While Australian swimmers will dominate the Commonwealth Games medal table, Mike Osborne predicts cycling and gymnastics will also collect a decent haul of Glasgow gold.
Swimming and athletics will provide the bulk of the 60-plus gold medals Australia is expected to win at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games with cycling and gymnastics providing strong supporting acts.
Georgia Goodwin on her way to two gold medals at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. Image: Nick La Galle
Australia has declared it wants to top the medal tally for a third Games in a row, as the country which wins the most of the 215 gold medals up for grabs across 10 sports in Glasgow.
“Our aim is to finish on top of the medal tally, winning the most gold medals, celebrating the most medallists and securing the highest overall medal count,” stated Australia’s chef de mission and Athens 2004 Olympic butterfly champion Petria Thomas.
Thomas’s sport of swimming expects to improve on the 25 gold medals from the Birmingham 2022 Games and should deliver at least 30 gold medals – about half of the team’s expected total haul.
Australia’s track and field team is in form to win at least 12 gold medals, up from 10 gold in Birmingham, with the remaining coming from a range of other sports.
Chief among those other sports will be cyclists and gymnasts in green and gold. Together they should amass about a dozen gold – with both sports at least repeating their successes in Birmingham where the track cyclists took home eight gold medals and the gymnasts four.
Cyclist Georgia Baker, who won three gold medals at Birmingham, said she was excited to be back in a Games team with such strong depth.
Georgia Baker prepares for the team pursuit at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Image: Nick La Galle
“Every time you pull on the green and gold, it’s really special, and to return with this group of riders is incredibly exciting,” said Baker, who won the points race and team pursuit in Birmingham, but has been denied defending her road race title because Glasgow’s concertinaed competition program only has track cycling.
“Birmingham was an unforgettable experience for me, but this team is focused on building on that success and continuing to raise the standard for Australian track cycling.”
Apart from Baker, the other gold medallists heading in Glasgow include Kristina Clonan in the 500m time trial and pursuiter Sophie Edwards.
In the men’s events gun sprinter Leigh Hoffman will star in one of the biggest events at the Games when he races against former team pursuit partner Matt Richardson, who dramatically swapped allegiances to England after the pair won gold in Birmingham and silver at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Australian riders and fans will let their feelings be known when Richardson appears in the velodrome in an English skinsuit.
Multiple Commonwealth Games medallist Kristina Clonan will defend her time trial title in Glasgow. Image: Con Chronis/AusCycling
Gymnast Georgia Godwin – who won two golds and three silvers in Birmingham to add to a silver and two bronze medals at Gold Coast 2018 – will be back in action after an Achilles injury ruled her out of contention at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
“To be named in my third Commonwealth Games team is incredibly special,” said Godwin, who will be defending her all-around and vault titles in Glasgow.
“I’m really proud to represent Australia again, especially after everything it’s taken to get back (after injury). Birmingham was such a memorable experience, and I’m excited for the opportunity to compete in Glasgow with this team.”
Godwin will be hoping to go one better than her silver medals in the team event, uneven bars, and balance beam – although it was teammate Kate McDonald who won the beam in Birmingham. McDonald will also be keen to defend her title in Glasgow, and combine with Godwin to try to win the team event.
Kate McDonald defies gravity at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Image: Nick La Galle
Other sports lining up to deliver gold for Australia include lawn bowls, 3×3 basketball, weightlifting, judo and the netball team. Plus there is an unknown quantity being carried by the eight-strong team of boxers who are all making their Games debut in Glasgow.
Dual Birmingham bowls gold medallist Ellen Fife, the first player in Commonwealth history to win gold in both singles and pairs at the same Games, returns to defend her singles title.
“Birmingham 2022 was incredibly special for me realising my lifetime dreams to win two gold medals and now to return to the Games as a mum makes this selection amazing for different reasons,” Fife said.
Bowls teammate Aaron Wilson will be chasing a third straight singles title in Glasgow having won at Gold Coast 2018 and Birmingham 2022.
