The XVIII Commonwealth Games were held from March 15-26, 2006 in Melbourne.
It was the largest sporting event to be staged in Melbourne, eclipsing the 1956 Olympics in terms of the number of teams competing, athletes competing, and events being held.The MCG was the main stadium for the Games and held the Opening Ceremony, 10 track and field sessions and the Closing Ceremony.
The athletics track was laid in October 2005 and covered for the Boxing Day Test in December of that year.
The turf was then removed to reveal the international-standard, eight-lane synthetic track on the MCG arena surface, together with all jump and field event areas in time for the Games.
Attendances
Here are the official attendances for the Commonwealth Games:| Date |
Day | Event |
Attendance |
| March 15 |
Wednesday |
Opening Ceremony |
75,066 |
| March 19 |
Sunday |
Athletics (Super Sunday) |
76,500 |
| March 20 |
Monday |
Athletics (AM session) |
29,478 |
| March 20 |
Monday |
Athletics (PM session) |
79,026 |
| March 21 |
Tuesday |
Athletics (AM session) |
40,524 |
| March 21 |
Tuesday |
Athletics (PM session) |
42,499 |
| March 22 |
Wednesday |
Athletics (AM session) |
50,996 |
| March 22 |
Wednesday |
Athletics (PM session) |
45,037 |
| March 23 |
Thursday |
Athletics (PM session) |
83,369 |
| March 24 |
Friday |
Athletics (PM session) |
80,987 |
| March 25 |
Saturday |
Athletics (PM session) |
82,917 |
| March 26 |
Sunday |
Closing Ceremony |
77,116 |
| Total attendance |
763,515 |
Commonwealth Games Statistics
- 71 competing nations
- 12 individual sports and four team sports - a total of 24 disciplines
- 11 days of competition
- 4500 athletes
- 1500 team officials
- 1200 technical officials
- 600 M2006 staff
- 15,000 volunteers