1982 Commonwealth Games

The 1982 Commonwealth Games were held in Brisbane, Australia, from 30 September to 9 October 1982. The Opening Ceremony was held at the QEII Stadium (named after Elizabeth II), in the Brisbane suburb of Nathan. The QEII Stadium was also the athletics and archery events venue. Other events were held at the purpose-built Sleeman Sports Complex in Chandler.

The Chairman of the 1982 Commonwealth Games was Sir Edward Williams. The 1982 Commonwealth Games Logo was designed by Hugh Edwards. The symbol is derived from the form of a bounding kangaroo. The three bands, forming stylized A's (for Australia), and is in colours which are common to flags of many Commonwealth countries.

The mascot for the games was also designed by Hugh Edwards and is a caricature of a kangaroo was named≈≈≈≈ Matilda. A Template:Convert mechanical kangaroo travelled around the stadium and winked at the crowd.

The event was officially opened by The Duke of Edinburgh and closed by Elizabeth II.

Host selection

Bidding for the XII Commonwealth Games was held in Montreal, Canada, at the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics. Lagos, Brisbane, Kuala Lumpur, and Birmingham were the bidding cities. On 14 July 1976, it was announced that Brisbane had won the rights to stage the Games after the other candidate cities withdrew bids. Sixteen years after the Brisbane Games, Kuala Lumpur hosted the 1998 Commonwealth Games, while Birmingham hosted the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Brisbane was awarded the Games by default after being the only candidate city left at the bid election after Birmingham reversed its decision to submit an application. Nigeria's boycott of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal made Lagos' bid lobbying impractical. The 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal were plagued with cost overruns, and bidding on a sports festival anywhere in the world was not good politically.

Participating teams

File:Commonwealth games 1982 countries map.PNG

Countries and places which competed at the 1982 games

Forty-six Commonwealth nations and territories took part in the 1982 Commonwealth Games. A total of 1,583 athletes and 571 officials participated in the event. The Griffith University student dormitories in the adjoining Nathan Campus were used as athletes' villages.

Sports

Sports contested during the 1982 Commonwealth Games included athletics, archery, badminton, lawn bowls, boxing, cycling, shooting, swimming, diving, weightlifting and wrestling.

Table tennis and Australian rules football were demonstration sports, with the latter being demonstrated at a 6 October rematch at the Gabba of that year's VFL Grand Final, which took place just 11 days before at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Richmond won the demonstration rematch with a score of 28.16 (184) to Carlton's 26.10 (166).

Venues

Main Venues

• Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Sports Centre
• Chandler Sports Complex:
  • Chandler Aquatic Centre – swimming and diving;
  • Chandler Sports Hall – badminton and table tennis;
  • Chandler Theatre – weightlifting; * Chandler Velodrome – track cycling
• Brisbane City Hall – wrestling
• Brisbane Festival Hall – boxing
• Belmont Rifle Range – shooting
• Moorooka Bowls Club – lawn bowls
• Murarrie Recreation Reserve – archery
• Bruce Highway – road cycling
• Brisbane River roads – marathon

Standalone Venues

• Wynnum and Manly roads – 30 km walk
• Woolloongabba Cricket Ground – Australian football demonstration
• Athletes Village – Griffith University and Mount Gravatt College of Advanced Education.

Ceremonies

Opening ceremony

File:Opening ceremony (8075978683).jpg

Opening ceremony of the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane with mascot Matilda winking to the crowd

The ceremony at the QEII Stadium was held on a fine but extremely windy day. The wind was so strong that skydivers who were going to descend into the stadium were cancelled. Instead they made an entrance at the closing ceremony.

Closing ceremony

File:Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at the Closing Ceremony of the XII Commonwealth Games, Brisbane.jpg

Her Majesty The Queen at the Closing Ceremony of the Games

Elizabeth II closed the Games during a colourful ceremony, which included parachute jumpers (who had originally been also intended as part of the Opening Ceremony display) jumping and landing in a special target area within the stadium and red, white and blue balloons. Matilda the Kangaroo also winked at the Queen. Following the closing of the Games, the Queen and the Duke left the stand to be driven from the stadium. However, nobody wanted the Games to end and the Australian team formed a 'guard of honour' and ran beside and behind the car in which Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were travelling, as it circled the stadium several times before finally leaving. Team members from other countries also joined in running after the royal car.

Highlights

Day 1 (1 October)

The first event of the Games was Template:Convert Road Trial in cycling. England won the Gold Medal in the event, and Australia won the Silver Medal—coming second to England by only six seconds.

Other sports which were contested on the first day of competition included swimming and diving, weightlifting, shooting and bowls.

Day 2 (2 October)

Sports contested included swimming, diving, weightlifting, shooting, cycling, bowls and archery.

