2014 Commonwealth Games

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XX Commonwealth Games
Host city	Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Nations participating	71 Commonwealth Teams
Events	17 Sports[1]
Opening ceremony	23 July 2014[2]
Closing ceremony	3 August 2014
Officially opened by	Head of the Commonwealth
Queen's Baton Final Runner	TBC
Main Stadium	Celtic Park
Motto	People, Place, Passion
Website	www.glasgow2014.com

The 20th Commonwealth Games in 2014 will be held in Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland. The winning city was announced by the Commonwealth Games Federation on 9 November 2007 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. All 71 Commonwealth Games member associations voted in a secret ballot, with Glasgow winning by 47 votes, compared to rival Abuja's 24. ^[3] The Games will run for 12 days from July 23 to August 3, 2014. It will be the largest Multi-sport event ever held in Scotland, although the country previously hosted the Games in 1970 and 1986, the event has now grown to become second only to the Olympic Games in terms of the number of countries and athletes participating. Over the last 10 years however Glasgow and Scotland have also staged World, Commonwealth, European or International events in all 17 sports proposed for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, including the World Badminton Championships in 1997^[4].

[edit] Selection process

Main article: 2014 Commonwealth Games bids

Scotland was the first country to consider hosting the 2014 Commonwealth Games in 2004, with Scottish cities being invited by the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland to consider making a bid. In September 2004, Glasgow was announced as the Scottish candidate city over Edinburgh (which hosted the Games in 1970 and 1986, and the inaugural Commonwealth Youth Games in 2000) following a cost-benefit analysis by the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland. The Scottish Executive under then First Minister of Scotland, Jack McConnell, with the support of the United Kingdom government ^[5] and all main parties in the Scottish Parliament, formally announced Glasgow's intention to host the games on 16 August 2005.

In March 2006, the bidding process began, with the Glasgow Bid 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; Halifax later withdrew due to 'unacceptably high cost projections'. ^[6] In October 2006, the first voting delegates arrived in Glasgow, in order 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^[7]. Halifax later withdrew its bid on 8 March 2007, following the withdrawal of funding from the municipal government^[8].

That left Abuja and Glasgow as the remaining bidders, with Abuja seen as a likely favourite due the basis of its campaign that Africa has never before hosted the Commonwealth Games^[9]. 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.^[10] 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. ^[11]

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 Sir Sean Connery^[12]. Abuja's delegation was led by General Yakubu Gowon, head of the Abuja 2014 Commonwealth Games bid team. The CGF members subsequently voted for their preferred candidate in a secret ballot. As there were only two bids, the winner was announced by the CGF President, Mike Fennell, after the first round of voting, with the winner only requiring a simple majority. Celebrations were held at Glasgow's Old Fruitmarket, where a crowd of over 1,200 had gathered to watch the result live^[13]. The Commonwealth Games will form part of a 'Golden Decade' in British Sport.

[edit] Preparation

[edit] Venues

Map depicting the venue locations for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, located within a 20 minutes drive from the Games Village.

One of the key technical aspects of Glasgow's successful bid was the fact that the city already has 70 percent of the planned venues in place. The vast majority of venues are located within 20-minutes driving time of the Athletes Village in Dalmarnock and are broadly grouped into three clusters; in the East End, South Side and West End districts of the city. The only sports held outwith the Greater Glasgow area will be the Diving and Full-Bore Shooting events.^[14]

Hampden Park, Scotland's National Football Stadium, will be the main venue for athletics and for the closing ceremony, while Celtic Park will be used for the opening ceremony.^[15]

The Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, located in the West End of the city, will host the boxing tournament, as well the Main Press Centre and the International Broadcast Centre, benefiting from its strategic position adjacent to the new headquarters of BBC Scotland and SMG at Pacific Quay. The Clyde Auditorium will host Weightlifting, whilst the planned Scottish National Arena will be used for the gymnastics and netball events.

