The New Zealand team have officially arrived in Birmingham. Photo / AP
The Commonwealth Games in Birmingham have begun.
Everything you need to know about the Commonwealth Games:
So it's Comm Games time?
It sure is. Those four years went fast. The 22nd Commonwealth Games heads back to the UK and it's Birmingham's time to host. The United Kingdom's second-largest city, famous for *checks Wikipedia* ... Dexys Midnight Runners, will welcome 4,500 athletes from 72 nations and territories for 11 days from July 29 to August 9.
As they say in Birmingham - Come on Eileen!
Venues
The opening ceremony (which starts 7am Friday, NZT), the closing ceremony and the athletics will take place at Alexander Stadium which has been a regular host of the UK Diamond League event. It will have a capacity of 32,000 for the Commonwealth Games.
The cricket will take place at Edgbaston Cricket Ground, where Brian Lara scored his famous 501 for Warwickshire, while the gymnastics, basketball, beach volleyball, triathlon, hockey, squad and marathon will all be in Birmingham city.
Other sports will be in the West Midlands Region with the rugby sevens hosted in Coventry, the lawn bowls at Leamington Spa, aquatics at Sandwell, netball in Solihull and the cycling in Warwick (road race) and Wolverhampton (time trials). While the track cycling will be in London.
How can I listen?
As well as the NZ Herald's extensive digital and print coverage, listen to live wall-to-wall commentary on Gold Sport from 7pm each night with commentators Jason Pine, Elliott Smith, Malcolm Jordan, Andrew Alderson and Nick Bewley, plus regular updates on Newstalk ZB.
And download our daily Commonwealth Games podcast the Birmingham Bulletin.
How can I watch?
Sky TV will have Commonwealth Games coverage across six channels. The Sky Sport Now streaming service is also offering a dedicated Commonwealth Games pass for $24.99. Free-to-air coverage including daily highlights shows will be on Prime TV.
What does the schedule look like?
The Herald will be publishing a daily schedule. For a full list of New Zealand athletes, teams and results click here.
The official Birmingham 2022 website is the place to go for a full rundown of what events are taking place when. Click here to check it out.
I want to know everything about the New Zealand team
The New Zealand team includes 233 athletes, from 19 sports and two para-sports. 125 (54 percent) of the athletes are female and 108 male (46 percent).
The team members come from a wide range of cultural backgrounds, including athletes with Samoan, Tongan, Cook Islands, Fijian, Filipino, Chinese, Australian, European and African heritage. Māori athletes make up 20 percent of the team (46 athletes).
New Zealand's youngest athlete heading to Birmingham is 16-year-old diver Maggie Squire who is in year 12 at Auckland's Takapuna Grammar School.
At 75-years-old, B2-B3 lawn bowler Sue Curran will become New Zealand's oldest ever Commonwealth Games athlete.
Auckland has produced the largest number of the Commonwealth Games athletes with 57 of the team hailing from the region. Canterbury comes in second with 32 athletes, the Waikato third with 29 and Bay of Plenty fourth with 17 athletes.
140 of the athletes will be attending their first Commonwealth Games, while the other 93 have already competed at one or more Games. Misha Koudinov (Gymnastics) and Val Smith (Lawn Bowls) are the most capped athletes, heading to their fifth Commonwealth Games.
And they're going to win, right?
New Zealand took home 46 medals from the Gold Coast in 2018, 15 of those gold, and will be hoping for around the same. Dame Sophie Pascoe returns to the pool where she will be competing in just one event. Joelle King, who won two gold and a bronze in 2018, is back as are fellow gold medallists Tom Walsh (shot put), David Liti (weightlifting), Julia Ratcliffe (hammer throw), Sam Gaze (mountain biking) while the women's hockey team and the men's and women's sevens teams are out to defend their titles.
There is also plenty of medal contenders in the likes of young stars Hayden Wilde (triathlon), Lewis Clareburt (400 IM), Erika Fairweather (400m freestyle), Sam Tanner (1500m athletics), Zoe Hobbs (100m athletics), Niamh Fisher-Black (cycling) and the 3x3 basketball teams.
Is there a mascot?
Come on! How can you ask that question? Of course, there is.
Meet Perry, a multi-coloured bull. Despite being a look-a-like of Elmer the Elephant he seems a good sort. According to the official website Perry "is a proper Brummie: strong, kind and a little bit cheeky, and he can't wait to get the party started".
He also "loves sport" which was probably high on his CV. Here's some colour-in sheets.
What temperatures can we expect in Birmingham?
Despite the recent heatwave in the UK, temperatures for the first few days will be around 22-23 degrees with some rain expected, according to the Met Office. It won't be an issue for the track cyclists however who race indoors, and are competing in London.
