The 1990 Commonwealth Games (Māori: 1990 Taumāhekeheke Commonwealth) was held in Auckland, New Zealand from 24 January – 3 February 1990. It was the 14th Commonwealth Games, 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[1] and the Triathlon were demonstration events.
The event was awarded to Auckland on 27 July 1984 at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, United States. Perth, Australia, had withdrawn from the bid contest leaving New Delhi, India, as the sole opponent to Auckland's bid.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
1990 Commonwealth Games bidding results
City
Round 1
Auckland
20
New Delhi
19
Opening ceremony
The opening of the games comprised a variety of events, including the arrival of The Queen's representative The Prince Edward (her youngest son), the arrival of the Queen's Baton, and many Māori ceremonial stories. The Queens Baton was carried across the Auckland Harbour by the vessel "Ceduna".
Queen's Baton's from the 1990 Commonwealth Games.
The opening ceremony itself started off with the AucklandCommonwealth Games Choir singing the Song of Welcome. Upon the arrival of The 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 New Zealand national anthem "God Defend New Zealand" was sung during a ceremonial fourteen gun salute from nearby One Tree Hill. This was followed by the New Zealand Army Guard Commander allowing The Prince Edward to inspect the guard of honour. After which was the introduction of the participating countries of the Commonwealth, Scotland entering first as the hosts of the previous games, and New Zealand 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 main Māori ceremonies began. First of the Māori ceremonies was all 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 found their way to what was to become New Zealand, and how New Zealand was formed between Rangi and Papa, the sky father and earth mother. The story then moved on to the coming of religion and European migration. This was demonstrated with a formation of the Union Jack, to show the colonisation by the British. Dame Whina Cooper then made a speech about the Treaty of Waitangi 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 Italy, Poland, Greece, Netherlands, Scotland, Ireland, Austria, Wales and England, and music and native dancing also from Asian countries such as China, Sri Lanka and India. From here, many of the neighbouring Pacific Islanders 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.
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 Forces75 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, reflecting that of Christchurch in 1974. Attended by HM The Queen of New Zealand, formality and respect played their due part in the beginning with formal salute and the acceptance of 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, opera singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa sang "Now is the Hour", a favourite New Zealand hymn, as the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s A4 Skyhawks made one final swooping flyover of Mount Smart Stadium followed by fireworks. The Queen, Duke of Edinburgh, and Prince Edward then exited the stadium standing in open top vehicles.
Mascot
Goldie the Kiwi bird – the Games' mascot
The mascot of the games was Goldie, representing New Zealand's national symbol the kiwi bird.
Participating teams
Participating countries
55 teams were represented at the 1990 Games. (Teams competing for the first time are shown in bold).
Participating Commonwealth countries and territories
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 and BBC.
Figures from Commonwealth Games Foundation website.[2]
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