The numbers behind NI's 158 Commonwealth Games medals

Medals by games

Northern Ireland have competed in all but two Commonwealth Games.

The first edition in 1930, when it was known as the Empire Games, athletes from Northern Ireland participated in Ontario as Ireland, and claimed a silver medal through Bill Britton in the hammer throw, but in this article we will focus on medals won as Team Northern Ireland.

The first medals as Northern Ireland came in 1934 in London, when the men’s fours team claimed a silver in bowls, while William Duncan and Jimmy Magill won boxing bronze medals.

After a medal-less 1938 Games and no Northern Ireland representatives in Auckland when the Games resumed in 1950 after the end of the World War Two, the first two gold medals arrived in Vancouver in 1954 – the first year it was known as the Empire and Commonwealth Games.

Thelma Hopkins won the high jump, while William Rosbotham and Percy Watson – remarkably also one of the 1934 silver medallists – won the men’s pairs in bowls.

Edinburgh has been a productive city for Northern Ireland in the Commonwealths, and 1970 brought two gold medals for Dame Mary Peters, in the pentathlon and shot put, while Mike Bull took gold in the pole vault.

Sixteen years later, Northern Ireland had their most successful Games up to that point with 15 medals.

Phil Beattie’s 400m hurdles win and Freda Elliott and Margaret Johnston’s women’s pairs triumph in the bowls were the only two golds, but four silvers and nine bronze medals made it NI’s most fruitful Games yet.

The 1994 Commonwealths in Victoria set a new Northern Ireland record for the number of gold medals at a single competition with five, as Johnston claimed a singles title, Neil Sinclair and Jimmy Webb won gold in the ring, while David Calvert and the duo of Tom Hewitt and Samuel Allen were successful in shooting.

Calvert would strike again four years later with two golds, one of which came in the pairs event with Martin Millar, and another individual double followed in 2002 in Manchester.

The 2010 Games in Dehli are remembered for a hat-trick of boxing golds as Michael Conlan, Paddy Barnes and Eamonn O’Kane all won, and the former pair became double Commonwealth champions in Glasgow four years later.

Rhys McClenaghan’s triumph on the Gold Coast in 2018 was a first gymnastics medal for Northern Ireland and seven silver medals plus four bronze matched the tally of 12 medals from Glasgow.

But it was in 2022 in Birmingham when Northern Ireland had, by some distance, their most successful Games to date with seven gold medals, seven silvers and four bronze.

Aidan and Michaela Walsh, Jude Gallagher, Dylan Eagleson and Amy Broadhurst all won golds in boxing, while Bethany Firth came out on top in the women’s 200m S14 and the men’s four quartet of Martin McHugh, Ian McClure, Sam Barkley and Adam McKeown were triumphant in bowls.

There were also notable silvers for Daniel Wiffen and McClenaghan, who both would go on to become Olympic champions two years later, while Ciara Mageean and O’Connor, who won NI’s first gold in 2026, finished second in the 1500m and heptathlon respectively.

Jon McConnell added to O’Connor’s success in Glasgow with a gold in the ring, and the duo of Kelly and McKeown ended NI’s Games on a high with victory in the men’s pairs final.

Medals by sport

In terms of a number of gold medals and an overall tally, boxing is the most successful sport for athletes from Northern Ireland – and by some margin.

Of the 18 gold medals won in the sport, there have been a number of notable names who went on to have distinguished careers.

Barry McGuigan won gold in Edmonton in 1978, Wayne McCullough was Commonwealth champion in 1990, while Barnes is the only boxer to win consecutive gold medals.

The first gold for a NI boxer came in 1958 in Cardiff through Terry Milligan, and it is fitting the landmark 150th medal also came in the ring with a flurry of medals on Friday.

Such has been the success of NI boxers, they have won 49% of all Commonwealth medals.

Bowls is next in line with another successful Games, with Kelly winning bronze in the singles before he pairs gold with McKeown, while Chloe Wilson and Shauna O’Neill claimed bronze in the women’s competition.

That takes bowls’ tally to 25 overall, six of which are gold.

Neil Booth and Kelly have four medals to his name, while Margaret Johnston and Ian McClure each have two golds and a bronze to their name.

Lady Peters leads the athletics tally with her three gold medals and a silver, and O’Connor’s gold in Glasgow was the first in a multi-event since the 1972 Olympic champion, and the first athletics gold since Beattie in 1986.

Northern Ireland have only won a gold medal in six sports, and McClenaghan in 2018 and Firth’s success four years ago are the only time in their respective events.

There have been three sports where Northern Ireland has one solitary medal – with Ivan Weir winning middleweight bronze in wrestling in 1978, Janet Yates claimed silver four years later in archery and Chloe McCombe, along with guide Catherine Sands, in the para-triathlon in Birmingham in 2022.

There have also been eight judo medals – two of which came from Joshua Green and Rachael Hawkes in Glasgow – and four in cycling, but none have been gold.

Along with McCombe, Firth and swimmer Barry McClements are the other para-athletes who have won medals for Northern Ireland.

Medals by athlete

Shooter David Calvert is the most successful athlete from Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games, with eight medals – four of which were gold.

Calvert’s first medal came at the 1982 Games in Brisbane alongside Hazel Mackintosh in the full bore rifle pairs.

His first gold came in Victoria in 1994 in same discipline and his last was a bronze medal in Delhi in 2010 aged 59, which made him the oldest NI athlete to medal.

Six athletes from Northern Ireland have won four medals each.

Shooter Martin Millar won his two gold medals alongside Calvert, and has two bronze medals to his name.

Lady Mary Peters and Mike Bull both won silver for their first Games medals in 1966, in the shot put and pole vault respectively.

Peters won a shot put and pentathlon double in 1970 – the latter of which she would win again four years later – while Bull was first in the decathlon in 1974 and also added another gold and silver to his pole vault tally.

Michaela Walsh is the first boxer to win four medals for Northern Ireland. She won gold in 2022 to add to her silvers in 2014 and 2018, and claimed a third silver in Glasgow on Saturday.

After his gold on Sunday, Kelly joins fellow bowler Neil Booth on a quartet of Commonwealth medals.