Commonwealth Games 2014 Opening Day Featured in Wednesday's Google Doodle

Google has a penchant for surprising audiences the world over with its original take on major events, birth anniversaries, and more, through its doodles. From interactive ones to animated ones it has always been about showcasing a slice of heritage associated with the event. Its latest doodle marking the opening day of the Commonwealth Games 2014 is a static image.

The Commonwealth Games 2014, officially the XX Commonwealth Games, which begin on Wednesday in Glasgow, Scotland, will be the 20th edition of the games. The Commonwealth Games first kicked off in 1930, as the British Empire Games. The doodle on Google's home page shows a picture of athletes participating in the various disciplines of the games. The games represented in the doodle include, wrestling, cycling, hammer throw, badminton and bowling. There are two wrestlers grappling, two cyclists cycling furiously, a hammer thrower readying himself for the throw, a badminton player displaying a smash hit and a bowler releasing the bowling ball in the bowling alley. The wind movements behind these athletes form the letters of the word Google.

The Commonwealth Games have been held every four years since 1930 save for 1942 and 1946 when the second World War was on. The Commonwealth Games 2014 will be inaugurated at Celtic Park stadium, which is also the home stadium of the Celtic Football Club has a seating capacity of over 60,000 fans. The closing ceremony of the games will be held at Hampden Park on August 3. The motto for the games this time around is 'People, Place, Passion'. Prior to this the XIX edition of the games was held in New Delhi. The games, which eventually did go off smoothly, were criticised in both local and national media for the misappropriation of funds and corruption, as well as, the poor facilities at the athletes village.

At the Commonwealth Games 2014 in Glasgow, a total of 71 nations will be participating. Featuring around 4,560 competing athletes it is the largest sporting event in Scotland. The athletes will compete in 17 different sports at the games. India will also be one of the participating nations. The mascot for the games is Clyde, a thistle - named after a river which flows through Glasgow. Australia has hosted the most number of the games with four. Canada too has hosted four games, but Australia will be hosting the 2018 XXI games at the Gold Coast. New Zealand, England and Scotland have hosted it thrice, with India, Malaysia, Jamaica and Wales hosting it once.

For more Google doodles visit this page.

The best Google doodles of 2014