The day was marred by both Australia and Canada being disqualified in the 4 × 100 metres relay in swimming, both problems occurring during change-overs. The medals awarded for this race went to England, Scotland and New Zealand.

Day 4 (4 October)

Sports contested included swimming, diving, cycling, athletics, archery, hammer throwing and shooting.

The day was marred when Canada was again disqualified, this time in the 4 × 200 metres freestyle relay. Canada protested against the winners, Australia, as well as against their own disqualification.

Aboriginal movement protests

The Brisbane Commonwealth Games were also noted by large-scale protests by the Aboriginal rights movement in Australia, which brought to the centre of international media attention the lack of Indigenous land rights in Australia, poor living condition and suppression of personal and political rights in Queensland in particular, and in Australia as a whole. One of the targets of the protests was Queensland's Aborigines Act 1971, which restricted and controlled the lives of Aboriginal people in Queensland.

There were large marches on 26 September (2,000 people), 20 September (1000), and a sit-in of 104 people on 4 October. Also on that day, around 20 spectators held Aboriginal flags in the stadium during the entire program. On 7 October, about 500 people attended another protest, and 400 police arrested 260 people, including then Governor-General's daughter, Ann Stephen. The protests were all peaceful, but police came out in force and blocked roads, making arrests under Queensland's Traffic Act.

Activists taking part in the protests included Gary Foley and Bob Weatherall (both leaders of the protest); Billy Craigie; Lyall Munro Jnr; Ross Watson; Wayne Wharton; and Selwyn Johnson and his family. Selwyn's brother Hedley Johnson was a musician, of the Brisbane group Mop and the Dropouts. Their song, "Brisbane Blacks", written by Mop Conlon, became a kind of anthem for the protests.

Bob Weatherall, a Kamilaroi elder, is a lifelong activist, a researcher in Aboriginal history, and musical collaborator with Brisbane band Halfway

The protests, which were followed by large-scale arrests, are a significant event in the history of the Australian Aboriginal rights movement. When the Commonwealth Games returned to Australia in 2018 at the Gold Coast, it drew a series of peaceful protests.

The classic Australian film "Guniwaya Ngigu (We Fight)" documents the Aboriginal protest movement during the Commonwealth Games, and was directed by Madeline McGrady and Tracey Moffatt, and produced by Maureen Watson, Tiga Bayles and Madeline McGrady.

Legacy

In 2009 as part of the Q150 celebrations, the 1982 Commonwealth Games were announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for its role as a "Defining Moment". Brisbane also bid for the 1992 Summer Olympics but lost to Barcelona. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced on 9 December 2019 that the state will make an official bid for the 2032 Summer Olympics and Paralympics featuring venues across Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. In 2021, the city won the bid to host the 2032 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.

Medals by country

This is the full table of the medal count of the 1982 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 and BBC.

Medals by event

Boxing

Event		Gold	Silver	Bronze
Light Flyweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
				Template:Flagathlete
Flyweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
				Template:Flagathlete
Bantamweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
				Template:Flagathlete
Featherweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
				Template:Flagathlete
Lightweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
				Template:Flagathlete
Light Welterweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
				Template:Flagathlete
Welterweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
				Template:Flagathlete
Light Middleweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
				Template:Flagathlete
Middleweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
				Template:Flagathlete
Light Heavyweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
				Template:Flagathlete
Heavyweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
				Template:Flagathlete

Shooting

Pistol

Event		Gold		Silver		Bronze
50m Free Pistol	Men/Open	Template:Flagathlete	553	Template:Flagathlete	543	Template:Flagathlete	540
50m Free Pistol – Pairs	Men/Open	Template:Flagathlete	1077	Template:Flagathlete	1075	Template:Flagathlete	1074
25m Centre-Fire Pistol	Men/Open	Template:Flagathlete	580	Template:Flagathlete	579	Template:Flagathlete	577
25m Centre-Fire Pistol – Pairs	Men/Open	Template:Flagathlete	1151	Template:Flagathlete	1138	Template:Flagathlete	1131
25m Rapid-Fire Pistol	Men/Open	Template:Flagathlete	583	Template:Flagathlete	583	Template:Flagathlete	582
25m Rapid-Fire Pistol – Pairs	Men/Open	Template:Flagathlete	1160	Template:Flagathlete	1152	Template:Flagathlete	1151
10m Air Pistol	Men/Open	Template:Flagathlete	576	Template:Flagathlete	573	Template:Flagathlete	571
10m Air Pistol – Pairs	Men/Open	Template:Flagathlete	1128	Template:Flagathlete	1126	Template:Flagathlete	1125

