Following 11 days of jam-packed Commonwealth Games action, the curtains came down on the XX11 edition of the event last night with a spectacular closing ceremony at Alexander Stadium here in Birmingham, England.
The “largest Commonwealth Games” ever was declared a resounding success by President of the Commonwealth Games Federation (GCF), Dame Louise Martin as the thousands of frolicking athletes paraded in front of the 30,000 spectators.
The Guyanese contingent clad in the nation’s colours were among the athletes.
From July 29 to yesterday, 72 nations competed in 19 different sports, with England hosting the quadrennial event for the third time in its history.
Team Guyana was represented by 32 athletes from the disciplines of athletics, badminton, boxing, cycling, swimming, squash and tennis.
While Guyana failed to medal at this quadrennial event, Australia topped the medal table with 67 gold medals.
The hosts finished second with 57 gold medals while Canada placed third with 26.
Jamaica, topped the Caribbean, finishing 12th overall on the medal table with six gold medals. Trinidad was second for the Caribbean with 3 gold medals and ended 15th overall. Barbados was third for the Region and 20th overall with one gold medal.
Birmingham 2022 made history by becoming the first ever major multi-sport event to award more medals to women than men.
The programme confirmed there were 136 medal events for women and 134 for men. This saw Birmingham 2022 go one step further than the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018, when there were an equal number of medals for women and men.
According to Dame Martin who thanked “everyone in Birmingham for delivering an absolute brilliant Commonwealth Games”, 97 Games records and four world records were broken while 877 medals were awarded.
Dame Martin then presented Singapore’s tennis icon, Feng Tianwei with the David Dixon award.
The award is presented to the most outstanding athlete of the Games. Tianwei earned three gold medals from at Birmingham2022 where she helped Singapore to complete a clean sweep in the women’s team, singles and doubles events.
The Closing Ceremony also included a formal handover to the state of Victoria, Australia, which is hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
Last night those watching the ceremony also witnessed a star studded line-up of acts which included local stars UB40, Laura Mvula, Jorja Smith and a nod to the Peaky Blinders with a sequence from the much-anticipated theatre showPeaky Blinders: The Redemption Of Thomas Shelby.
Following the performances, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and Patron of the Games, declared the chapter on Birmingham 2022 closed on behalf of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth 11.
