The Commonwealth Games came to Scotland for the third time in 2014. Following an Opening Ceremony in Celtic Park, hosted by John Barrowman and Karen Dunbar, with contributions from musical stars such as Rod Stewart, Amy Macdonald, Julie Fowlis, Nicola Benedetti and Susan Boyle, the festival of seventeen sports, integrating able-bodied and disabled athletes, took place over eleven days in Glasgow. The venues comprised the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, Scotstoun Sports Campus, Tollcross International Swimming Centre, Cathkin Braes Country Park, Ibrox Stadium, the SSE Hydro, Kelvingrove Lawn Bowls Centre, the National Stadium (Hampden Park), Glasgow National Hockey Centre, National Indoor Sports Arena and Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, together with the triathlon at Strathclyde Country Park in North Lanarkshire, diving at the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh and shooting at the Barry Buddon Training Centre in Angus. Glasgow Green and the streets of the city provided the marathon and road-race cycling courses. A purpose-built Athletes Village at Dalmarnock in E Glasgow accommodated 6500 athletes and officials.
The Closing Ceremony took place in Hampden Park, featuring Lulu and Ricky Ross with Deacon Blue. In a speech during this ceremony, Prince Imran of Negeri Sembilan of Malaysia, who was President of the Commonwealth Games Federation, described Glasgow 2014 as "the best Commonwealth Games ever". Scottish athletes won 53 medals, representing the country's greatest medal haul in Commonwealth Games history, with gold medals in athletics, bowls, boxing, cycling, gymnastics, judo and swimming. The small Pacific island of Kiribati gained its first-ever Commonwealth Games medal, when David Katoatau took a gold in weightlifting.
