South Africa will host the prestigious Commonwealth Games for the first time, as the Commonwealth Games Federation officially named Durban as the host of the multi-sport event in 2022.
Durban was the only bidder for the event after Edmonton withdrew as a candidate, citing financial reasons. South Africa has done moderately well at the Commonwealth Games, and it’s likely the country will ramp up its focus on sports in the next six years.
Swimming could be one of the bright spots for South Africa, but it depends on the future talent that will be representing the country. The current swim stars — Cameron Van Der Burgh and Chad Le Clos — might not extend their careers to 2022. Van der Burgh will be 33 years old, though Le Clos will be 29 and could still be a major player on the international scene. The two were responsible for six of the nine individual medals for South Africa at last year’s Commonwealth Games in Scotland. In a Twitter post, Le Clos expressed a hope to race in front of a home crowd in seven years.
Awesome news that my home town Durban will host the 2022 Commonwealth Games #Durban2022 @thecgf @Durban2022 – hopefully see you there!
— Chad Le Clos (@chadleclos) September 2, 2015
Perhaps not coincidentally, the 2022 Commonwealth Games will begin on July 18, which would have been Nelson Mandela’s 104th birthday. The late activist was a big champion of promoting peace through sport and supported many of South Africa’s elite athletes, including swimmers.
Event organizers will need to make major upgrades to the swimming facilities in Durban, as none of them conform to FINA’s current guidelines. Durban recently held a Grand Prix meet, and has been the host of the past two national championships. Durban also was a stop on the FINA World Cup series for a few years.
The Commonwealth Games features nations that are part of the British Commonwealth. Though pretty much all of them are independent countries — such as South Africa, Australia and Canada — they remain as part of the Commonwealth largely for economic reasons. England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales compete separately at the Commonwealth Games, then regroup for competitions such as the Olympics.
As a correction,
Nelson Mandela’s birthday was actually July 18 …
Thank you