2017 COMMONWEALTH YOUTH GAMES
- July 18th – 23rd
- Betty Kelly Kenning Swim Complex, Nassau, Bahamas
- Meet Site
- Start Lists/Results
The 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) saw its aquatic competition come to a close yesterday in Nassau, Bahamas. Occurring every 4 years, the competition brought nearly 1,000 athletes aged 14-18 from 65 nations to compete across such competitive events as athletics, swimming, boxing, and beach volleyball.
Swimming Medal Table
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  England |
8 | 9 | 4 | 21 |
| 2 |  South Africa |
8 | 3 | 4 | 15 |
| 3 |  New Zealand |
7 | 8 | 5 | 20 |
| 4 |  Singapore |
7 | 4 | 6 | 17 |
| 5 |  Scotland |
3 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| 6 |  Wales |
1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 5 |  Australia |
1 | 2 | 5 | 8 |
| 8 |  Northern Ireland |
0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 9 |  Bahamas |
0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 10 |  Sri Lanka |
0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 11 |  Botswana |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Fiji |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Trinidad and Tobago |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Total | 35 | 35 | 35 | 105 | |
Also in that boys’ 50m freestyle race was Trinidad & Tobago’s Jeron Thompson who made history by winning his nation’s first-ever swimming medal at the Commonwealth Youth Games by taking bronze the 50 freestyle in 23.43.Scotland’s Scott McLay scored a trio of victories over the course of the competition, starting with the boys’ 50m and 100m freestyle events. He earned a personal best of 23.10 in the 50m, while collecting a solid 50.46 in the 100m distance. McLay also struck gold in the 50m butterfly, touching in 24.53 for the win. With his multiple wins, McLay surpassed countryman and two-time Olympian Craig Benson as Scotland’s most successful Commonwealth Youth Games athlete.
South Africa’s Michael Houlie was another multiple event winner for the men, collecting victories across the 50m and 100m breaststroke. The 17-year-old touched in 27.68 and 1:01.86, respectively to win over his Commonwealth peers. On the 3rd night of competition, South Africa dominated the session, winning five of the nine gold medals.
The women’s side saw Leah Crisp of England wreak havoc on the mid-distance freestyle events, taking the 400m free gold ion 4:16.36 and the 800m top prize in 8:49.94. Teammate Layla Black became the first from her squad to win gold at 2 consecutive Commonwealth Youth Games by taking the 200m breaststroke in Nassau in 2:31.00.
Singapore’s Quah Jing Wen came up big in the sprint free and fly races, taking 3 individual golds before the competition ended. Wen touched in 56.31 to win the 100m free, 27.23 to take the 50m fly and 59.92 for the 100m fly victory.
Worth mentioning Lewis Clareburt was the Swimmer of the Meet and scored more points than any other Athlete at the Games. And England won 21 medals, 8 being Gold.
All very valid comments.
The late great Mr F. Carlile published an plan to directly fund clubs from state and national bodies moneys (non government) and allow clubs to deliver results. This is the best option in the current situation. Give clubs and coaches the power….not the administrators. Let’s provide a long term plan for athletes over 16 years and stop the short term money grab for entry fees from age group families. Someone please save nsw & Aus swimming…..we can do better than this.
Australia definitely went 1-2 in the women’s 50 free so the medal table isn’t completely correct
Says it all about the future of Aus. You reap what you sow. The decline has been coming post the London outcome that was supposedly fixed with all the wonderful changes. 5 years on what are we showing for it?
This Australian team wasn’t very strong. No one from World Juniors competing (I don’t know if that is the case for other Nations).
Aside from Commercial sprinters Harris (25.89 @15yrs) & Noble (25.97 @15yrs), no one else in that line up would be classified as potential open team rep in the future.
* No disrespect intended
Maybe its time swimming australia send some our IMers and breastrokers to other meets like this and expose them to other teenagers there age.
Our im has been weak in the mens events for 15-20 years.Thorpey was our last im medal at worlds and that was he’s fun event.
Same for England team. No swimmers from World Juniors team (Tier 1), only a handful from Euro Juniors team (Tier 2). Most of the English swimmers were tier 3, who failed to qualify for both Worlds & Euro Juniors. Not sure about Wales/Scotland.
You’re correct; this is a B/C selection with the best going to World Juniors. Having said that, this year’s World Juniors team is a significant downgrade in quality to the 2015 group.
Ned; the primary issue facing AUS Swimming (and a number of other AUS Olympic sports) is not necessarily $$$$, administrative or structural (even though changes in these fields may be helpful) but the hard cold realities of social demographics.
Swimming competitively once you are getting into teenage years is an increasingly expensive sport and the reality nowadays is that the overwhelming majority of top swimmers in AUS come from the more affluent backgrounds/private schools. In short, the sport (like some others) is now drawing from an ever contracting/decreasing… Read more »
Wombat you’re spot on the longer you stay serious in your attitude to training and competing as an oz junior ie the last two years of high school the more you find the system is designed to offer less support. All support is funnelled to the same small group. If you are a late bloomer or battle injury/illness you need family with$$$$$ or maybe look at overseas options to stay in the sport
Its not necessarily the system at fault but the reality of the expense. This trend has been there for 10-15 years but its only now that the post Sydney generation have moved on (and the days of plenty over) that these realities are so starkly evident.
Changing support structures may be helpful but are far from a solution in themselves. Nor is throwing more $$$ (which isnt going to happen; the public attitude quite rightly wants public $$$ spent on essential services and infrastructure). Unfortunately, the sport is becoming ever more expensive and that is not likely to change barring a major about-face re technology (which won’t happen) and the human price of commitment will always have its annual toll
Just to correct the record i am not having a go at team members. Yes they did win a gold in W50 Free so the table is in error. As wombat says below the problem is the ever decreasing pool of talent and the current structure appears totally incapable of addressing it. A bit like FINA overpaid, overstaffed and more often than not over there somewhere at significant cost to the membership.
Need to get back to basics and start performing at a higher level. Much of the suggested changes have been tried before and unfortunately failed but those who refuse to acknowledge history will always repeat failure.
AUSSIE SUPPORTER
Considering that England was incorrectly credited with an extra gold for the women’s 50 free that was won by Australia’s Meg Harris not England’s Elizabeth Harris, I don’t believe Australia did too badly finishing 1 & 2 in the womens 50 free, both swimmers were the youngest in the Australian team at just 15. With only a small contingent of 7 girls & 7 boys, most made the finals & finished with a correct total medal count of 8. The correct results should be Australia 1 Gold; England 8 not 9 with a total medal count of Australia 8; England 21 which should have place Australia equal 5th with Scotland.
Considering the great distance traveled with… Read more »