The Commonwealth Games have come to a close in Glasgow.
Australia topped the medal tally for the third consecutive Games.
The Aussie team took home 70 gold medals, 45 silver, and 56 bronze for a total of 171 medals.
The Australian team was the top medal winner in 4 of the ten sports on offer in Glasgow, winning the most golds of any nation in swimming, 3x3 basketball, track cycling, and athletics.
Top performers
Australia’s swimmers, the Dolphins, took home a record 37 gold medals and 76 medals in total.
Sprint freestyler Meg Harris was the most successful athlete of the Games with six golds.
It was a hugely successful Games for Australia’s 3x3 basketballers, with all four Australian sides (men’s, women’s and both wheelchair teams) reaching the podium.
At the velodrome, the track cyclists recorded their biggest Commonwealth haul ever, with 28 medals.
Leigh Hoffman became the first Australian cyclist to win four at a single Games, with three gold and one silver.
Georgia Baker won two gold medals in Glasgow, bringing her career total to a record-equalling five gold medals, and later carried the flag at the closing ceremony.
52: the number of years between Australian victories in the men’s 4x100m relay.
Lachlan Kennedy, Joshua Azzopardi, Calab Law, and Rohan Browning broke the drought over the weekend.
Track and field
Australia’s track and field athletes saved their best for the final weekend, producing the most successful single day in Commonwealth Games history: seven gold medals and 17 medals on Saturday.
It beat the previous best of six gold from 1950.
That capped off 12 gold and 34 medals across the athletics program.
Your contribution ensures The Daily Aus can continue doing the work you love.
I want to give $10 monthly to help TDA keep doing the news.
Your details:
The headline act was the men‘s 4x100m relay, where Lachlan Kennedy, Joshua Azzopardi, Calab Law, and Rohan Browning held off Olympic champions Canada to win in 38.07 seconds.
It was Australia’s first gold in the event since 1974.
Meanwhile, Jemima Montag defended her 10,000m race walk title, and Abbey Caldwell won the women’s mile.
Among the Para athletes, Rhiannon Clarke claimed the first international gold of her career in the T38 200m.
There was more gold in the field.
Matt Denny defended his discus title, Mackenzie Little won the women's javelin, and pole vaulter Kurtis Marschall took a third straight Commonwealth title with a Games-record 5.85m.
Diamonds
The netball tournament saw New Zealand claim a surprise gold after world number one Australia lost 46-45 to Jamaica in the semi-final.
It was the first time the Diamonds had failed to reach a Comm Games gold medal match since netball joined the program in 1998.
They recovered to beat England 68-50 for bronze, their lowest finish at a Games.
Our best Games?
This was not Australia’s best Games.
The gold record remains 87, set at the Victoria 1994 Games, while the total-medal record 179 was set at Birmingham 2022.
That being said, Glasgow’s haul came from a reduced program of 10 sports, against 19 in Birmingham.
What’s next?
Ahmedabad in India will host the next edition in 2030.
It will be the centenary edition, marking 100 years since the inaugural British Empire Games in 1930.
