1970 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games
# 1970 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games

The Third Commonwealth Paraplegic Games was a multi-sport event that was held in Edinburgh, Scotland from 26 July to 1 August 1970. Dubbed the "little games", they followed the 1970 British Commonwealth Games which were held in Edinburgh from 16 to 25 July of that year.

## Background and administration

The chairman of the Organising Committee was Lieutenant-Colonel John Fraser. It was also known as the "little games" and the "Wheelchair Games".

## Ceremonies

The Games were opened by the British Prime Minister Edward Heath. The opening ceremony was at Meadowbank stadium and was attended by a crowd of 2,000 people. The teams were led in by the hosts of the previous games, Jamaica. On behalf of all the competitors, James Laird, the Scottish team captain, took an oath. A message of support from the Provosts of 28 towns and cities across Scotland was read out, having been relayed from John o' Groats by runners from the Scottish Youth Clubs Association.

The games were closed by James MacKay, Lord Provost of the Edinburgh Corporation.

## Participating teams

197 athletes from fourteen Commonwealth countries took part. Countries at this games that had not previously participated were Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Malta and Uganda.

* Australia
* Canada
* England
* Hong Kong
* India
* Jamaica
* Malaysia
* Malta
* New Zealand
* Northern Ireland
* Scotland
* Trinidad and Tobago
* Uganda
* Wales

## Sports

Sports included:

* Archery
* Athletics
* Dartchery
* Lawn Bowls
* Pentathlon (Archery, Athletics and Swimming Events)
* Shooting
* Swimming
* Table Tennis
* Weightlifting (Men Only)
* Wheelchair Basketball (Men Only)
* Wheelchair Fencing

## Venues

The following were the venues for the games:

| Venue | Sport |
| - | - |
| Games Village (RAF Turnhouse) | Archery, Precision Javelin |
| Meadowbank Sports Complex | All other sports including some archery |
| Royal Commonwealth Pool | Swimming |
| Lochend Bowling Green | Lawn Bowls |
| Redcraig Shooting Range | Shooting |

## Logistics

An athletes' village was located at Turnhouse, with accommodation provided free of charge to the athletes by the Ministry of Defence. The Edinburgh Corporation had supplied fourteen adapted buses, which volunteer drivers used to transport the athletes between venues during the games. Athletics events were held at Meadowbank stadium. Shooting events were held at Redcraigs shooting range in West Lothian. There was some criticism of the lack of day-to-day television coverage from the BBC and ITV broadcasters.

## Medal table

The final medal table is:

| Nations | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| England | 48 | 32 | 23 | 103 |
| Australia | 29 | 31 | 39 | 99 |
| Scotland | 27 | 29 | 21 | 77 |
| Jamaica | 25 | 14 | 10 | 49 |
| New Zealand | 12 | 14 | 4 | 30 |
| Wales | 5 | 6 | 2 | 13 |
| Ireland | 1 | 2 | 6 | 9 |
| Uganda | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| India | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Malta | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Malaysia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Canada | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| British Hong Kong | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | 150 | 132 | 107 | 389 |
