The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games will make global sport history by becoming the first ever major multi-sport event to award more medals to women than men.

The event-by-event program for all sports has been released and confirms Birmingham 2022 will feature 136 medal events for women, 134 for men and 13 mixed events.

This will see the Birmingham 2022 Games go one step further than the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018, when there were an equal number of medals for women and men.

Birmingham 2022 will also feature the biggest ever integrated Para-sport program and a record 13 mixed events including diving, swimming relays and for the first time – a mixed Para-athletics relay.

And the program also includes 3×3 Basketball and T20 cricket for women for the first time at a Commonwealth Games, with eight teams competing at the internationally renowned Edgbaston Stadium.

10km race walks for men and women, which will take place on the track at the redeveloped Alexander Stadium, have also been added to the athletics program, replacing the 20km road walks won on the Gold Coast by Australians Jemima Montag and Dane Bird-Smith.

The fully integrated Para-sport program includes wheelchair basketball 3 x 3, alongside Para-athletics, Para-swimming, Para-cycling track, Para-table tennis, Para-triathlon, Para-lawn bowls and Para-powerlifting.

Para-athletics events like the 100m T33/34 and Para-swimming events like the 100m breaststroke SB6 are added for the first time.

To celebrate the announcement, Birmingham 2022 organisers have released a video highlighting the milestones of women competing at the Commonwealth Games, dating back to London 1934. The video features Cathy Freeman’s iconic win in Victoria in 1994 where she carried the Aboriginal and Australian flags on her laps of honour and also the Hockeyroos win in the inaugural women’s hockey tournament at a Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur in 1998.

Birmingham Team Executive member and 2014 team flag bearer Anna Meares will participate in a series of special “It’s Our Time” talks on the Birmingham 2022 Facebook page, and featuring past, present and future stars of Commonwealth sport which is bringing together several generations of female athletes.

Across the day, they will discuss the role of women’s sport in striving for equality, what Birmingham 2022 is doing to advance the profile of women’s and Para-sport, and what still needs to be done to ensure equal representation in the industry.

Australia will be led at the Games by nine-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist Petria Thomas.

The Hockeyroos won the inaugural women’s hockey tournament at a Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumper in 1998 (CGA Archive)

Thomas will become Australia’s first-female Chef de Mission at the Games in Birmingham, and said the 2022 Commonwealth Games will mark an important milestone for women’s sport.

“The Gold Coast Games set a new standard with an equal number of medals for women and men, and now we will see an historic first in Birmingham, with more medals for female athletes,” Thomas said.

“And we will see more mixed events, which the athletes and fans love. The mixed relay in triathlon on the Gold Coast was a real highlight and the addition of mixed relays in athletics and swimming for able bodied and Para-sport athletes are great additions.”

“Having won 80 gold medals on the Gold Coast Australia will be ‘defending champions’ in many of the 283 events at the Games… it’s a challenge we look forward to taking on.”

Commonwealth Games Australia is planning to send one of its largest teams to compete in an away campaign with an expected team size of 425 athletes across 19 sports, including the recently introduced women’s T20 cricket.

The largest team for an away Commonwealth Games is 409 athletes in Glasgow in 2014.

Australia was represented by 473 athletes on the Gold Coast with the team topping the medal tally with 80 gold, 59 silver and 59 bronze medals.

The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games will take place from 28 July to 8 August.

The daily schedule for Birmingham 2022, outlining which sports will be held on each of the 11 days of competition, was revealed last week and is available to view here:

The daily schedule for the @birminghamcg22 Commonwealth Games has been released, with organisers confirming which sports will be held on each of the 11 days of competition as planning for the Games accelerates.

Click to read more:https://t.co/uPT7klDb6f

— Commonwealth Games Australia (@CommGamesAUS) October 16, 2020

To find out more, visit www.birmingham2022.com where you can also sign-up to receive the latest updates about the Games and hear about tickets and volunteer opportunities first.

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