1938 British Empire Games

III British Empire Games
Host city	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Nations participating	15
Athletes participating	464
Events	71
Opening ceremony	5 February
Closing ceremony	12 February
Officially opened by	John Loder, 2nd Baron Wakehurst
Main venue	Sydney Cricket Ground
	← II IV →

The 1938 British Empire Games was the third British Empire Games, the event that evolved to become the Commonwealth Games. Held in Sydney, Australia from 5–12 February 1938, they were timed to coincide with Sydney's sesqui-centenary (150 years since the foundation of British settlement in Australia). Venues included the Sydney Cricket Ground (the main stadium), the Sydney Sports Ground, North Sydney Olympic Pool and Henson Park. An estimated 40,000 people attended the opening ceremony. A competitors' residential village was established within the grounds of the Sydney Showground.^[1]^[2]

The star of the games was the Australian athlete Decima Norman, who won five gold medals in track and field. Margaret Dovey, later married to Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam, finished sixth in the 220 yards breaststroke.

Due to the onset of World War II, the games were not held again until 1950.

Participating teams[]

Countries that participated

Medals by country[]

* Host nation (Australia)


Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Australia (AUS)*	25	19	22	66
2	England (ENG)	15	15	10	40
3	Canada (CAN)	13	16	15	44
4	South Africa (SAF)	10	10	6	26
5	New Zealand (NZL)	5	7	13	25
6	Wales (WAL)	2	1	0	3
7	Ceylon (CEY)	1	0	0	1
8	Scotland (SCO)	0	2	3	5
9	British Guiana (BGU)	0	1	0	1
10	Southern Rhodesia (SRH)	0	0	2	2
Totals (10 nations)		71	71	71	213

Medals by event[]

Athletics[]

Boxing[]

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Flyweight	(SAF)	Joe Gagnon (CAN)	(SCO)
Bantamweight	William Butler (ENG)	(SAF)	(AUS)
Featherweight	Barney Henricus (CEY)	(SCO)	Kenneth Moran (NZL)
Lightweight	Harry Groves (ENG)	Harry Hurst (CAN)	William Fulton (RHO)
Welterweight	(AUS)	Arthur Heeney (NZL)	Andrew Tsirindonis (RHO)
Middleweight	(WAL)	Maurice Dennis (ENG)	(CAN)
Light heavyweight	Nick Wolmarans (SAF)	(AUS)	Joseph Wilby (ENG)
Heavyweight	(CAN)	(SAF)	Leslie Harley (AUS)

Cycling[]

Track[]

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
Time Trial	(AUS)	1:15.2	Tasman Johnson (AUS)	1:15.7	Ernest Mills (ENG)	1:15.9
Sprint 1000 yd	Dunc Gray (AUS)		(AUS)		George Giles (NZL)
10-mile Scratch	William Maxfield (ENG)	24:44.0	Ray Hicks (ENG)		(SAF)

Road[]

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
Road Race	Hennie Binneman (SAF)	2'53:29.6	John Brown (NZL)	s.t.	Ray Jones (ENG)	s.t.

Diving[]

Men's events[]

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
3 m springboard	Ron Masters (AUS)	126.36	Doug Tomalin (ENG)	124.78	George Athans (CAN)	117.90
10 m platform	Doug Tomalin (ENG)	108.74	Ron Masters (AUS)	102.87	George Athans (CAN)	98.93

Women's events[]

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
3 m springboard	(AUS)	91.18	Lynda Adams (CAN)	88.27	(CAN)	81.66
10 m platform	Lurline Hook (AUS)	36.47	Lynda Adams (CAN)	36.39	(AUS)	34.57

Lawn bowls[]

Rowing[]

All events were for men only. The double sculls competition was an invitation event and originally no medals were awarded nevertheless these medals were counted nowadays. The bronze medal is listed as won by New Zealand.

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
Single sculls	Herb Turner (AUS)	8:24	Peter Jackson (ENG)		Robert Smith (NZL)
Double sculls	Cecil Pearce and (AUS)	7:29.4	Jack Offer and Dick Offer (ENG)		Gus Jackson and Robert Smith (NZL)
Coxed four	Australia Gordon Freeth	7:16.8	New Zealand Albert Hope George Burns John Rigby Ken Boswell Jim Clayton	+1.25 lgths	Canada	+0.75 lgths
Eights	England Basil Beazley Desmond Kingsford John Sturrock John Burrough John Turnbull Peter Jackson Rhodes Hambridge William Reeve (cox)	6:29	Australia Joe Gould Ted Bromley ^[3] Bill Dixon Doug Bowden	+0.75 lgths	New Zealand Gus Jackson Cyril Stiles Rangi Thompson Howard Benge John Charters Les Pithie Oswald Denison James Gould William Stodart	+2 lgths

Swimming[]

Men's events[]

