England provided its largest ever team with a delegation of more than 650 including 444 competitors, a third larger than at the Kuala Lumpur 1998 Commonwealth Games and twice the size of the team that competed in Canada eight years earlier.

This bumper team duly delivered by achieving a record medal haul of 165 medals - 53 gold, 51 silver and 60 bronze. Further history was made when for the first time medals won by Para athletes counted towards the overall medals table, a first not just for the Commonwealth Games but in any major international multi-sport event.

Team England finished second in the overall medals table but succeeded in narrowing the considerable gap opened up by rivals Australia, who returned home with 207 medals, 82 of which were gold. There was great success to be found in athletics, judo and lawn bowls where Team England topped each medals table.

It was a record breaking year on the field of play for Team England too with no less than seven records set.

At the Games in Manchester 2002, Team England gymnast, Beth Tweddle, won a bronze medal on the uneven bars and followed that feat by winning an Olympic bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics 10 years later. Andrew Baggaley and Gareth Herbert had to overcome Wales' Adam Robertson and Ryan Jenkins to secure a table tennis gold medal.