oil throughout. List of all the sports is in the link below.

https://www.birmingham2022.com/sports

[Macca 16,173]

2 hours ago, MadAsHell said:

So in about a week and a half time we have yet another games event on our hands as the Commonwealth Games rolls around again. This time the white sandy beaches of Gold Coast will be replaced with the Industrial jungle of Birmingham.

With the Games back in the UK the medal table race between England and Australia will be interesting. Back in 2014 in Glasgow they knocked us off the top of table, but we got that back with some in Gold Coast.

Some interesting sports of note to keep an eye on for this games will be the return of Cricket for the first time since 1998, but only for the women in T20. We'll also have Basketball but in the 3 on 3 format.

Feel free to post all comments related to the games here. Time difference won't be ideal, but I'll be burning the midnight oil throughout. List of all the sports is in the link below.

https://www.birmingham2022.com/sports

Yes I'll be tuning in TD ... depending on what time the events are held, I'll watch live or record and watch after work.  Not as full on as the Olympics but a keen observer, nonetheless!

Am watching the World Athletics Championships right now (in condensed form) as a prelude to the Comm Games ... got the schedule from the official site (the Worlds are being held in Oregon, USA) and then watching the events on youtube once they're posted

Competition started on Friday and the Championships are in full mode now

But can we beat England (in the Comm Games) from an overall perspective? The Swimming events will be keenly contested and of course, the Track & Field events holds centre stage

These Games are ultra important in terms of the athletes having continuous competition for their overall careers.  Just like the various World Championships are important ... with the pinnacle being the Olympics of course

 

[Macca 16,173]

As a perfect lead in to the Commonwealth Games, Eleanor Patterson has just won the High Jump Gold medal at the World Championships ... a fantastic achievement!! 

n.b. The 1 hour packaged highlights of the Athletics World Championships are being shown daily on SBS Demand 

Here are the highlights of the Womens High Jump event

 

 

Edited July 20, 2022 by Macca

[MadAsHell 4,089]

Well the opening ceremony has come and gone and I think it's fair to say that this one was certainly different! Still don't know if I enjoyed it or not, there was a lot going on. But fair to say it was an improvement on Gold Coast.

 

Competition on Day 1 will kick off in only a few hours, so lots to look forward to on a Friday night mixed with the football. Some of the events we have tonight include, but are not limited to:

 

LAWN BOWLS: 5:30PM Womens Singles & Mens Triples Group Games

RUGBY 7'S 6:00PM (Women) v South Africa & 7:30PM approx (Men) v Jamaica 

SWIMMING HEATS 7:30PM

T20 CRICKET 8:00PM v India

TRIATHLON 8:00PM

NETBALL v Barbados 10:45PM approx

LAWN BOWLS 12:00AM Mens Pairs & Womens Four's Group Games 

BASKETBALL (Women) v Scotland 12:45AM approx

CYCLING VELODROM 1:00AM

RUGBY 7'S 2:45AM approx (Women) v Scotland 4:30AM approx (Men) v Uganda

SWIMMING FINALS 4:00AM

BASKETBALL (Women) v Kenya 6:30AM approx

Plenty more as well that I've no doubt missed.

 

Edited July 29, 2022 by MadAsHell

[MadAsHell 4,089]

Great start to the Comm Games tonight. Matthew Hauser claims our first medal with bronze in the Triathlon.

In some team news both our Mens and Womens Rugby 7's teams have opened with very convincing wins over Jamaica and South Africa respectively.

Our T20 pulled off a stunning win over India chasing 154 and being 4/38 have won with an over to spare thanks to two great innings from Gardiner and Harris.

Our bowls teams have had a decent start going two from two in the mens triples and one from two in womens singles.

We're looking in line for a swag of medals early this morning in the pool and the Diamonds are currently up 33-5 early in the 2nd term in the Netball. 

So far so good!