“To have the chance to chase a third straight Commonwealth Games gold medal is something really special,” Wilson said. “Winning in the Gold Coast and defending the title in Birmingham are moments I’ll never forget, but I’m still hungry for more. I want to keep pushing myself and do everything I can to bring home another gold for Australia in Glasgow.”
Dual Commonwealth champion weightlifter Eileen Cikamatana is vying for a third consecutive gold medal in Glasgow. Image: Louise Evans
Another two-time defending champion is weightlifter Eileen Cikamatana who made history by winning Commonwealth gold for two different nations – Fiji in 2018 and Australia in 2022 – and remains a leading contender in the women’s heavyweight division.
“It’s always an honour to wear the green and gold. Defending my title in Glasgow is a huge motivation, and I’m ready to do the work and give everything for Australia,” Cikamatana said.
There are also medal hopes in the para powerlifting with Ben Wright and Hani Watson hoping to improve on Birmingham bronze.
The sport of basketball 3×3 made its debut in Birmingham, where the wheelchair men won gold, the wheelchair women took silver along with the able-bodied men, while the able-bodied women finished with bronze.
All four teams should again figure in the medals with at least one team member from Birmingham in every squad, including gold medallist Luke Pople in the men’s wheelchair event.
Australian 3×3 basketballer Samuel McDaniel in action. Image: Basketball Australia
All members of the judo team are ranked in the Commonwealth’s top six with 70kg world No.1 and Birmingham gold medallist Aoife Coughlan headlining a family team. Aoife will compete alongside her sister Maeve (63kg). There are also medal hopes for two other siblings – Vas (men’s 66kg) and Saya (women’s 63kg) Middleton who are also making their Commonwealth Games debuts.
Aoife Coughlan said Birmingham remained a defining memory, but her focus has shifted to what lies ahead: “Winning gold in Birmingham was a memorable moment in my career and I look forward to the opportunity to defend my title. To be able to share this experience with Maeve makes it even more special.”
Another defending Commonwealth judo champion is Tinka Easton in the 52kg division while Josh Katz in the men’s 60kg division left Birmingham with a bronze medal. There are also strong medal hopes for Keishin Ochi in the men’s 81kg division.
The Diamonds are also chasing back-to-back titles with captain Liz Watson warning the international competition is stronger than ever with Australia and traditional rivals New Zealand being chased by England and the creative Caribbean countries.
It’s “probably the closest it’s been in the history of netball … the next Comm Games, that’s going to be a huge challenge,” Watson said.
Aspiring Glasgow champs L-R: Eileen Fife (bowls); Luke Pople (3×3 W/C b/ball); Sophie Dwyer (netball); Jaydon Page (aths); Emma Sue Greentree (boxing); Hani Watson (powerlifting)
While all the boxers are making their Commonwealth debut, at least two have strong medal hopes. Emma Sue Greentree is a world championship bronze medallist in the 75kg division and Jye Dixon is ranked fourth in the Commonwealth in the 55kg event.
If all goes to ranking and form across the 10 sports in Glasgow, green and gold athletes will leave Scotland having once again dominated their Commonwealth brothers and sisters.
Australia topped the table at the Birmingham 2022 Games with 67 gold medals, which was down from 80 at the Gold Coast 2018 event.
But Australia’s domination of the Commonwealth stretches back 60 years, across 15 different Games.
Since 1966 Australia has only failed to top the medal tally on four occasions, the most recent being the last Glasgow event in 2014 when England took the honours.
England also dominated at Edinburgh 1986 and Kingston, Jamaica in 1966, while Canada topped the table at its home Games in Edmonton 1978.
Michael Osborne has been a journalist for more than four decades including 35 years with the national news agency Australian Associated Press, rising from junior reporter to Editor.
He was AAP Editor for 11 years and served four years as Head of Sport and Racing. He was also posted to London and Beijing as AAP’s Bureau Chief and Foreign Correspondent.
He has worked at seven Olympics and five Commonwealth Games, covered tennis grand slams, golf majors, international cricket, rugby world cups and numerous sporting world championships. He also co-ordinated and managed AAP’s teams and coverage at three Olympic Games in Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012.