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
110 yd freestyle	Bob Pirie (CAN)	59.6	(SAF)	60.8	(AUS)	61.0
440 yd freestyle	Bob Pirie (CAN)	4:54.6	Bob Leivers (ENG)	4:55.4	Robin Biddulph (AUS)	4:55.5
1650 yd freestyle	Bob Leivers (ENG)	19:46.4	Bob Pirie (CAN)	19:59.2	Norman Wainwright (ENG)	20:17.4
110 yd backstroke	Percy Oliver (AUS)	01:07.9	Gordon Kerr (CAN)	1:09.0	(ENG)	1:09.3
220 yd breaststroke	John Davies (ENG)	2:51.9	Walter Spence (BGU)	3:00.5	(CAN)	3:00.8
4×220 yd freestyle relay	England Frederick Dove Mostyn Ffrench-Williams Norman Wainwright Bob Leivers	9:19.0	Canada George Burleigh Robert Hooper Bob Pirie	9:20.2	Australia Noel Ryan Robin Biddulph	9:32.9
3×110 yd medley relay	England Frederick Dove John Davies	3:28.2	Canada Gordon Kerr Bob Pirie	3:30.5	Australia Percy Oliver	3:31.8

Women's events[]

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
110 yd freestyle	Evelyn de Lacy (AUS)	1:10.1	Dorothy Green (AUS)	1:11.1	(CAN)	1:12.1
440 yd freestyle	Dorothy Green (AUS)	5:39.7	Margaret Jeffery (ENG)	5:40.2	Mona Leydon (NZL)	5:42.0
110 yd backstroke	Pat Norton (AUS)	1:19.5	(WAL)	1:22.5	(SCO)	1:23.2
220 yd breaststroke	Doris Storey (ENG)	3:06.3	(SAF)	3:12.1	Joan Langdon (CAN)	3:22.2
4×110 yd freestyle relay	Canada Noel Oxenbury Phyllis Dewar	4:48.3	Australia Dorothy Green Evelyn de Lacy Pat Norton	4:49.0	England Edna Hughes Joyce Harrowby Margery Hinton Zilpha Grant	4:50.1
3×110 yd medley relay	England Doris Storey Lorna Frampton Margery Hinton	3:57.7	South Africa	4:07.5	Australia Evelyn de Lacy Pat Norton	4:10.0

Wrestling[]

All events were for men only.

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Bantamweight	(AUS)	(CAN)	Ray Cazaux (ENG)
Featherweight	(AUS)	(CAN)	Joe Genet (NZL)
Lightweight	Dick Garrard (AUS)	Vernon Thomas (NZL)	(SAF)
Welterweight	(AUS)	(SAF)	Jeremiah Podjursky (NZL)
Middleweight	Terry Evans (CAN)	(SAF)	Leslie Jeffers (ENG)
Light heavyweight	Eddie Scarf (AUS)	(SAF)	Thomas Ward (SCO)
Heavyweight	(AUS)	Jim Dryden (NZL)	(CAN)

References[]

^ "Sydney 1938". Commonwealth Games Federation. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
^ "British Empire Games in Sydney 80 years ago was Australia's first major international event". insidethegames.biz. 21 January 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
^ "1938 Sydney Empire Games – History of Australian Rowing". rowinghistory-aus.info. Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 2 July 2017.

External links[]

"Sydney 1938". Thecgf.com. Commonwealth Games Federation.
"Results and Medalists—1938 British Empire Games". Thecgf.com. Commonwealth Games Federation.

Preceded by London	*British Empire Games* Sydney III British Empire Games	Succeeded by Auckland

[1] "Sydney 1938". Commonwealth Games Federation. Retrieved 28 December 2019.

[2] "British Empire Games in Sydney 80 years ago was Australia's first major international event". insidethegames.biz. 21 January 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2019.

[3] "1938 Sydney Empire Games – History of Australian Rowing". rowinghistory-aus.info. Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 2 July 2017.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t Commonwealth Games
Bids CGF CGAs Participating Nations Commonwealth Day Inter-Empire Championships Queen's Baton Relay Medal Table Sports Records Mascots
Games	1930 Hamilton 1934 London 1938 Sydney 1950 Auckland 1954 Vancouver 1958 Cardiff 1962 Perth 1966 Kingston 1970 Edinburgh 1974 Christchurch 1978 Edmonton 1982 Brisbane 1986 Edinburgh 1990 Auckland 1994 Victoria 1998 Kuala Lumpur 2002 Manchester 2006 Melbourne 2010 Delhi 2014 Glasgow 2018 Gold Coast 2022 Birmingham 2026 TBA 2030 TBA
Commonwealth Youth Games Commonwealth Winter Games Commonwealth Paraplegic Games

1938 British Empire Games

Contents

Participating teams[]

Medals by country[]

Medals by event[]

Athletics[]

Boxing[]

Cycling[]

Track[]

Road[]

Diving[]

Men's events[]

Women's events[]

Lawn bowls[]

Rowing[]

Swimming[]

Men's events[]

Women's events[]

Wrestling[]

See also[]

References[]

External links[]