New sports
Basketball 3x3 and women's T20 cricket are making debuts. Cricket was last played at the 1998 Games - 50 over matches for men only. Meanwhile, 19 shooting events have been given the bullet from the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Full list of sports
Aquatics diving, aquatics swimming and para swimming, athletics and para athletics, badminton, basketball 3x3, beach volleyball, boxing, cricket - Twenty20, cycling - mountain biking, cycling - road race, cycling - time trial, cycling - track and para track, gymnastics artistic, gymnastics rhythmic, hockey, judo, lawn bowls and para lawn bowls, netball, para power lifting, rugby sevens, squash, table tennis and para table tennis, triathlon and para triathlon, wheelchair basketball 3x3, weightlifting, wrestling.
Full list of New Zealand team - From Andrews to Zeimann
Sydnee Andrews - Judo
Kody Andrews - Judo
Ellesse Andrews - Cycling - Track
Shane Archbold - Cycling - Road
Imogen Ayris - Athletics
Suzie Bates - Cricket
Jack Bauer - Cycling - Road
George Beamish - Athletics
Connor Bell - Athletics
Lynda Bennett - Lawn Bowls
Patrick Bevin - Cycling - Road
Jayden Bezzant - 3x3 basketball
Portia Bing - Athletics
Michaela Blyde - Rugby sevens
Bryony Botha - Cycling - Track
Nicole Bradley - Athletics
Kelly Brazier - Rugby sevens
Gerald Brouwers - Lawn Bowls
Nathan Brown - Diving
Lauren Bruce - Athletics
Tayla Bruce - Lawn Bowls
David Brydon - Hockey
Eden Carson - Cricket
Leroy Carter - Rugby sevens
Lwamba Chileshe - Squash
Temwa Chileshe - Squash
Paris Chin - Gymnastics - Rhythmic
Qona Christie - Judo
Henrietta Christie - Cycling - Road
Lewis Clareburt - Swimming
Che Clark - Rugby sevens
Tiarna Clarke - 3x3 basketball
Paul Coll - Squash
Dylan Collier - Rugby sevens
Elliott Connolly - Judo
Anton Cooper - Cycling - Mountain Bike
Kaitlin Cotter - Hockey
Anna Crowley - Hockey
Sue Curran - Lawn Bowls
Scott Curry - Rugby sevens
Sam Dakin - Cycling - Track
Tarryn Davey - Hockey
Frances Davies - Hockey
Mikali Dawson - Diving
Sophie Devine - Cricket
Ethan Dick - Gymnastics - Artistic
Sam Dick - Gymnastics - Artistic
Stephanie Dickins - Hockey
Sam Dickson - Rugby sevens
Katie Doar - Hockey
Michaela Drummond - Cycling - Track
George Enersen - Hockey
Erika Fairweather - Swimming
Sean Findlay - Hockey
Theresa Fitzpatrick - Rugby sevens
Niamh Fisher-Black - Cycling - Road
Stacey Fluhler - Rugby sevens
Tayla Ford - Wrestling - Freestyle
Ella Fotu - 3x3 basketball
Ali Forsyth - Lawn Bowls
William Fu-Allen - Gymnastics - Artistic
Brad Fuller - Beach Volleyball
Sarah Hirini - Rugby sevens
Jazmin Hotham - Rugby sevens
Shiray Kaka - Rugby sevens
Mike Galloway - Lawn Bowls
Troy Garton - Boxing
Helena Gasson - Swimming
Aaron Gate - Cycling - Track
Izzy Gaze - Cricket
Samuel Gaze - Cycling - Mountain Bike
Jacko Gill - Athletics
Selina Goddard - Lawn Bowls
Tony Grantham - Lawn Bowls
Cameron Gray - Swimming
Claudia Green - Cricket
Maddy Green - Cricket
Andrea Hansen - Triathlon
Ella Harris - Cycling - Road
Brooke Halliday - Cricket
Mikayla Harvey - Cycling - Road
Aniwaka Haumaha - Cricket
Leon Hayward - Hockey
Cole Hawkins - Wrestling - Freestyle
Jillian Harmon - 3x3 basketball
Sam Hiha - Hockey
Zoe Hobbs - Athletics
Havana Hopman - Gymnastics - Rhythmic
Megan Hull - Hockey
Katelyn Inch - Lawn Bowls
Hugo Inglis - Hockey
George Jackson - Cycling - Track
Alia Jaques - Hockey
Andrew Jeffcoat - Swimming
Hayley Jensen - Cricket
Fran Jonas - Cricket
