Griffith claims more Commonwealth medals than most countries

If Griffith University was a country it would rank equal third on the gold medal tally, midway through the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Six days into Glasgow’s 11-day schedule, students and recent graduates of the Queensland university had notched 10 gold medals, equalling England’s haul and surpassing all but two of the other 73 competing nations and territories.

Griffith athletes had also claimed two silver and six bronze medals for Australia, while a Kiwi member of the university’s swim squad had earned a bronze medal for New Zealand.

Griffith Sports College director Naomi McCarthy said the performance was about more than bragging rights, in an institution named a “pathway university” for the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane. “We’re inspiring Australians and community to be the best version of themselves,” she said.

This meant producing well-rounded athletes with lives outside sport and plans for their post-sport transition. Swimmers fresh from a morning training session, for example, spent the middle of the day studying and engaging with people who “don’t really care” about swimming.

“Just thinking about swimming all day every day…puts a lot of pressure on one thing,” McCarthy said. “We are providing an environment for our athletes to thrive on the field [or] pool, but away from it as well. They’re able to move hopefully into their life after sport in a more planned and structured way.”

Scholarships, some bankrolled by Griffith and others by the Australian Olympic Committee, enable the university’s elite sportspeople to “work less” and “train and study more”, McCarthy said. “Most athletes are…essentially living on the breadline. Hopefully they don’t have to be a barista on the weekend. They can concentrate on study, get through their degree.”

The university appears unlikely to maintain its lofty position on the leaderboard, with events in swimming – an area of strength for Griffith and Australia more broadly – wrapping up on 29 July. Gold medallists so far include nursing student Meg Harris and science and business alumni Cam McEvoy and Kai Taylor, all of whom set Commonwealth Games records in freestyle.

But Griffith has also spearheaded Australia’s uncharacteristic success on the track. Students Lachlan Kennedy and Torrie Lewis both set national records as they claimed medals in the men’s and women’s 100-metre sprint, in the pouring Glaswegian rain.

The university’s new high-performance hub – featuring elite-level gymnastics, swimming, track and field and sport science research facilities – is available to both local and foreign competitors. Recent visitors have included the Chinese men’s hockey team and the Japanese men’s water polo team, in a unique form of international networking.

Sport education often feels like “you’re not really working”, McCarthy said, and never more than now. “All these athletes that have worked really hard are now competing and going so well internationally – this is the most fun part of it.”

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com