Victoria 1994 Commonwealth Games - Network Ten Broadcast Opening Sequence
Copyright (c) 1994 Ten Network Holdings Ltd.
Courtesy of: / @videohistorysnippets8963
This is from the Australian TV coverages (EN-AU) of the 1994 Commonwealth Games by Network 10.
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Canada welcomed the nations of the Commonwealth once more for the fourth time in its history, following in the footsteps set by Hamilton 1930, Vancouver 1954, and Edmonton 1978 as the 15th iteration of the Commonwealth Games were held in Victoria, capital of the Canadian state of British Columbia, between 18 and 28 August 1994.
These Victoria Games had attracted around 3,700 athletes from 64 countries and territories. Among one of those 64 participating delegations is South Africa, which made their return to the Commonwealth Games following the end of apartheid. Namibia participated in its first Games after gaining independence from South Africa in 1990, while the Caribbean island of Montserrat also made their debut. The 1994 Games were ultimately the last for Hong Kong as it bids farewell to the event itself before the territory's sovereignty gets transferred from Britain to China in 1997.
Australia, once again, headed the Games' medal table, dominating the competition with 89 gold medals, 53 silvers and 44 bronzes, whilst hosts Canada came at second with 40 golds and 129 medals overall. England rounded up the top three at third place after collecting 126 medals, 30 were gold.
Still featuring only ten sports, the Victoria Games turned out to be the last edition to have this amount of sports - the 'original' setup that has been in place since 1978, as the Commonwealth Games Federation deemed this old format to be too obsolete, and suggests adding five team sports starting in the next edition in 1998 at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in an effort to encourage more revenue streams from TV by making the Commonwealth Games more attractive to viewing audiences.
