World Games
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 IWGA logo |
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| First Event | 1981 - Santa Clara, California,  United States |
| Occur every | four years |
| Last Event | 2005 - Duisburg,  Germany |
| Purpose | Event for sports that are not contested in the Olympic Games |
| Website | IWGA Official Website |
The World Games, first held in 1981, are an international multi-sport event, meant for sports that are not contested in the Olympic Games. The World Games are organised and governed by the International World Games Association (IWGA), under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Some of the sports that were on the program of the World Games eventually made it as Olympic sports (such as triathlon) or have been Olympic sports in the past (like tug of war). Participation in past World Games is included in the evaluation criteria used to select new Olympic sports adopted by the IOC on August 12, 2004. However, with the current position of the IOC to limit the Olympic Games to 10,500 participants, it is unlikely that many of the World Games sports will be elevated to the Olympic sports.
Some of the sports that are currently held at the World Games are orienteering, body building, powerlifting, finswimming, squash, netball, water skiing, casting, etc. The sports that are included in the World Games are limited by the facilities available in the host city; no new facilities may be constructed for the games. Typically, between 25 and 35 sports are contested at any particular World Games. Sports that have been classified as "invitational" are still played, but no medals are awarded. Even if some sports are official sports of the IWGA, they can be classified as invitational by the hosting city.
Contents |
[edit] Editions
| Year | Location | Hosts |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Santa Clara, California | United States |
| 1985 | London, England |  United Kingdom |
| 1989 | Karlsruhe |  West Germany |
| 1993 | The Hague |  Netherlands |
| 1997 | Lahti |  Finland |
| 2001 | Akita |  Japan |
| 2005 | Duisburg | Germany |
| 2009 | Kaohsiung |  Taiwan (Republic of China)
(competing as |
| 2013 | Duisburg and Düsseldorf | Germany[1] |
[edit] Sports
[edit] Official sports and disciplines
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[edit] Invitational sports
- American football
- Dragon boat race
- Floorball [1]
- Gateball [2]
- Military pentathlon [3]
- Motorsport
- Pesäpallo [4]
- Sepak Takraw
- Tchoukball
[edit] Past World Games sports
- Cricket
- Croquet
- Golf
- Hazena
- Lacrosse - Last contested in 1989
- Pelota
- Polo
- Powerboating
- Roller Skiing
- Roque
- Sambo - Last contested in 1989 (may return to World Games) [5]
- Surfing
- Squash
- Wushu
[edit] Sports currently not eligible for World Games
- Badminton - became an Olympic sport at the 1992 Summer Olympics
- Baseball - became an Olympic sport (removed from 2012 Summer Olympics program; may return to World Games in 2009)
- Softball - became an Olympic sport (removed from 2012 Summer Olympics program; will return to the World Games in 2009) [6]
- Taekwondo - became an Olympic sport at the 2000 Summer Olympics
- Trampoline - certain individual events were introduced at the 2000 Summer Olympics
- Triathlon - became an Olympic sport at the 2000 Summer Olympics
- Weightlifting (women) - became an Olympic sport at the 2000 Summer Olympics. (Men never competed in weightlifting in the World Games because it has been in all Summer Olympics since 1920.)
[edit] References
- ^ Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund: World Games 2013 in Düsseldorf und Duisburg (German) - accessed 2008-03-20