[MadAsHell 4,089]

3 Gold medals in the Velodrom and 5 in the pool kicked off an impressive day 1 of competition for the Australians with them 5 gold clear of New Zealand in 2nd. We also had a strong start in a lot of the team events with our Womens Basketball, Netball and Cricket teams getting off to winning starts while our mens Rugby team and our lawn bowlers had a variety of results in their multiple matches each.

Looking ahead to day 2, here's a taste of what's to come.

5:30pm LAWN BOWLS - Womens Singles & Mens Triples Group Games 

6:00pm ATHLETICS - Mens Marathon

6:22pm RUGBY 7's - Women v Fiji

7:30pm ATHLETICS - Womens Marathon

7:30pm SWIMMING - Heats

7:50pm RUGBY 7's - Men v Kenya

8:30pm LAWN BOWLS - Womens Singles & Mens Triples Group Games 

9:00pm NETBALL- v Scotland 

11:00pm HOCKEY - Women v Kenya

12:30pm BASKETBALL- Men v Trinidad & Tobago 

1:00am CYCLING - Velodrom 

2:30am RUGBY 7's - QUARTER FINALS 

3:00am LAWN BOWLS- Mens Pairs & Womens Four's Group Games 

4:00am SWIMMING- Finals

4:30am BASKETBALL- Men v New Zealand 

 

[Macca 16,173]

Thanks for posting up the schedule @MadAsHell... much appreciated!

I'm recording it all daily and then watching later on but very busy at work so finding the time is tricky

Watched the cycling & swimming finals held through the night and we had a big day ... the highlight might have been the Women's 200m Freestyle Final.  Terrific finish

Ariarne & Elijah are just world class but nice to see Mack Horton get a medal. Stubblety-Cook as well was just too good in the 200m Breaststroke final

Kyle Chalmers & Emma McKeon were fabulous in the relay

The Women's pursuit team in the cycling were dominant as well

Great to see the paralympians performing in these games as well.  True recognition

[MadAsHell 4,089]

Gold to Trengove! (now Stenson) 

In the Womens Marathon. What a brilliant run!

[MadAsHell 4,089]

Another golden day at the Comm Games over night with more gold in the pool, at the Cycling track, in the Gymnastics and on the Rugby field. Highlights by far were the new World record in the Womens 4x200m Freestyle relay and our womens Rugby 7's team downing Fiji in the Gold medal match and Emma McKeon becoming our first swimmer to win 11 Commonwealth Games Gold medals by taking out the 50m Freestyle.

Nearly had a hat trick to add to that in the cricket  with Australia's massive win over Barbados, however Meg Lanning put down a regulation chance which cost Alana King.

Another big day ahead with plenty more medal chances. Here's just a few of what's on offer.

DAY 4

5:30pm Lawn Bowls Mens Triples Semi Final v Fiji

7:30pm Swimming Heats

9:00pm Netball v South Africa 

9:00pm Lawn Bowls Mens Triples Medal Match & Womens Singles Semi Final v Norfolk Island 

11:00pm Track Cycling

1:30am Lawn Bowls Womens Singles Medal Match

2:00am Basketball Men v Kenya (Quarter Final)

4:00am Swimming Finals

5:00am Basketball Women v TBD (Semi Final)

6:00am Hockey Men v New Zealand 

Edited August 1, 2022 by MadAsHell

[Macca 16,173]

Track and Field events in full swing now and it looks like England have rallied in the Gold medal stakes ... should be able to hold them off though!  Would be a lot closer if we were up against the United Kingdom

 

[MadAsHell 4,089]

Coming into the final 3 days of competition and the medal table is really tightening up.

 

Looks like the team competitions could go a long to determining who comes out on top. Womens Hockey has an Australia v England final, Mens Hockey has then playing in a Semi Final just like the Netball. Throw in that they're both through to Semi Finals on opposite sides of the draw in Womens Beach Volleyball and the cricket and currently playing in the final of the Womens Pairs in Lawn Bowls and you can see how it could easily tip one way or the other. The rest of the tally makes for interesting reading to.

Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Australia	50	44	46	140
England	47	46	38	131
Canada	19	24	24	67
New Zealand	17	12	12	41
India	9	8	9	26
Scotland	8	8	19	35
South Africa	7	7	8	22
Nigeria	7	3	6	16
Wales	4	5	10	19
Malaysia	4	4	3	11

[Macca 16,173]

4 minutes ago, MadAsHell said:

Coming into the final 3 days of competition and the medal table is really tightening up.

 

Looks like the team competitions could go a long to determining who comes out on top. Womens Hockey has an Australia v England final, Mens Hockey has then playing in a Semi Final just like the Netball. Throw in that they're both through to Semi Finals on opposite sides of the draw in Womens Beach Volleyball and the cricket and currently playing in the final of the Womens Pairs in Lawn Bowls and you can see how it could easily tip one way or the other. The rest of the tally makes for interesting reading to.

Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Australia	50	44	46	140
England	47	46	38	131
Canada	19	24	24	67
New Zealand	17	12	12	41
India	9	8	9	26
Scotland	8	8	19	35
South Africa	7	7	8	22
Nigeria	7	3	6	16
Wales	4	5	10	19
Malaysia	4	4	3	11

Yep, they've got that home field advantage and England have traditionally done well in the track & field events too

Looks like it's going down to the wire, TD

Because of work commitments I haven't been able to watch and follow the games closely this time around ... and there's only 2 years to the Paris Olympics!

Will try and catch up tonight, tomorrow & Monday.  There's still a stack of medals to play for

[Macca 16,173]

@MadAsHell

I reckon we've got those Englanders covered!

They did get within 3 golds a couple of days ago but we've kicked clear again

Currently 60-51 but we've got a number of gold medal chances tonight & tomorrow

Hockey x 2, Cricket t20 Women's, Netball, Beach Volleyball and maybe 1 or 2 more in the teams

And then the individual gold medals up for grabs ..  Track & Field, Boxing, Cycling etc

[MadAsHell 4,089]

Was a great night of action last night in the Commonwealth Games with a lot of the team sports wrapping up. Claimed Gold in the mens Beach Volleyball, Netball and Cricket while we came out with silver in the Womens Hockey and Beach Volleyball. We also claimed gold in other events overnight in events such as the diving.

I have to say getting the win in the Netball was very satisfying to watch. Not only did it mark 1000 Gold medals for Australia in Commonwealth Games history, but it showed some growth from the Diamonds, especially with their new coach. Back in 2018 when things weren't working against England, the coach made zero changes just expecting everything to work out and of course it didn't. Early in this final Jamaica were getting onto, so the coach swung some changes and was able to find a combination that got ontop.

Final evening of competition tonight and we have the Kookaburras going for Gold along with some chances in the Mixed synchronised diving. And that will see the games to a close.

Next will be Regional Victoria in 2026 (Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and Gippsland) and I have to say I'm looking forward to it. Hoping Victoria take a leaf out of Tokyo 2020 and maybe try and include a couple of extra events. Surfing at Bells Beach seems to good to pass up and I've also become a fan of the BMX racing. Would also like to see the Men join the women and have a T20 tournament. Maybe like the soccer in the Olympics though, make it players 23 and under?

Will be interesting to see how it plays out over the next 4 years.

[Macca 16,173]

@MadAsHell

The Kookaburras vs India Gold medal match is on at 9.30pm I believe

Should be a cracker of a match ... old rivals and real traditional hockey teams

Australia picked up the Silver at the Tokyo Olympic games whilst India picked up the Bronze ... so it's a World class match-up

[Macca 16,173]

Kookaburras just way too strong for India at 3/4 time ... leading 6-0 with Anderson & Ephraums both scoring a brace

Our full pace passing and hard running game has been fantastic to watch