The XXI Commonwealth Games is all set to become the first multi-discipline sports event to offer an equal number of medals to men and women.
Of the 275 sets of medals on offer, 133 each will be presented to men and women, while the remaining nine medals have been reserved for mixed events.
“Gender equality is at the forefront of our work we have been doing to shift the dial. And this is just the beginning of a major shift,” said the CGF CEO David Grevemberg.
“In Glasgow, four years ago, we had women athletes participating in 48.5% of the total events included,” he said before adding that a similar step would be made to bring in an equal number of technical officials in the future.
What’s in a name?
The CWG host city was originally known as South Coast before it was nicknamed Gold Coast around 1950.
The nickname came about due to the inflated prices for real estate and other goods and services in the area which lies on the mouth of River Nerang.
The locals initially considered the name derogatory but before long there was consensus and the new name was adopted in 1958.
Gold Coast is the fifth Australian city to conduct the quadrennial extravaganza after Sydney (1938), Perth (1962), Brisbane (1982) and Melbourne (2006).
