The 1990 Commonwealth Games () were held in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

from 24 January – 3 February 1990. It was the 14th

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

, and part of New Zealand's 1990 sesquicentennial celebrations. Participants competed in ten sports: athletics, aquatics, badminton, boxing, cycling, gymnastics, judo, lawn bowls, shooting and weightlifting. Netball and the

Triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the ...

were demonstration events. The main venue was the

Mount Smart Stadium Mount Smart Stadium, currently known as Go Media Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Penrose, Auckland, New Zealand. It is the main home ground of the New Zealand Warriors of the National Rugby League a ...

Host selection

The event was awarded to Auckland on 27 July 1984 at the

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, Australia, had withdrawn from the bid contest leaving

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

, India, as the sole opponent to Auckland's bid. New Delhi lost the hosting rights to Auckland by a margin of 1 vote, which made it the closest host selection vote in the history of Commonwealth Games

Opening ceremony

The opening of the games comprised a variety of events, including the arrival of The Queen's representative Prince Edward (her youngest son), the arrival of the

Queen's Baton The King's Baton Relay is a relay around the world held prior to the beginning of the Commonwealth Games. The baton carries a message from the Head of the Commonwealth, currently King Charles III. The relay traditionally begins at Buckingham P ...

, and many Māori ceremonial stories. The Queens Baton was carried across the Auckland Harbour by the vessel "Ceduna". The opening ceremony itself started off with the

Choir singing the ''Song of Welcome''. Upon the arrival of Prince Edward, the Māori in attendance, gave him a ''Challenge of a welcome''. This is conducted by a Māori placing a wooden baton on the ground. To see if the visitor comes in peace or not, the visitor must pick it up. The

national anthem " God Defend New Zealand" was sung during a ceremonial fourteen gun salute from nearby One Tree Hill. This was followed by the

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Guard Commander allowing Prince Edward to inspect the

guard of honour A guard of honour (Commonwealth English), honor guard (American English) or ceremonial guard, is a group of people, typically drawn from the military, appointed to perform ceremonial duties – for example, to receive or guard a head of state ...

. After which was the introduction of the participating countries of the Commonwealth,

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entering first as the hosts of the previous games, and

entering last as hosts. During the introduction of the countries, the choir would display the flag of the announced country with boards. When all the athletes finally sat down, the cultural segment ceremonies began.The first act was the Māori women performing a "Song of Welcome" for the athletes with the use of Poi. The Māori women then gave some of the athletes a Hongi. Next was the Māori story of how New Zealand was formed according to legend; it a narration of how the

Polynesians Polynesians are an ethnolinguistic group comprising closely related ethnic groups native to Polynesia, which encompasses the islands within the Polynesian Triangle in the Pacific Ocean. They trace their early prehistoric origins to Island Sout ...

found their way to what was to become New Zealand, and how New Zealand was formed between

Rangi and Papa In Māori mythology the primal couple Rangi and Papa (or Ranginui and Papatūānuku) appear in a creation myth explaining the origin of the world and the Māori people (though there are many different versions). In some South Island dialects, Ran ...

, the

sky father In comparative mythology, sky father is a term for a recurring concept in polytheistic religions of a sky god who is addressed as a "father", often the father of a pantheon and is often either a reigning or former King of the Gods. The conc ...

and earth mother. The story then moved on to the coming of religion and European migration. This was demonstrated with a formation of the

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, to show the colonisation by the British. Dame

Whina Cooper Dame Whina Cooper (born Hōhepine Te Wake; 9 December 1895 – 26 March 1994) was a New Zealand ( Māori elder), who worked for many years for the rights of her people, and particularly to improve the lot of Māori women. She is remembered for ...

then made a speech about the

Treaty of Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi (), sometimes referred to as ''Te Tiriti'', is a document of central importance to the history of New Zealand, Constitution of New Zealand, its constitution, and its national mythos. It has played a major role in the tr ...

signed in 1840 that brought about peace and stability of modern New Zealand. Introduction of the European communities was next with music and native dancing from European countries such as

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Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

and

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, and music and native dancing also from Asian countries such as

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Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

and

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. From here, many of the neighbouring

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s made their entrance with the rhythmic tempo of the Pacific Island drum beat.This was to show the then complete migration of people to New Zealand. Sir Howard Morrison then lead New Zealand in singing the folk song Tukua-a-hau. After Morrison, the Queen's Baton arrived at the stadium where Prince Edward announced the opening of the games which was followed by the '' Athletes Pledge''. Fireworks followed and was capped off with a night time flyover by nine A-4 Skyhawk jets of the

Royal New Zealand Air Force The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF; ) is the aerial warfare, aerial military service, service branch of the New Zealand Defence Force. It was formed initially in 1923 as a branch of the New Zealand Army, being known as the New Zealand Perm ...

s 75 Squadron. The ceremony was concluded by the singing of the game's motto "This is the moment" as performers and athletes exited the stadium.

Closing ceremony

A more relaxed affair was held for the 14th Commonwealth Games closing ceremony. Attended by HM The Queen of New Zealand, formality and respect played their due part in the beginning with protocolar segment with the handover to the Commonwealth Games flag to the next host city, Victoria, Canada. This was followed by a First Nations and modern Canadian dancing display. Next, thousands of children entered the stadium with a mass skipping rope demonstration, followed by the athletes. The Queen then made the traditional closing speech and called for all the Commonwealth's athletes to assemble in four years time in Victoria. As the evening wore on Dame

Kiri Te Kanawa Dame Kiri Jeanette Claire Te Kanawa (; born Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron, 6 March 1944) is a New Zealand opera singer. She had a full lyric soprano voice, which has been described as "mellow yet vibrant, warm, ample and unforced". On 1 December ...

sang "Now is the Hour", a favourite New Zealand hymn, as the

’s A4 Skyhawks made one final swooping flyover of Mount Smart Stadium followed by fireworks. The Queen,

Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh, is a substantive title that has been created four times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not pr ...

, and Prince Edward then exited the stadium standing in open top vehicles.

Mascot

The mascot of the games was Goldie, representing New Zealand's national symbol the kiwi bird.

Participating teams

55 teams were represented at the 1990 Games.
(Teams competing for the first time are shown in bold).

Medals by country

This is the full table of the medal count of the 1990 Commonwealth Games. These rankings sort by the number of gold medals earned by a country. The number of silvers is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze. If, after the above, countries are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically. This follows the system used by the IOC,

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

and

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. Figures from Commonwealth Games Foundation website.Past Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Games Federation

Medals by event

*At these games, the

was a demonstration event; won by Erin Baker (women) and Rick Wells (men), both from New Zealand.

Aquatics

Athletics

Badminton

Bowls

Boxing

Cycling

Track

Road

Gymnastics

Artistic

Rhythmic

Judo

Shooting

Pistol

Rifle

Shotgun

Weightlifting

References

The Bateman New Zealand Encyclopedia

External links

Commonwealth Games Official Site
{{Portal bar, Sports, 1990s, New Zealand C Sports competitions in Auckland International sports competitions hosted by New Zealand Commonwealth Games in New Zealand Commonwealth Games by year

Gymnastics competitions in New Zealand January 1990 sports events in Oceania February 1990 sports events in Oceania 1990s in Auckland 1990 in New Zealand 1990s in New Zealand