How many gold medals to be won? Complete facts and figures about CWG 2018

Photo: Twitter (@GC2018)

The 2018 Commonwealth Games (CWG) begin on April 4 with a glittering opening ceremony at the Carrara Stadium in the picturesque Gold Coast in Australia, where more than 6000 athletes from 71 nations and territories will compete in the 12-day event that culminates on April 15. 

Here are all the facts and figures on the 21st edition of the CWG: 

WHEN
April 4-15, 2018

WHERE
Gold Coast, Australia

VENUES
1. The majority of the events will be held in three clusters on the Gold Coast, with the opening and closing ceremonies and athletics at the Carrara Stadium.
2. Track cycling and the shooting competitions will be held in Brisbane.
3. Preliminary round games in the basketball competition will be held in Townsville and Cairns, in the far-North of Queensland. 

NUMBERS GAME
* 18 sports; seven para-sports
* 10 core sports (athletics, badminton, boxing, hockey, lawn bowls, netball, rugby sevens, squash, swimming, weightlifting)
* Eight optional sports (basketball, beach volleyball, cycling, gymnastics, shooting, table tennis, triathlon, wrestling)
* 275 gold medals
* 6,600-plus athletes
* 71 nations and territories

THE GOLD COAST GAMES
1. Fifth Australian city to host the Commonwealth Games (Sydney 1938, Perth 1962, Brisbane 1982, Melbourne 2006).
2. Games' mascot 'Borobi' is a blue koala with indigenous markings on its body. Borobi is an Aboriginal term for koala.
3. Beach volleyball and women's sevens are making their debut.

COMMONWEALTH GAMES HISTORY
1. First contested in 1930 as The Empire Games (a title that lasted until in 1950) in Hamilton, Ontario. Just 400 athletes from 11 countries attended.
2. Contested every four years, except for 1942 and 1946 due to World War Two, until 1950. Was renamed as the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1952 with the 1954 event in Vancouver the first to use the title.
3. The last BE&C Games were held in Kingston in 1966, the first time they had been held outside of Britain, Australia, Canada or New Zealand.
4. Renamed the Commonwealth Games for the 1978 Edmonton event.
5.  Kuala Lumpur becomes the first Asian city to host the Games in 1998.
6.  Questions raised over the future of the Games after the 2010 event in Delhi is blighted by construction delays, budget over-runs, poor living conditions at the athletes` village, a number of high-profile withdrawals and low spectator numbers.
7. Only one city, South Africa`s Durban, bid for the 2022 event, with the bid rubber-stamped at Commonwealth Games Federation meeting in Auckland in 2015 giving Africa its first Games.
8. The coastal city, however, was stripped of the event last March after a failure to meet promises contained in its bid, with the 2022 event awarded to Birmingham.

(With inputs from Reuters)