Kelvingrove Park, also in the city's West End, will be the venue for Bowls and already has five bowling greens installed for competitive use. A comprehensive upgrade and refurbishment of the park is underway. Kelvingrove Park is situated close to the SECC and is adjacent to the Kelvin Hall, which will host wrestling and judo. Scotstoun Sports Centre will host Table tennis and squash. Ibrox Stadium, in the South Side, is the planned venue for the rugby sevens tournament. The shooting competitions will take place at two separate outdoor venues, the Strathclyde Police ranges at Jackton and the British Army full-bore rifle ranges at Barry Buddon, near Dundee, which were also used in the 1986 Commonwealth Games. Strathclyde Park will host the Triathlon event. Mountain Biking will be held at Cathkin Park in Rutherglen, the highest point in the city. The Marathon will begin and end at Hampden Park in the South Side, whilst the road cycling and cycling time-trial events will start and finish at Glasgow Green. These road events will be routed so as to take maximum advantage of Glasgow's cityscape and architectural landmarks. Glasgow Green will also be the venue for Hockey and will see the construction of a new Regional Hockey Centre.

Hampden Park will host the Athletics events and the Closing Ceremony.

A new National Indoor Sports Arena and Velodrome Complex is planned for Parkhead in the East End of the city, the velodrome itself will be opposite Celtic Park, which will be used for the opening ceremony. These venues will become the headquarters of sportscotland and Scottish Cycling, and will also host badminton as well as track cycling. Adjacent to this, a site for an athletes' village has also been identified in Dalmarnock at Cuningar Loop on the banks of the River Clyde. The village will form the centrepiece of the wider Clyde Gateway Project, a strategic £1.6 billion inner city regeneration project for the East End of the city.^[16][17][18] The village masterplan, designed by RMJM, covers a 35 hectare site and will be purpose-built to house 6,000 athletes and officials in 2,500 residential units and leave a legacy of regeneration in this deprived district of the city. Tollcross Park Aquatics Centre, also in the East End, will be the venue for race swimming events. It already has one Olympic standard 50 metre swimming pool, which will be extensively upgraded, and a second 50 metre pool is also to be added for the Games as a warm-up facility. The existing permanent seating capacity will also be increased. Combined with temporary seating there will be over 5,000 seats for the Games in 2014. Diving however will be held at the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh, located 45 miles (72 km) to the east, which will also be holding the annual Edinburgh Festival at the same time as the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

[edit] Infrastructure

See also: Transport in Glasgow

See also: Culture in Glasgow

See also: Economy of Scotland

Two First ScotRail Class 170 trains running on the Glasgow to Edinburgh Line were painted in a special Glasgow 2014 Livery

Over two billion pounds^[19] will have been spent on enhancements to the city's transport infrastructure by 2014, including completion of major motorway links, like the M74 and East End Regeneration Route, as well as the Glasgow Airport Rail Link. Strathclyde Partnership for Transport has also proposed improvements to city centre rail links such as the Glasgow Crossrail scheme and light rapid transport to key facilities such as the SECC, with Clyde Fastlink being a requisite to this^[20][21].

There are also plans to upgrade and extend the Low-Level Argyle Line to Parkhead, using disused sections of the former Glasgow Central Railway, as well as possible refurbishment of the Glasgow Subway, which will both form direct links across the city to key venues such as Strathclyde Park, the Athletes Village, Glasgow Green, the SECC, Scotstoun Sports Centre, Ibrox Stadium and the Kelvin Hall/Kelvingrove Park^[22]. All venues in the Glasgow area will be directly served by city's extensive railway and subway network, with its main interchange at Glasgow Central/St Enoch, including; Hampden Park and Jackton, as well as the venues served by the central Argyle Line and Subway.

There are also ongoing improvements to the River Clyde such as the construction of new bridges and development of river-based transport.^[23]

In terms of utilities, Glasgow has a comprehensive mains electricity network supplied by the National Grid, which is operated by Scottish Power and generated from an increasing share of renewable sources. More flexible electricity supplies are also readily available, with mobile generating specialists Aggreko, based in the city. Scottish Water operates Glasgow's primary water supply, which is sourced from Loch Katrine and enters the city via the state-of-the-art Milngavie water treatment works. The city has a world class healthcare sector administered by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. Strathclyde Police have a proven track record in providing security at high profile events such as the 2002 UEFA Champions League Final and the 2005 G8 summit. Glasgow currently has some 11,870 hotel rooms, including 3 5 star hotels. There are plans for eight new hotels in and around Glasgow. Ranging from 3-5 star accommodation, they will collectively provide a further 1,445 beds by 2014^[24]. The Glasgow City Marketing Bureau has also obtained contractural agreements from 67 hotels in the city to guarantee room rates with no minimum length of stay^[25]. In terms of telecommunications, Glasgow was voted the Intelligent Community of the Year in 2004 by the Intelligent Community Forum, in recognition of the city's comprehensive level of Broadband Internet access and highly developed 3G and Wi-Fi networks.^{[26] [27] [28]}

