2nd August 1986

Guernsey won double-silver at the Commonwealth Games

Guernsey came ninth in the medals table at the 1986 Commonwealth Games. Its two silver gongs put it ahead of Jersey, which came home with just a single bronze.

The Games were held in Scotland, which welcomed 27 different Commonwealth nations to its capital, Edinburgh. Unfortunately, those 27 countries were less than half of the total number of nations in the Commonwealth, with 32 others boycotting the event. Most of the absent countries were from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, who had stayed away to protest at the British government’s decision not to impose sanctions on South Africa. At the time, South Africa practiced apartheid.

Guernsey’s medals

Guernsey won silver in both the shooting and lawn bowls events. In the former, Adrian Breton scored 588 points in the Men’s Rapid Pistol Fire; in the latter, the Guernsey team scored 15 points in the Womens’ Lawn Bowls Pairs.

Throughout the fortnight, Guernsey competed in 70 different events as diverse as road cycling, marathon running, badminton and swimming.

England topped the medals table in 1986, with 52 gold, 43 silver and 49 bronze to its name. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland came fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.

Guernsey’s first Commonwealth Games was the 1970 event, again in Edinburgh, but it had to wait until its fourth appearance, in 1982’s Brisbane Games, before it won any of its events. In that instance, it took home one silver (for men’s 10m air rifle shooting) and one bronze (for the fullbore rifle pairs Queen’s prize), placing it 20th overall.