1998 Commonwealth Games

The 1998 Commonwealth Games were held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from September 11 to September 21 making it the first Asian country to act as host. A record 70 nations (34 of which collected medals) supplied 3638 athletes.

Overview

The Games were be declared open by His Majesty the King of Malaysia, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Jaafar ibni Almarhum Tuanku Abdul Rahman on September 11.

Related Topics:
King of Malaysia - Yang di-Pertuan Agong - Tuanku Jaafar ibni Almarhum Tuanku Abdul Rahman - September 11

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The main focus for the games and the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies was the newly built National Stadium Bukit Jalil, a 100,000 spectator capacity stadium.

Related Topics:
National Stadium Bukit Jalil - Spectator - Capacity - Stadium

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The logo for these games was inspired from the national flower of Malaysia, the Hibiscus, and was the first time that the colour yellow was introduced in the logo. (All previous logos had been red, white and blue to reflect the colours of the British Union Jack).

Related Topics:
National flower - Malaysia - Hibiscus - Red - White - Blue

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The mascot for the games was Wira, meaning warrior in the Malay language, the Orang utan.

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The host nation were thrilled at achieving their best ever haul of ten gold medals.

Related Topics:
Nation - Gold - Medal

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They were also thrilled with the attendances at the newly introduced team sports of cricket, Field Hockey, Netball and Rugby Sevens.

Related Topics:
Team sport - Cricket - Field Hockey - Netball - Rugby Sevens

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These joined athletics, badminton, boxing, cycling, gymnastics, lawn bowls, shooting, squash, swimming, ten-pin bowling and weightlifting to make a total of 15 different categories of events.

Related Topics:
Athletics - Badminton - Boxing - Cycling - Gymnastics - Lawn bowls - Shooting - Squash - Swimming - Ten-pin bowling - Weightlifting

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In front of 20,000 fans at the Petaling Jaya Stadium, Rugby Sevens in particularly were an enormous success with New Zealand collecting its 100th Commonwealth Games medal with a 21-12 win over the plucky Fiji, (the reigning world champions). Man of the match was the giant Jonah Lomu who had worked tirelessly during the 10-minutes each way final.

Related Topics:
Petaling Jaya Stadium - Commonwealth Games - Fiji - Jonah Lomu

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Led by veteran star David Campese, Australia took the bronze beating Samoa 33-12.

Related Topics:
David Campese - Australia - Samoa

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In the squash event many had anticipated a close match between Michelle Martin and Sarah Fitz-Gerald who had both comfortably won their respective semi finals. Sarah had won the previous two years world open and Michelle the three prior to that and so it was with some surprise too many that Michelle took the gold in three straight sets 9-0, 9-6, 9-5. Sarah did avenge this defeat in the final of the world championship later that year, in what many people regard as the greatest women's final ever, coming back from 8-2 down in the fifth to retain her title.

Related Topics:
Michelle Martin - Sarah Fitz-Gerald

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Michelle also teamed up with Craig Rowland to take the commonwealth mixed doubles gold.

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Erika-Leigh Stirton took five of the six available golds in the rhythmic gymnastics only being beaten into second place in the team event in the hosts took gold.

Related Topics:
Erika-Leigh Stirton - Rhythmic gymnastics

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September 21st saw Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, Head of the Commonwealth and Patron of the Commonwealth Games Federation declare the ceremony closed on a night that saw both Céline Dion and Rod Stewart entertain the crowd.

Related Topics:
Queen Elizabeth - Patron - Céline Dion - Rod Stewart

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Medal Table

Medal Table By Country

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