[edit] Financing and administration

See also: Politics of Scotland

On 14 November 2007, the First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, announced that with the disbandment of the Bid Committee, headed by Louise Martin, Chair of the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland and Bid Director, Derek Casey, a new Organising Committee and formal Business plan, for implementing the 2014 Commonwealth Games and securing its legacy, would be established within 100 days.^[29]

The Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council have agreed to underwrite the Organising Committee's net running costs of staging the Games, which is currently budgeted at £288m. This will be on the basis of an 80/20 split. It is expected that the majority of the 80% of costs to be covered by the Scottish Government will be new money committed to the sports and major events budget. A further £50m is expected to be raised through merchandising, broadcasting, sponsorship and ticket sales.^[30] Current major corporate sponsors include; Clydesdale Bank, Highland Spring, O2, FirstGroup, BBC Scotland and Diageo^[31]. Other capital expenditure is taking place in addition to the Organising Committee's budget, principally on venue infrastructure. Only three entirely new venues are required to stage the games, which are budgeted at a combined total of £200 million and additions to existing venues will cost an additional £70 million, although most of this investment had been planned to take place regardless of the bid result^[32]. The Games Village is projected to cost some £229 million and will be developed through a Public Private Partnership scheme^[33]. Following the announcement on November 9, 2007 that Glasgow will host the Games, the Scottish Parliament will now consider the Glasgow Commonwealth Games Bill. This proposed new legislation aims to protect the Games from Ambush marketing and ticket touts, while putting powers in place to address matters such as transport and land purchase.^[34]

On 8 February, 2008, Sir Robert Smith was appointed as Chair of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games organizing company. Smith is the former Chairman of the Weir Group, CEO of Morgan Grenfell Private Equity, and BBC Governor and Chairman for the Broadcasting Council for Scotland.^[35]

[edit] Sports

There were 71 countries, territories and bodies competing at the last Commonwealth Games^[36].

The current regulations state that from the 26 approved sports administered by Commonwealth Governing Bodies, a minimum of ten and maximum of seventeen sports must be included in any Commonwealth Games schedule. The current approved sports include; Athletics, aquatics, lawn bowls, netball (for women) and rugby sevens (for men). Integrated disabled competitions are also proposed for the Games in several events including; Swimming, Athletics, Cycling, Table Tennis and possibly Powerlifting, with the medals being added to the final tally for each nation.

There are a total of 17 disciplines planned for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.:^[37]

• Aquatics (Swimming and Diving)
• Athletics (Track and Field and Marathon)
• Badminton
• Boxing
• Cycling (Track, Mountain, Road and Time-Trial)
• Gymnastics (Artistic and Rhythmic)
• Hockey
• Judo
• Lawn Bowls
• Netball
• Rugby 7s
• Shooting (Small Bore Rifle, Full Bore Rifle, Pistol and Clay Target)
• Squash
• Table Tennis
• Triathlon
• Weightlifting
• Wrestling

[edit] Provisional competition schedule

^[38]

[edit] Logo

The logo for the Games was first used during Glasgow's bid, with the "Candidate City" section removed following November 9, when the bid was approved. The logo depicts two Sprinters woven into a tartan motif, representing Scotland. The pattern, forming the Roman numerals XX, also represents the fact that the 2014 Commonwealth Games are the 20th time the games will have been held. The text is more specifically Glaswegian, with its stylised Mackintosh font. A flag featuring the logo was used extensively during the bid process. The flag was flown above Merchant House in George Square daily ^[39].

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Glasgow 2014 Website
• Glasgow 2014 Candidate City File
• Commonwealth Games 2014 News
• 2014 Commonwealth Games Evaluation Report