Tessa Jopp - Hockey
Andrew Kelly - Lawn Bowls
Dominique Kelman-Poto - 3x3 basketball
Jordan Kerby - Cycling - Track
Amelia Kerr - Cricket
Nick Kergozou De La Boessiere - Cycling - Track
Hamish Kerr - Athletics
Joelle King - Squash
Olivia King - Cycling - Track
Bradly Knipe - Cycling - Track
Moira Koster - Judo
Jason Koster - Judo
Misha Koudinov - Gymnastics - Artistic
Amanda Landers-Murphy - Squash
Sam Lane - Hockey
Arno Lee - Diving
Tyler Lench - Hockey
Moses Leo - Rugby sevens
Dane Lett - Hockey
Oliver Leydon-Davis - Badminton
David Liti - Weightlifting
Alex Lukin - Hockey
Onyx Lye - Boxing
Hayley Mackey - Judo
Rosemary Mair - Cricket
Olivia Merry - Hockey
Uila Mau'u - Boxing
Dylan McCullough - Triathlon
Nikau McCullough - 3x3 basketball
Shannon McIlroy - Lawn Bowls
Emma McIntyre - Weightlifting
Jess McFadyen - Cricket
Ngarohi McGarvey-Black - Rugby sevens
Cam McTaggart - Weightlifting
Olivia McTaggart - Athletics
Michelle Montague - Wrestling - Freestyle
Harry Miskimmin - Hockey
Sione Molia - Rugby sevens
Joe Morrison - Hockey
Alex Mukuka - Boxing
Tyla Nathan-Wong - Rugby sevens
Tupou Neiufi - Swimming
Ariane Nicholson - Boxing
Tone Ng Shiu - Rugby sevens
Mark Noble - Lawn Bowls
Jorden O'Connell-Inns - Gymnastics - Artistic
Sam O'Dea - Beach Volleyball
Keeley O'Hagan - Athletics
Grace O'Hanlon - Hockey
Ben Oliver - Cycling - Mountain Bike
Hazel Vanessa Ouwehand - Swimming
Matthew Oxenham - Wrestling - Freestyle
Anona Pak - Badminton
Abbie Palmer - Squash
Georgia Plimmer - Cricket
Hayden Phillips - Hockey
Risi Pouri-Lane - Rugby sevens
Kalani Purcell - 3x3 basketball
Dame Sophie Pascoe - Swimming
Tori Peeters - Athletics
Rebecca Petch - Cycling - Track
Shaunna Polley - Beach Volleyball
Hope Ralph - Hockey
Mya Rasmussen - Swimming
Julia Ratcliffe - Athletics
Tayler Reid - Triathlon
Quentin Rew - Athletics
Jesse Reynolds - Swimming
Brahm Richards - Wrestling - Freestyle
Emile Richardson - Boxing
Brooke Roberts - Hockey
Akuila Rokolisoa - Rugby sevens
Hannah Rowe - Cricket
Kane Russell - Hockey
Alena Saili - Rugby sevens
Aidan Sarikaya - Hockey
Callum Saunders - Cycling - Track
Tom Sexton - Cycling - Track
Olivia Shannon - Hockey
Emily Shearman - Cycling - Track
Megan Signal - Weightlifting
Suraj Singh - Wrestling - Freestyle
Luke Sipkes - Diving
Graham Skellern - Lawn Bowls
Dion Smith - Cycling - Road
Jacob Smith - Hockey
Val Smith - Lawn Bowls
Maggie Squire - Diving
Wendell Stanley - Boxing
Campbell Stewart - Cycling - Track
Liam Stone - Diving
Corbin Strong - Cycling - Track
Lea Tahuhu - Cricket
Caleb Tangitau - Rugby sevens
Samuel Tanner - Athletics
Blair Tarrant - Hockey
Junior Tasi - Weightlifting
Frazer Tavener - Diving
Dylan Thomas - Hockey
Eve Thomas - Swimming
Ainsley Thorpe - Triathlon
Nicole Toomey - Lawn Bowls
Rose Tynan - Hockey
Nicole van der Kaay - Triathlon
Vester Villalon - Weightlifting
Pam Walker - Lawn Bowls
Tom Walsh - Athletics
Erin Walsh - Boxing
Regan Ware - Rugby sevens
Kaitlyn Watts - Squash
Joe Webber - Rugby sevens
Sam Webster - Cycling - Track
Maddi Wesche - Athletics
Hayley Whiting - Weightlifting
Hayden Wilde - Triathlon
Georgia Williams - Cycling - Road
Niall Williams - Rugby sevens
Tenika Willison - Rugby sevens
Joshua Willmer - Swimming
Ally Wollaston - Cycling - Track
Portia Woodman - Rugby sevens
Nic Woods - Hockey
Tai Wynyard - 3x3 basketball
Simon Yorston - Hockey
Alice Zeimann - Beach Volleyball
She aims to start a family after the Rugby World Cup in England.