Cook Islands at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Cook Islands at the 2018 Commonwealth Games The Cook Islands competed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, Australia from April 4 to April 15, 2018. The Cook Islands delegation consisted of 18 athletes (7 male and eleven female) that competed across four sports: athletics (track and field), lawn bowls, swimming and weightlifting. It was The Cook Islands's 11th appearance at the Commonwealth Games. On February 27, 2018, track and field athlete Patricia Taea was named as the nation's flag bearer at the opening ceremony. Taiki Paniani and Aidan Zittersteijn won the country's first ever Commonwealth Games medal,
Flag of the Austral Islands symbolizes the archipelago. The red stripes are a reminder that the archipelago is part of French Polynesia, and blue symbolizes the sea. The colors are prescribed as red Pantone 185c and blue Pantone 286c. On 4 December 1985 the Territorial Government decreed that the flags of the archipelagos and islands of French Polynesia may be flown next to the French Polynesian Territorial and French National flags. The former flag of the Austral Islands has a white vertical stripe placed along the hoist, covering 1/3 of the flag length and containing the writing ARCHIPEL / DES / ILES / AUSTRALES ("Archipelago