The Confederation of Australian Sport would like to wish all the Australian athletes headed to the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games all the best.

The wait is finally over with the Opening Ceremony set to take place on 29 July (AEST) before competition gets underway later that afternoon with 14 sports in action including swimming, triathlon, gymnastics and cycling.

The Games will conclude on 8 August with 12 medal events then the Closing Ceremony.

Australia’s Commonwealth Games team will be taking its largest overseas contingent of Commonwealth Games athletes ever with a total of 433 athletes – the second largest team of all time after the Gold Coast 2018 where there were 473 athletes.

There are 248 athletes making their Commonwealth Games debut with two – Jian Fang Lay (table tennis) and Rachael Grinham (squash) bound for their record-breaking sixth Games, becoming the first Australian women to achieve this feat.

The team consists of 231 female athletes, 201 male athletes and one non-binary athlete. There are 350 able-bodied members and a record 75 Para-sport members, with eight guides, pilots and directors to assist the Para athletes.

The Birmingham team includes a Commonwealth Games Australia record 10 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander athletes: Brandon Wakeling (weightlifting), Taliqua Clancy (beach volleyball), Alex Winwood and Callum Peters (boxing), Indiana “Indi” Cooper (athletics), Ruby Storm (swimming), Ashleigh Gardner (cricket), Maurice Longbottom (rugby 7s), Ally Wilson (3×3 basketball) and Mariah Williams (hockey).

Australian Team Chef de Mission Petria Thomas OAM congratulated all athletes on their selection.

“This team has an incredible blend of experience and fresh energy, a combination which will make the Birmingham Commonwealth Games a thrilling spectator event,” she said.

“I hope all athletes soak up the ‘friendly’ Games atmosphere and have a great experience on and off the field of play – because it’s that which makes the Commonwealth Games such a special event.”

Birmingham 2022 will see a fully-integrated competition schedule, where able-bodied and para-athletes compete alongside each other for the same medals.

You can follow all the action from Birmingham across Channel 7 where they’ll have up to 30 exclusive and free, live and replay channels with every sport  streamed on
7plus.

The 2022 Commonwealth Games will see 5,054 athletes from 72 Commonwealth nations competing across 280 events in 20 sports.