In the most recent editions, between 25 and 34 sports have been included in the official programme. Several sports or disciplines that were on the programme of The World Games have been discontinued because they are now included in the programme of the Olympic Games. Around 3,500 participants from around 100 nations take part.
The World Games differs from other multi-sport events, such as the Olympic Games, in that host cities are not required to construct new venues or facilities for the Games.[1]: 9 The competitors are selected by the sports'international federations, rather than byNational Olympic Committees ornational governing bodies. In most disciplines, qualification is by a top ranking at the world championships or a qualification tournament. This is intended to ensure the top athletes in a sport compete at the Games.
The idea for a multi-sport event for non-Olympic sports came from theGeneral Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF). Realising that there were few opportunities to become part of the Olympic programme, non-Olympic federations wanted to form their own showcase event to increase the publicity of their sports, which they called The World Games. These federations formed a steering group in early 1979 to decide on the structure and principles of the games and search for a venue.
In May 1979, the steering group announced that they had found a venue for the first event: Santa Clara, USA.[2]
The GAISF steering committee became the World Games Executive Council in October 1979, and the inaugural meeting of the World Games Council was held from 19 to 22 May 1980, with a purpose of creating the concept of the Games.[3] The World Games Council was renamed theInternational World Games Association, or IWGA in 1985.[4]
The first edition of The World Games was held inSanta Clara,USA, in 1981. It was opened byKim Un-yong, president of the World Games executive committee, atBuck Shaw Stadium.[5] At the opening ceremony, the athletes marched sorted by sport and not by nation.
The 15 sports at the inaugural games includedbadminton,casting,racquetball, andtaekwondo. The first medals of the Games were awarded in the 640 kilo class oftug-of-war, with the gold going to the team from England.[6]
After the inaugural Games, the West Nally Group, which had provided financing for the Games in Santa Clara, became owners of the rights to the event, and took the second edition to their headquarters inLondon.[7]
For the third Games inKarlsruhe,1989, the West Nally Group still owned the commercial rights to the Games, but the host city was responsible for the staff and volunteers organising the event. After this, the IWGA bought back the commercial rights, and the organising committees of the host cities have been responsible for the organisation and financing since. This led to the organisers of The World Games inThe Hague (1993) asking the participants to pay accommodation costs.[8]
Following the Games in Lahti, theIWGA andIOC agreed on a memorandum of understanding, which was signed in 2000[9][10] Here, the IOC recognised the importance of The World Games and set out shared values, including the IOC providing patronage to Organising Committees, encouraging multi-sport national teams, and working together on anti-doping. It also set out that "disciplines/events of sport that are not on the Olympic Games programme could be included on the programme of the World Games".[11] A further memorandum of understanding was signed in 2016.[12]
In2001, the Games were held inAkita,Japan – the first time it had been held outside of North America or Europe. Several competitions were delayed or moved to an alternative venue when a typhoon hit the city. For the first time, some National Olympic Committees organised hotel accommodation for their athletes, beyond the time they were hosted by the IWGA.[13]
The World Games in 2005, inDuisburg,Germany, were the first World Games where athletes paraded into the opening ceremony grouped by nation. Also several standards were set in place which continue to this day, such as the television production of all sports and sports grouped by category, such as ball sports and precision sports.[14]
The2013 Games inCali,Colombia, were particularly noted for the large numbers of spectators, estimated at 500,000. For example, the Bullfight Ring, which was the venue for dancesport, was 'packed' for the salsa dance finals.[15] This edition of the Games saw the first time a competition was cancelled: due to concerns about temperature and air flow at the Del Pueblo Gymnasium, where the sport of rhythmic gymnastics was taking place, the ribbons event was cancelled.[16]
In 2015, it was announced that the11th edition of The World Games was to be held inBirmingham,Alabama,USA in 2021, beating bids fromLima inPeru andUfa inRussia.[18] On 2 April 2020, the Games were postponed to 2022 so as not to clash with the postponement of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo due to the coronavirus pandemic.[19][20][21]
Noparasports federations are currently part of the IWGA, but The World Games in Birmingham was the first edition to include parasports, with the inclusion ofwheelchair rugby. Birmingham was also to include disabled athletes (one per gender) inarchery.[22] The IWGA is also aiming to secure a partnership with theInternational Paralympic Committee and include a quota for para-athletes.[1]: 1
In 2019, it was announced that The World Games in 2025 will take place inChengdu,China.[23]
Athletes are selected to compete at The World Games by their sport'sinternational federation, as opposed to their sport'snational governing body orNational Olympic Committee, as in other multi-sport events.[27] The selections are intended to "achieve a satisfactory balance between competitors' positions on world ranking lists and the fair representation of as many as possible of its member nations".[28]: 13
International federations are obliged to send their best athletes, with The World Games development agenda setting out that sports are only to be included if "the best athletes/teams in the world are present".[1]: 10
The International World Games Association (IWGA) is the international association responsible for the direction and control of The World Games. Its headquarters are located inLausanne, Switzerland, and its official language is English.[29]
Its membership consists of 39international sporting federations.[30] It also works very closely with the Local Organising Committees (LOCs), temporary committees responsible for the organisation of each World Games. LOCs are dissolved after each Games. The IWGA is officially recognised by theInternational Olympic Committee.
