Two new countries will be involved in this summer’s Commonwealth Games following a historic ruling four years ago. The quadrennial multi-sport event will officially begin on Thursday evening, when the opening ceremony is held at the OVO Hydro Arena in Glasgow. Unlike in previous years, the Games won’t be shown on free-to-air TV, with TNT Sports holding exclusive rights.
For the first time, there will be 74 teams competing at the Commonwealth Games after two new nations were added. Gabon and Togo will be making their respective debuts despite lacking historical ties to the Commonwealth. They were admitted as members of the community of nations in 2022, allowing them to participate in this summer’s event.
The ruling saw Gabon and Togo become the first two countries to join the Commonwealth since Rwanda’s introduction in 2009.
Gabon will only compete in judo, with Fernand Nkaro representing them in the men’s 81kg category and Marthe Gnacadja Avaro in the women’s +78kg event.
Togo, meanwhile, have sent a delegation of 10 athletes to compete across three different sports: athletics, boxing and judo. Eight men and two women have been selected to take part.
This year, a total of 10 sports will be played at the Commonwealth Games, marking a significant drop from the 17 sports that were included when Glasgow last hosted the event in 2014.
It was initially set to be staged in the Australian state of Victoria, which pulled out in 2023. The following year, a deal was agreed for the Games to return to Glasgow for the second time in 12 years.
The competing nations are made up of 55 sovereign states, nine British Overseas Territories, the four United Kingdom home nations, three Crown Dependencies, two associated states of the Realm of New Zealand and one external territory of Australia.
Nine others have previously been members of the Commonwealth Games Association (CGA), but have since either merged with other nations or withdrawn from the community altogether.
These are Aden, Hong Kong, Ireland, Irish Free State, Newfoundland, North Borneo, Sarawak, South Arabia and Zimbabwe.
Australia are the most successful nation in the history of the Commonwealth Games, winning a total of 2,604 medals including 1,003 golds.
They are closely followed on the all-time list by England (2,332 medals), while Canada (1,647 medals) sit in third place.