July 25, 2002 will signal the onset of one of England’s greatest moments in its sporting history – the opening ceremony of the XVII Commonwealth Games. The 2002 Games will be the biggest in its 72-year history and the most significant multi-disciplined sporting event to be held in England since the 1948 Olympics.
The Games will take on special significance falling as they do in the Queen’s Golden Jubilee year, and this will form a key element of the celebrations marking the event.
Running for ten days from Friday 26th July to Sunday 4th August, the action will be focused on fifteen venues, four of which will be within the Sportcity complex at Eastlands.
Preparatory work at the site has been underway since the beginning of the year and the beginning of 2000 will see the start of substructure development.
At the heart of the complex is the new City of Manchester Stadium, the framework of which will start to rise above the Eastlands site in spring. It looks set to transform the skyline of East Manchester.
The 38,000 seater stadium will have a cantilevered, cable-stayed roof with a dozen 57-metre masts supported by huge towers, dwarfing the ones at Wembley. A suspended rim will both shelter seated spectators and provide a high-tech sound board to amplify the roar of the crowd.
From 2003, the stadium will become home to Manchester City Football Club once the specialised running track has been removed. The two ends will be built out at the same time to increase seating capacity to 48,000.
Alongside the stadium there will be a new squash centre and an athletics arena with an additional outdoor warm-up track. A £3.5m indoor tennis initiative, complete with outdoor courts will be located on land to the north of the Ashton Canal.
Already within the Sportcity complex is the Manchester Velodrome – the National Cycling Centre. Developed as a joint venture between the English Sports Council, Manchester City Council and the British Cycling Federation, the centre is one of only two sports facilities in the country to have been awarded British Olympic Association Accreditation – the other one being Lilleshall in Staffordshire.
A commercial belt of restaurants, leisure attractions and a mix of shops will complete the complex.
Assisting at Sportcity and the other venues to ensure the Games run smoothly will be a 15,000 strong army of volunteers. A recruitment programme is due to start at the beginning of 2001
Coverage
BBC Television has won the rights to be host broadcaster of the Games following agreement with the Manchester 2002 Organising Committee. The announcement was made in Fiji during Manchester 2002′s presentation to the Commonwealth Games Federation General Assembly.
Mike Miller, controller of TV Sport for the BBC said: “The scale of the Commonwealth Games is second only to the Olympics and is one of the most popular multicultural events on British television. Only the BBC has the resources to partner the Organising Committee and we are looking forward to another landmark event for BBC Sport.
“We will be pulling out all the technological stops for this event which will introduce many people in this country to the huge benefits of digital and interactive television and radio.”
The projected cumulative global television audience is more than one billion people. As host broadcaster the BBC will transmit pictures around the world and also provide facilities for other broadcasters who wish to carry their own additional coverage and commentary
The Sports and Venues
Opening and Closing Ceremonies: City of Manchester Stadium, Sportcity
Aquatics: Manchester Swimming Pool Complex
Athletics: City of Manchester Stadium, Sportcity
Badminton: Bolton Arena, Bolton
Bowls: Heaton Park
Boxing: Preliminaries – Wythenshawe Forum
Finals: – Manchester Evening News Arena
Cycling: National Cycling Centre, Sportcity
Gymnastics (Artistic): G-MEX Centre
Judo: G-MEX Centre
Shooting: National Shooting Centre, Bisley
Squash: National Squash Centre, Sportcity
Table tennis: Indoor Tennis Initiative, Sportcity
Triathlon: Salford Quays
Weight-lifting: Royal Northern College of Music
Wrestling: G-MEX Centre
Team Sports
Hockey: To be confirmed
Netball: Manchester Evening News Arena
Rugby: 7′s Stadium, Sportcity