The opening ceremony marks the official start of The World Games. UntilDuisburg 2005, athletes paraded into the ceremony grouped by sport. From 2005, they were grouped by nation, and now march in alphabetical order, with the host country and then the judges last.[14][31]
The Athletes' Oath is taken by an athlete of the host nation, and the Judges' Oath is taken by the chairman of the Tournament Judges' Commission. Parading of flags, speeches and official opening also make up the required parts of the ceremony.[31][32]: 55 There is also often a musical and artistic aspect of the ceremony. For example, more than 400 artists took part in the opening ceremony of the 2017 World Games in Wroclaw.[32]: 55
Since 1993 at The Hague, an athlete party has been held in the middle of the competition.[32]: 270 [33] It was intended to allow all athletes to participate in at least one ceremony (opening, athlete party, or closing) during the competition.[34]
The closing ceremony ends The World Games and follows the last awards ceremony.[31] Official aspects include speeches, a presentation by the next host city and a handing of the flag of the Games to the representatives of the next host city. In Wroclaw, the second part of the ceremony was a concert performed by local artists.[32]: 56
^An invitational sport programme did not exist for the 1981 World Games. Press coverage did not refer to water polo as an invitational sport. An agreement was reached withFINA in the lead-up to the games not to allow women's water polo athletes to march in the opening ceremony, to assuage the displeasure of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for its being included in the programme.[36]
^A summary article at the TWG website cites "Roller Sports - Road" as an invitational sport.[15] However, at the TWG results history look-up website, medals awarded for "Roller Sports - Speed Skating Road" events are included, unlike four 2013 invitational sports,[40] and the medals are included in the main Medal Tally on the website of the 2013 TWG Full Official Results, not the Invitational Medal Tally.[41] In either case, the number of official sports is not affected since the Roller Sports are already included in the number of official sports because of other disciplines.
^José Perurena, IWGA President, stated, "In Birmingham, for the first time, invitational sports were no longer presented separately but were also part of the official programme."[44] This is now TWG policy.
For The World Games in 2017 and before, official sports were selected solely by theIWGA. Only sports whoseinternational federations were members of the IWGA could be selected.[28]: 13–14 From 2022, the official sports are selected by both the IWGA and host city and can include some sports whose federations are not part of the IWGA.[1]: 10–11
As formalised in the memorandum of understanding, "only events that are not on the programme of the Olympic Games can be included in the programme of The World Games".[12] For example,canoe polo is a discipline at The World Games, whilecanoe sprint andcanoe slalom are disciplines at theOlympic Games, despite all three being governed by theInternational Canoe Federation.
Sports that depend on the availability ofsnow orice for competitions are ineligible for inclusion in The World Games.[28]: 14
In addition to the official sports, the host city, in coordination with the IWGA, has been allowed to invite sports to participate in the individual programme. These sports optionally are permitted to include international sports federations that were not members of the IWGA.[28]: 13–14 Before Birmingham 2022, these were deemed "invitational sports".
Starting in Birmingham 2022, there is no distinction between official and invitational sports. Host cities are still able to select up to five optional sports, but they are designated "official" sports, rather than invitational. In addition, the host city will be able to designate "display sports".[1]: 10–11 José Perurena, IWGA President, stated, "In Birmingham, for the first time, invitational sports were no longer presented separately but were also part of the official programme."[44] For example, the Birmingham Organising Committee selectedmen's lacrosse (women's being selected by the IWGA),duathlon,flag football andwushu. For the first time ever, a paralympic sport was part of the programme as awheelchair rugby tournament was held.[42]
Some sports or disciplines started in The World Games as invitational sports and then became official, often as their international federations became part of the IWGA. These include thelyonnaise discipline ofboules sports,beach handball,sumo, and indoortug of war.
^IWGA does not mention Baton twirling among the invitational or other sports.
