On July 28, the 2022 Commonwealth Games officially opened in Birmingham, United Kingdom. It is the 22nd edition of the competition.
This is the third time that England has hosted the Commonwealth Games after London in 1930 and Manchester in 2002, and the seventh edition to take place in the UK.
With 72 different nations and territories competing for glory this time around, the 2022 games are set to be the biggest ever with 280 different events across 20 sports scheduled to take place over a two-week period.
Established via a formal constitution in 1949, the Commonwealth, or the Commonwealth of Nations, is a political association that currently has 56 member states.
The link between those nations is that the majority of them use to be former territories of the British Empire.
The Commonwealth Games is a multi-sport competition that takes place every four years with certain nations invited to take part.
The 56 member states of the Commonwealth are invited to participate alongside 18 other territories who do not compete separately in the Olympics but compete in the Commonwealth Games under their own flags.
Similarly, Team GB, who take part in the Olympics, are split into 14 separate teams during the Commonwealth Games. Those are the four home nations, three crown dependencies and all but three inhabited overseas territories.
The first Commonwealth Games took place in Hamilton, Canada back in 1930 with the 2022 competition in Birmingham, United Kingdom being the 22nd edition of the games.
Even though the USA used to make up part of the British Empire, the country does not take part in the Commonwealth Games.
The United States declared independence from Britain in 1776 and has never been part of the Commonwealth during its 73-year existence.
As of July 22, all 72 Commonwealth Games Associations have confirmed they will send athletes to the 2022 games in Birmingham. Those associations are:
