Bowls, gymnastics, swimming, weightlifting, hockey, basketball and shot put - local athletes have won Commonwealth Games medals in many sports

The Games open today (Thursday) with Brett’s campaign in the men’s pairs alongside Devon’s Sam Tolchard starting next Tuesday (July 28).

He’s already joined some local sports folk who have tasted success at the Commonwealth Games, including a couple of big names.

Gymnast Jake Jarman win four gold medals in the last Games in Birmingham in 2022. He was part of a gold medal winning team and won the individual competitions in all-around, floor, and vault. Jarman later went on to become a two-time world champion – on vault in 2023 and floor in 2025 – and took floor bronze at the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024.

Fellow gymnast Louis Smith, from Eye, won two Commonwealth Games gold medals for England eight years apart. He finished top of the podium in the pommel horse discipline in Melbourne in 2006 and then claimed gold in the team event in Glasgow in 2014. Smith also won team and pommel horse bronze medals in 2006 and 2014 respectively.

Swimmer Brian Brinkley, a Peterborough native who attended Orton Longueville School, competed for England in six events at the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand and won medals in all of them. He won a gold medal in the 200m butterfly, and two silver medals in the 200m and 400m individual medley events. He also won a silver and two bronze medals in relay events.

City-based weightlifter Stephen Ward, a Peterborough Telegraph Sports Personality of the Year winner, won six Commonwealth Games medals in his impressive career. Ward won a snatch gold medal and two silver medals for England, at the 1998 Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, four years after winning three silver medals in Victoria, Canada. Ward’s son Samuel is now a top British weightlifter.

Legendary shot putter Geoff Capes, a Peterborough policeman in his time, won back-to-back golds at the Commonwealth Games of 1974 and 1978 in Christchurch, New Zealand and Edmonton, Canada respectively.

Field hockey star Kirsty Bowden, who went to Jack Hunt School and played for Peterborough Town, won a silver medal with England in Kuala Lumper.

GB wheelchair basketball star Lee Manning, also a former student at Jack Hunt School, was part of the England team that made history in Birmingham. They won the bronze medal in the first appearance of wheelchair basketball in a Commonwealth Games.

The wheelchair basketball event is a three-a-side competition this time around and Manning is not taking part.

Peterborough-born cyclist Sophie Lewis is representing England in the 2026 Games. She grew up in Hertfordshire and won a bronze medal in the women's team pursuit representing at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, and has subsequently won European Championship medals.