^José Perurena, IWGA President, stated, "In Birmingham, for the first time, invitational sports were no longer presented separately but were also part of the official programme."[44] This is now TWG policy.
^Target archery is part of the Olympic Games programme, but only in what that sport calls the "open recurve" division, allowing stabilizers and sights to be attached to bows. The World Games programme in target archery features compound bow and "barebow" divisions, with the latter restricted to recurve bows without sights or stabilizers.
^Dragon Boat was cited as a separate sport in the summaries of the 2005[14] and 2009[26] Games. It is now considered a discipline of canoe.
^Medals were awarded for "casting allround", but it was not separately contested. It was a combination of athletes’ results in all three disciplines.
^Gymnastics disciplines at The World Games are not those contested at the Olympics.
^Road speed skating was held at the 1981 Games, with the men's marathon and women's half-marathon being contested in international competition for the first time.[97][98] But at the TWG results history look-up website, it is not indicated as a separate discipline for Roller Sports, but rather as part of track speed skating.
^A summary article at the TWG website cites "Roller Sports - Road" as an invitational sport.[15] However, at the TWG results history look-up website, medals awarded for "Roller Sports - Speed Skating Road" events are included, unlike four 2013 invitational sports,[40] and the medals are included in the main Medal Tally on the website of the 2013 TWG Full Official Results, not the Invitational Medal Tally.[41]
^An invitational sport programme did not exist for the 1981 World Games. Press coverage did not refer to water polo as an invitational sport. An agreement was reached withFINA in the lead-up to the games not to allow women's water polo athletes to march in the opening ceremony, to assuage the displeasure of the International Olympic Committee for its being included in the programme.[36] Five days before the opening ceremony, Canada had become the newly-crownedWorld Cup champion in Brisbane, Australia, in a competition that included the same three teams that medaled in these Games.[112][113]
^abThe 1997 bronze medalists in aerobics mixed pair were from Great Britain, not United States as stated in IWGA source.[139]
^In 2017, Germany was stripped of a gold medal in women's bowling for doping. This table reflects the reallocation of medals for that event.[140]
^The Soviet Union, which won 36 total medals in 1989, is counted separately from its all successor states, including Russia. This is consistent with the separate counting of medals for other states that sub-divided into their constituent successor states following their initial participation in the World Games. These include Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic and Slovakia) and FR Yugoslavia (2001) and Serbia and Montenegro in (2005).
^The 1981 mixed badminton title was won by a pair of players from Sweden and Great Britain. Both nations are counted as having won a gold medal.
^In 2009, Ukraine was stripped of two gold medals in bodybuilding for doping, and Qatar and Brazil were each stripped of a silver medal. This table does not include those stripped medals, and neither does it include possible reallocation of those medals, as the results at the World Games website do not reflect a reallocation.[141]
^"Detailed sports programme published".TheWorldGames.org.Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved7 July 2020.Note: This document states 207 official events, which, however, includes men's lacrosse, an invitational event.
^"Introduction to Wheelchair Rugby".iwrf.com. International Wheelchair Rugby Federation. Archived fromthe original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved31 May 2021.Wheelchair Rugby is a mixed team sport for male and female quadriplegic athletes. ... Men and women compete on the same teams and in the same competitions.
^"Meet Duathlon – the little sibling of Triathlon".theworldgames.org. International World Games Association. 27 November 2020.Archived from the original on 11 December 2020. Retrieved31 May 2021.At The World Games 2022 in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, 40 female and 40 male Duathlon athletes will compete in individual competitions as well as in Mixed Relay.
^abc"The World Games continue to grow!".TheWorldGames.org. IWGA. 26 July 2019.Archived from the original on 22 April 2022. Retrieved14 July 2021.(In 1989) Aikido and Minigolf were presented as invitational sports, and Triathlon, Boomerang and Flying Disc were among the demonstration sports. This was the first time there were sports demonstrations at The World Games.
^"DYBO Health & Fitness". Archived fromthe original on 16 October 2019. Retrieved16 October 2019.... multi British Sports Aerobics champions Helen Carpenter-Waters and Alastair Rates who became GB's only ever medallists at World level
United States,Santa Clara
United Kingdom,London
Italy
West Germany,Karlsruhe
Netherlands,The Hague
Finland,Lahti
Japan,Akita
Russia
Chinese Taipei[a 2],Kaohsiung
Colombia,Cali
Poland,Wrocław
China,Chengdu
Republic of China (Taiwan) is designatedChinese Taipei byInternational World Games Association and the majority of international organisations it participates in due to political considerations andCross-Strait relations with thePeople's Republic of China.
France
Ukraine[f]
Spain
United States
Belgium
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