Most successful nations in the history of the Commonwealth Games

The first Commonwealth Games were held in Hamilton way back in 1930. The countries who participated in the games were mostly territories of the former British Empire, with the sole aim to collectively increase the diversity and purpose in the empire.

Now over the years the games have gone through transformations and carried different labels – from the British Empire Games (1930-1950), the British Empire and Commonwealth Games (1954-1966), the British Commonwealth Games (1970-1974) and finall to the Commonwealth Games (1978-present).

In all, 71 nations have taken part in the games, though there are 53 members of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Australian Rhythmic Gymnastics team pose with their gold medals at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games

Australia way ahead in single edition performances, England and Canada come next

Australia is the highest achieving team by topping 12 games out of 19, and has also been in the top three for all meets except in 1930, when the first Commonwealth Games were played.

England is one of the six countries to compete in every Commonwealth games since 1930 and it also the only multi-sport that England play as ‘England’ rather than as part of United Kingdom (along with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). The country has stood first in the CWG six times, which is good enough for second place in the list.

Meanwhile, Canada has also participated in every Commonwealth Games played and also hosted the first Commonwealth Games – at Hamilton in 1930. Canada topped the medal tally once, back in 1978.

Here is the list of countries that have finished in the first place most often:

Sr. No.	Country	Number of times won	The year of winning
1	Australia	12	1938, 1950, 1962, 1970, 1974, 1982, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010
2	England	6	1930, 1934, 1954, 1958, 1966, 1986
3	Canada	1	1978

Australia also lead in most medals won cumulatively

Here is the list of the top 10 all-time CWG medal table:

Rank	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Australia	804	672	604	2080
2	England	611	612	613	1836
3	Canada	437	461	494	1392
4	India	141	123	108	372
5	New Zealand	130	189	245	564
6	South Africa	104	102	106	312
7	Scotland	91	104	160	355
8	Kenya	71	58	66	195
9	Wales	52	76	107	235
10	Nigeria	50	55	71	176

A look back at the 2010 Commonwealth Games

Here is the list of the medal tally at the Commonwealth Games 2010 held in India:

Rank	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Australia	74	55	48	177
2	India	38	27	36	101
3	England	37	59	46	142
4	Canada	26	17	32	75
5	Kenya	12	11	10	33
6	South Africa	12	11	10	33
7	Malaysia	12	10	13	35
8	Singapore	11	11	9	31
9	Nigeria	11	10	14	35
10	Scotland	9	10	7	26