Commonwealth Games 2022: What are they and when do they start?
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The UK's summer of sport continues this week with the arrival of the 2022 Commonwealth Games!
While you might be thinking there can't be any more to look forward to following Wimbledon and the Women's Euros, the Commonwealth Games is here to provide you with all the sporting entertainment you need.
But what are the Commonwealth Games? Why can only some countries take part and which sport stars will be competing?
Find out all this and more in our handy guide!
The Commonwealth Games are a multi-sport tournament that take place every four years.
A group of countries compete internationally in lots of different events to be awarded medals.
The country with the highest number of gold medals usually is the overall winner of the Games.
But not every country in the world is invited - only countries that belong to the Commonwealth can take part.
The Commonwealth is a group of 56 countries, with a total population of 2.5 billion people!
Most of the countries in the Commonwealth had been part of the British Empire.
The British Empire was at one time the largest known empire in the world, until the 20th century when many of the countries it controlled wanted to become independent.
In place of the empire, the Commonwealth was created to help keep friendly relationships with many of the countries that became independent.
They are similar to the Summer Olympic Games, in that they involve a number of different kinds of sports like athletics, gymnastics and swimming!
Here is a list of all the events you will see athletes and para-athletes compete in over the next few weeks:
Athletics
Badminton
Basketball
Beach Volleyball
Boxing
Cricket
Cycling
Diving
Gymnastics
Hockey
Judo
Lawn Bowls
Netball
Power Lifting
Rugby
Squash
Swimming
Table Tennis
Triathlon
Weightlifting
Wrestling
The first Commonwealth Games can be traced back over 90 years ago to 1930.
Back then they were called the British Empire Games.
Eleven countries took part including England, Wales, Scotland, Australia, South Africa and the host nation, Canada.
The event was a massive success, and a second event was held in London and Manchester in 1934 with 16 countries taking part.
The 1954 Commonwealth Games saw world record times achieved for a mile sprint by British athlete Roger Bannister and Australian athlete John Landy
Twenty years later in 1954, the Games were renamed the British Empire and Commonwealth Games, before eventually being shortened to just the British Commonwealth Games in 1970.
In 1978 they were officially titled the Commonwealth Games.
A version of the Commonwealth Games which focused only on para-sports began in 1962, but this was shut down in 1974.
But since 2002, para-sport events have been fully included in the Commonwealth Games.
The Games will run from Thursday 28 July to Monday 8 August, 2022.
Birmingham will host the Commonwealth Games for the very first time.
It will also be the third time that the Commonwealth Games are to be hosted in England.
Similar to Olympic events, the Commonwealth Games will be marked by an opening and closing ceremony.
The opening and closing ceremonies will be held at the Alexander Stadium
The ceremonies as well as the athletics and para-athletics events will be held at the Alexander Stadium in the north of Birmingham.
But other events will be hosted throughout the city and the county of Warwickshire.
Outdoor cycling competitions will be held in Cannock Chase Forest and Arena Birmingham will be home to all the gymnastic events.
The last Commonwealth Games were held in Australia and were opened with a spectacular ceremony
Commonwealth Games: Who are the ones to watch?
Many of the UK's most decorated sports stars will be taking part!
But unlike in the Olympics when the UK competes together as Team GB, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will be competing against one another during the Commonwealth Games as separate nations.
Here are some of the stars to look out for from each nation.
Olympic gold medallist Adam Peaty hopes to bring his A game in four swimming events for England after recovering from a broken foot
Welsh athlete, Lily Rice, who shot to fame for performing a wheelchair backflip at the age of 13, will be competing in para-swimming events at the Commonwealth Games for the first time
Scottish cyclist Jack Carlin secured a silver and bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 summer Olympic Games
Northern Ireland's Rhys McClenaghan secured gold for his country competing on the pommel horse in the 2018 Commonwealth Games
A crowd of 30,000 are expected to attend the opening ceremony on Thursday.
Musicians local to Birmingham are expected to perform, including 1980s pop group Duran Duran, Tony Iommi from rock band Black Sabbath, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and solo artist Indigo Marshall.
Similar to the Olympic Games, the opening ceremony will include processions from all 72 nations and territories who are taking part.
The opening ceremony at the Alexander Stadium will see the finish of the Queen's Baton Relay
Viewers will also see the end of the year-long Queen's Baton Relay which will finish in the stadium during the ceremony and a choir of 1,000 people performing.
You can watch the opening ceremony and follow coverage from the Commonwealth Games live on BBC iPlayer and on BBC One and Two.