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After nearly two decades successfully averting
political stay-a-ways and protests because of
apartheid and sanction-busting sports tours to South
Africa, the XIII Games, the second to be staged at
Edinburgh, was to become known as "the Boycott
Games". Sadly, despite there being so many fond
memories of the Scottish hospitality offered in
1970, 32 Commonwealth nations decided that they
could not attend, because of their opposition to
apartheid in sports.
The number of the Games being The Thirteenth added
to the old wives tale that 13 is an unlucky number.
Twenty-six nations did attend the second Edinburgh
Games and sent a total of 1,662 athletes and 461
officials.
Ten sports were featured at the second Edinburgh
Games - athletics, aquatics, badminton, boxing,
cycling, lawn bowls, rowing, shooting, weightlifting
and wrestling.
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