10 of the greatest athletes who excelled at the Commonwealth Games

Arguably the greatest sprinter of all time, Usain Bolt anchored Jamaica to gold at Glasgow CWGWhen India hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2010, a galaxy of international stars descended upon Delhi. While there were some notable absentees like Usain Bolt, quite a few others like Sally Pearson and our very own Sushil Kumar lit up the 2-week long extravaganza with their performances.Overall too, quite expectedly, the British Empire Games has seen quite a few legends grace it. Heres listing 10 of them.

#1 Dawn Fraser

One of only three swimmers (others being Krisztina Egerszegi and Michael Phelps) to have won the same swimming event in three successive Olympics, Dawn Fraser is arguably one the greatest female swimmers in history. The first woman to swim the 100m fly in under one minute, she won four gold medals in the 110 yards freestyle, 440 yards freestyle, 4x110 yards freestyle relay and the 4x110 yards medley relay at the Perth Commonwealth Games in 1962.

Her first tryst with the British Empire Games, as it was known then had come in Cardiff in 1958 where too she had won gold in the 110 yards freestyle and the 4x110 yards freestyle relay & silver in both the 440yds freestyle and the 4x110 yards medley.

#2 Mick Gault

Mick Gault happens to be one of the most decorated Commonwealth competitors from England who retired after the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Delhi as he fell short of winning a record-matching 18th medal. In an astonishing career, he accumulated 17 Commonwealth medals, but never competed at an Olympics.

In 2006 he became England's most successful Commonwealth Games athlete, surpassing swimmer Karen Pickering's 13 medals.

#3 Ian Thorpe

With 10 Commonwealth Games gold medals, Ian Thorpe or “Thorpedo”, as he was more popularly known, is surely one of the top performers in the history of this multi-disciplinary event.

At the 1998 Kuala Lumpur edition, all of 15 years old, the young swimmer made the world sit up and take notice as he won a total of four medals for Australia in 200m and 400m freestyle and two gold-medal relay teams. As mentioned above, he went on to consequently better his tally at Manchester.

#4 Samaresh Jung

Indian shooter Jung happens to be an air pistol specialist. The Arjuna Awardee won two gold medals, in the men's free pistol pairs and in the open event of 25 m standard pistol pairs, both in partnership with Jaspal Rana in the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games.

At the Melbourne edition though, he won five gold, one silver and one bronze medal, thus ensuring that he was bestowed with the David Dixon Award, given to the “Best Athlete of the Games”. It was also during these games that we was nicknamed the ‘Gold finger’ because of his exploits in the range.

#5 Precious McKenzie

One of those rare double nationals, Precious McKenzie is a South African-born former weightlifter who won Commonwealth titles representing both England and New Zealand. He represented England in the 1966, 1970 and 1974 editions of the game and won Gold Medal in all three attempts.

As a result of contacts made during the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, New Zealand, he decided to settle in that country where, rather than operate as a factory worker, he was offered the opportunity to be a weight trainer in a gym. He thus returned in the 1978 Edmonton edition of the game to win a medal for his adopted country.

#6 Chris Hoy

British track cyclist Sir Christopher Andrew "Chris" Hoy happens to be an eleven-time world champion, six-time Olympic champion and a winner of a total of seven Olympic Games medals, six gold and one silver and is considered one of the most successful Olympic cyclists of all time. He is not only the most successful Olympian from Scotland, but in fact the most successful British Olympian of all time in terms of gold medals

Hence, there could have been no bigger name than his to be the face of the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Hoy's Commonwealth hunt has also been good as he participated in the 2002 and 2006 editions of the game, winning 2 gold and 2 bronze medals.

#7 Stephanie Rice

Australian swimmer Stephanie Louise Rice happens to be another swimming sensation from the country who won three gold medals in the Beijing edition of the Summer Olympics. As far as the Commonwealth Games are concerned, Rice won gold in the 200 metres individual medley at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. She was also the part of relay team that won the gold medal in the same edition of the game.

The 2008 Telstra Australian Swimmer of the Year announced her retirement from the game on 9 April 2014.

#8 Natalie du Toit

South African swimmer Natalie du Toit is well known because of the fact that she was one of the two Paralympians to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. And the reason for her to be included in the list is also because she won gold medals at the 2004 Paralympic Games as well as the Commonwealth Games.

Making the achievement even more special, she became the first athlete to carry a flag in both Olympics and Paralympics in a single year. In the 2004 edition of the Paralympics in Bejing, she won one silver and five gold medals while she narrowly missed qualifying for the Olympics.

Her Commonwealth games career also happens to be brilliant as at the tender age of 14 she took part in the 1998 Commonwealth Games. But it was during the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, Du Toit, who was then 18 years old, won both the multi-disability 50 m freestyle and the multi-disability 100 m freestyle in world record time. Then again in 2006, Commonwealth Games she repeated her previous performance by winning the same two golds as she had in Manchester.

#9 Jaspal Rana

Indian Shooter Jaspal Rana who specializes in the 25 m Centre Fire Pistol category has a number of medals to his name. He has even be awarded the Arjuna Award, the second highest award for achievement in sport, by the Indian government at an age of eighteen.

Arjuna Award, the second highest award for achievement in sport, by the Indian government at an age of eighteen He has been a multiple gold medallist at different international multi disciplinary events. Following is his Commonwealh Games medal tally: 1998 - Men's Center Fire Pistol, Men's Center Fire Pistol Pairs, 2002 - Men's 25m Center Fire Pistol, 2006 - Men's 25m Center Fire Pistol Pairs.

#10 Trecia-Kaye Smith

Jamaican athlete Trecia-Kaye Smith is a specialized triple jumper. In the 2002 edition of the Commonwealth Games in Manchester she came third. Her career boomed when she won a gold medal at the World Championship held at Helsinki in the year 2005 creating a world record. Then again in the 2006 edition of the Commonwealth Games she won the gold medal and repeated the feat again in the New Delhi edition of the games in 2010.

She was the recipient of the David Dixon Award (given to the most outstanding athlete of an edition of the Commonwealth Games) in Delhi 2010.

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Edited by Staff Editor