| IV British Empire Games | |
| Size: | 170 |
| Host City: | Auckland, New Zealand |
| Nations: | 12 |
| Athletes: | 590 |
| Events: | 87 |
| Opening: | 4 February 1950 |
| Closing: | 11 February 1950 |
| Opened By: | Bernard Freyberg |
| Athlete Oath: | Stan Lay |
| Stadium: | Eden Park |
| Previous: | III |
The 1950 British Empire Games were the fourth staging of what is now called the Commonwealth Games. It was held in Auckland, New Zealand between 4 and 11 February 1950, after a 12-year gap from the third edition of the games. A documentary film of the games was made by the New Zealand National Film Unit.[1] The main venue was Eden Park, although the closing ceremonies were held at Western Springs Stadium, see New Zealand at the 1950 British Empire Games. The fourth games were originally awarded to Montreal, Canada and were to be held in 1942 but were cancelled due to World War II.[2]
(Teams participating for the first time in bold).
The main stadium was at Eden Park. Other venues were the Auckland Town Hall (boxing and wrestling), the Drill Hall (fencing), Western Springs (cycling and the closing ceremony) Lake Karapiro (rowing), and the Newmarket Olympic Pool (swimming). Accommodation was at the Ardmore Teachers' Training College, 23miles away at South Auckland. Total attendance was 246,694; higher than the following three Games, 1954 (159,636), 1958 (178,621) and 1962 (224,987).[3]
At the 1950 British Empire Games all the teams won at least one medal.
See main article: Athletics at the 1950 British Empire Games.
| Flyweight | K. Edwin (CEY) | Marcus Temple (SAF) | ||
| Bantamweight | Johnny van Rensburg (SAF) | Albert Perera (CEY) | ||
| Featherweight | Andy Verceuil (RHO) | |||
| Lightweight | ||||
| Welterweight | Alex Obeysekere (CEY) | |||
| Middleweight | Theunis van Schalkwyk (SAF) | |||
| Light heavyweight | ||||
| Heavyweight | none awarded |
| Time Trial | 1:13.4 | 1:13.5 | 1:13.6 | ||||
| Sprint 1000 m | 2–0 | 0–2 | 2–1 | ||||
| 4000 m Ind. Pursuit | 5:16.3 | 5:27.0 | 5:26.7 | ||||
| 10-mile Scratch | 23:23.4 |
| Road race | 3'13:06.4 | 3'13:06.5 | 3'13:06.6 |
| 3 m springboard | 169.21 | 168.80 | 168.17 | ||||
| 10 m platform | 156.07 | 145.36 | 129.40 |
| 3 m springboard | 126.58 | 124.59 | 115.38 | ||||
| 10 m platform | 70.89 | 65.64 | 59.93 |
| Foil | 7 wins | 6 wins | 4 wins | ||||||
| Foil team | valign=top | Arthur Pilbrow Robert Anderson René Paul | 20 wins |  New ZealandAusten Gittos Gordon Dearing Murray Gittos Malcolm Millar | 13 wins | valign=top |  CanadaGeorges Pouliot Robert Desjarlais Edward Brooke | 12 win | |
| Épée | 7 wins | 6 wins | 5 wins | ||||||
| Épée team |  AustraliaAllan Jay Ivan Lund Charles Stanmore | 3 wins | René Paul Charles de Beaumont Robert Anderson | 2 wins | Canada Georges Pouliot Robert Desjarlais Edward Brooke | 1 win | |||
| Sabre | |||||||||
| Sabre team | valign=top | Charles de Beaumont Arthur Pilbrow Robert Anderson | 4 wins | valign=top | Canada Georges Pouliot Robert Desjarlais Edward Brooke | 2 wins | Australia Norman Booth Leslie Chillug Edwin Dean Jock Gibson | 1 win |
| Foil | 7 wins | 6 wins | 5 wins |
See main article: Lawn bowls at the 1950 British Empire Games.
All events were for men only. The events were held at Lake Karapiro, south of Auckland. Three special trains took 1500 people to Cambridge on 7 February 1950.