Rifle

Event		Gold		Silver		Bronze
50m Rifle Prone	Men/Open	Template:Flagathlete	1184	Template:Flagathlete	1184	Template:Flagathlete	1177
50m Rifle Prone – Pairs	Men/Open	Template:Flagathlete	1187	Template:Flagathlete	1183	Template:Flagathlete	1180
50m Rifle Three Positions	Men/Open	Template:Flagathlete	1146	Template:Flagathlete	1145	Template:Flagathlete	1144
50m Rifle Three Positions – Pairs	Men/Open	Template:Flagathlete	2301	Template:Flagathlete	2279	Template:Flagathlete	2277
Full Bore Rifle	Men/Open	Template:Flagathlete	387	Template:Flagathlete	385	Template:Flagathlete	384
Full Bore Rifle – Pairs	Men/Open	Template:Flagathlete	572	Template:Flagathlete	570	Template:Flagathlete	563
10m Air Rifle	Men/Open	Template:Flagathlete	574	Template:Flagathlete	572	Template:Flagathlete	570
10m Air Rifle – Pairs	Men/Open	Template:Flagathlete	1137	Template:Flagathlete	1126	Template:Flagathlete	1123

Shotgun

Event		Gold		Silver		Bronze
Trap	Men/Open	Template:Flagathlete	191	Template:Flagathlete	190	Template:Flagathlete	190
Trap – Pairs	Men/Open	Template:Flagathlete	190	Template:Flagathlete	186	Template:Flagathlete	183
Skeet	Men/Open	Template:Flagathlete	197	Template:Flagathlete	196	Template:Flagathlete	195
Skeet – Pairs	Men/Open	Template:Flagathlete	191	Template:Flagathlete	190	Template:Flagathlete	190

Weightlifting

Event		Gold		Silver		Bronze
Flyweight – Overall	Men	Template:Flagathlete	207.5	Template:Flagathlete	200	Template:Flagathlete	192.5
Bantamweight – Overall	Men	Template:Flagathlete	235	Template:Flagathlete	227.5	Template:Flagathlete	222.5
Featherweight – Overall	Men	Template:Flagathlete	267.5	Template:Flagathlete	245	Template:Flagathlete	242.5
Lightweight – Overall	Men	Template:Flagathlete	295	Template:Flagathlete	285	Template:Flagathlete	277.5
Middleweight – Overall	Men	Template:Flagathlete	312.5	Template:Flagathlete	305	Template:Flagathlete	302.5
Light Heavyweight – Overall	Men	Template:Flagathlete	325	Template:Flagathlete	320	Template:Flagathlete	317.5
Middle Heavyweight – Overall	Men	Template:Flagathlete	337.5	Template:Flagathlete	335	Template:Flagathlete	325
Sub Heavyweight – Overall	Men	Template:Flagathlete	350	Template:Flagathlete	350	Template:Flagathlete	340
Heavyweight – Overall	Men	Template:Flagathlete	347.5	Template:Flagathlete	325	Template:Flagathlete	315
Super Heavyweight – Overall	Men	Template:Flagathlete	377.5	Template:Flagathlete	347.5	Template:Flagathlete	320

Wrestling

Event		Gold	Silver	Bronze
Light Flyweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
Flyweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
Bantamweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
Featherweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
Lightweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
Welterweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
Middleweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
Light Heavyweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
Heavyweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete
Super Heavyweight	Men	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete	Template:Flagathlete

See also

• World Expo 88, another international event held in Brisbane in the 1980s
• Commonwealth Games celebrated in Australia
  • 1938 Commonwealth Games – Sydney
  • 1962 Commonwealth Games – Perth
  • 2006 Commonwealth Games – Melbourne
  • 2018 Commonwealth Games – Gold Coast
• Commonwealth Youth Games celebrated in Australia
  • 2004 Commonwealth Youth Games – Bendigo
• Olympic Games celebrated in Australia
  • 1956 Summer Olympics – Melbourne
  • 2000 Summer Olympics – Sydney
  • 2032 Summer Olympics – Brisbane
• Paralympic Games celebrated in Australia
  • 2000 Summer Paralympics – Sydney
  • 2032 Summer Paralympics – Brisbane

Other sources

• "XII Commonwealth Games – The Official Pictorial History" —Channel 9 "Today Tonight", O & B Holdings Pty. Ltd., (1982)

External links

• "Brisbane 1982". Commonwealthsport.com. Commonwealth Sport.
• 1982 Commonwealth Games – Australian Commonwealth Games Association official website
• The whole world is watching- documentary on the Aboriginal Movement protests at the 1982 Commonwealth Games. State Library of Queensland
• People forming map of Australia Photographs - State Library of Queensland
• John Leslie Protest Photographs of 1982 Commonwealth Games - State Library of Queensland
• National black unity: rally & march: support land rights booklet - State Library of Queensland

Preceded by Edmonton

Commonwealth Games Brisbane XII Commonwealth Games

Succeeded by Edinburgh