| Single sculls | 7:46.8 | 7:54.0 | Ian Stephen (SAF) | 8:04.0 | ||||
| Double sculls | 7:22 | 7:32 | 7:39 | |||||
| Coxless pair | 7:58 | 8:10 | none awarded | |||||
| Coxed four | New Zealand Ted Johnson John O'Brien Bill James Bill Carroll Colin Johnstone | 7:17.2 | Australia Leslie Montgomery Erwin Elder Cecil Winkworth Kenneth Gee Kevin Fox | 7:24.0 | none awarded | |||
| Eights | Australia Alan Brown Bruce Goswell Edward Pain Eric Longley James Barnes Peter Holmes a Court Phil Cayzer Bob Tinning Ross Selman | 6:27 | New Zealand Bruce Culpan Donald Adam Don Rowlands Edwin Smith Grahame Jarratt Kerry Ashby Murray Ashby Thomas Engel William Tinnock | 6:27.5 | Tony Butcher Hank Rushmere Michael Lapage Patrick Bradley Peter de Giles Peter Kirkpatrick Dickie Burnell William Windham Jack Dearlove | 6:40 | ||
| 110 yd freestyle | 1:00.4 | 1:00.6 | 1:01.8 | ||||
| 440 yd freestyle | 4:49.4 | Graham Johnston (SAF) | 4:51.3 | 5:02.5 | |||
| 1650 yd freestyle | Graham Johnston (SAF) | 19:55.7 | 20:08.3 | 20:10.1 | |||
| 110 yd backstroke | Jackie Wiid (SAF) | 1:07.7 | 1:08.0 | 1:10.8 | |||
| 220 yd breaststroke | 2:54.1 | 2:54.2 | 2:56.0 | ||||
| nowrap | 4×220 yd freestyle relay | New Zealand Buddy Lucas Lyall Barry Michael Amos Noel Chambers | 9:27.7 | Australia Barrie Kellaway Garrick Agnew Frank O'Neill James Beard | 9:34.5 | Donald Bland Jack Hale Pat Kendall Ray Legg | 9:36.8 |
| 3×110 yd medley relay | Jack Hale Pat Kendall Roy Romain | 3:26.6 | Canada Allen Gilchrist Lucien Beaumont Peter Salmon | 3:29.4 | New Zealand John Shanahan Lyall Barry Peter Mathieson | 3:30.1 |
| 110 yd freestyle | 1:09.0 | 1:09.6 | Joan Harrison (SAF) | 1:10.7 | |||
| 440 yd freestyle | Joan Harrison (SAF) | 5:26.4 | 5:33.7 | 5:33.8 | |||
| 110 yd backstroke | 1:18.6 | 1:19.1 | 1:20.5 | ||||
| 220 yd breaststroke | 3:01.7 | 3:03.6 | 3:10.3 | ||||
| nowrap | 4×110 yd freestyle relay | Australia Denise Spencer Denise Norton Judy-Joy Davies Marjorie McQuade | 4:44.9 | New Zealand Joan Hastings Kristin Jacobi Norma Bridson Winifred Griffin | 4:48.7 | Grace Wood Helen Yate Lillian Preece Margaret Wellington | 4:56.0 |
| 3×110 yd medley relay | Australia Judy-Joy Davies Marjorie McQuade Nancy Lyons | 3:53.8 | Elizabeth Church Helen Yate Margaret Wellington | 3:56.6 | Elizabeth Turner Elenor Gordon Margaret Girvan | 3:58.9 |
Water polo was contested by men's teams only, with New Zealand and Australia the only two teams entered. The matches were played at the Olympic Pool in Newmarket.
| Tournament | Australia John Amadee Peter Bennett Bruce Bourke John Bourke Herman Doerner Owen Doerner Ronald Faulds Colin French Kevin Hallett Malcolm Hastie Percy Johnston James McKay Francis Murphy Frank O'Neill | 3 wins | New Zealand Charles Brown Jim Cameron Terry Harris Bob Hatchwell Barrie Hutchinson Tom Logan Edward Raven Jim Walsh Neil Williams Wally Williams | 0 wins | none awarded | ||
All events were for men only.
| Bantamweight | Tho Fook Hung (MAL) | 655 lb | 615 lb | 600 lb | |||
| Featherweight | Koh Eng Tong (MAL) | 685 lb | 670 lb | Barrie Engelbrecht (SAF) | 640 lb | ||
| Lightweight | 760 lb | Thong Saw Pak (MAL) | 735 lb | 730 lb | |||
| Middleweight | 795 lb | 740 lb | 720 lb | ||||
| Light Heavyweight | 815 lb | Issy Bloomberg (SAF) | 815 lb | Tan Kim Bee (MAL) | 765 lb | ||
| Heavyweight | 900 lb | 830 lb | none awarded | ||||
All events were for men only.
| Flyweight | 1 win | 1 loss | none awarded | ||||
| Bantamweight | 1 win | 1 loss | none awarded | ||||
| Featherweight | 3 wins | 2 w – 1 l | 1 w – 2 l | ||||
| Lightweight | 3 wins | 2 wins | 1 win | ||||
| Welterweight | 3 wins | 3 w – 1 l | Martin Jooste (SAF) | 1 win | |||
| Middleweight | 3 wins | 3 w – 1 l | Callie Reitz (SAF) | 2 w – 2 l | |||
| Light heavyweight | Pat Morton (SAF) | 2 wins | 1 win | ||||
| Heavyweight | 3 wins | 2 wins | 1 win | ||||