World Games

For other uses, see World Games (disambiguation).

International World Games Association

IWGA logo
First event	1981 - Santa Clara, California, United States
Occur every	four years
Last event	2009 - Kaohsiung,Taiwan IWGA Designation Chinese Taipei
Purpose	Multi-sport event for sports and disciplines 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, or disciplines or events within a sport, 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 ultimate, 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.

Editions

Year	Location	Hosts	Athletes* / Countries	Sports (Off./Inv.)
1981	Santa Clara, California	United States	1265	18/0
1985	London	United Kingdom	1550	19/4
1989	Karlsruhe	West Germany	1965	19/0
1993	The Hague	Netherlands	2275/69	22/3
1997	Lahti	Finland	2600/78	25/5
2001	Akita	Japan	3200/93	26/5
2005	Duisburg	Germany	3200/93	34/6
2009	Kaohsiung	Taiwan	3235/90	26/5
2013	Santiago de Cali	Colombia
2017	Wrocław	Poland

( *without including the numbers of athletes and officials participating in the invitational sports (limited to 800 athletes and officials) )

Sports

Disciplines from the same sport are grouped under the same color:

     Gymnastics
     Roller sports
     Boules sports

Official sports

Sport (Discipline)	Body	81	85	89	93	97	01	05	09	13
Acrobatic gymnastics	FIG				5	5	5	5	5	•
Aerobic gymnastics						4	4	5	5	•
Rhythmic gymnastics							4	4	4	•
Trampoline		8	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	•
Roller hockey	FIRS	1	1	1	1		1
Inline hockey								1	1	•
Inline speed skating		6	12	10	10	10	10	12	10	•
Inline figure skating		4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	•
Boules Lyonnaise	CMSB						2	4	4	•
Petanque			1	2	2	2	2	2	2	•
Raffa									2	•
Air sports	FAI					5	4	5	5	•
Beach handball	IHF									•
Bodybuilding	IFBB	6	6	6	7	9	7	7	7
Ten pin bowling	FIQ	3	5	3	3	3	3	3	3	•
Canoe polo	ICF							2	2	•
Sport climbing	IFSC							4	4	•
Cue sports	WCBS						4	4	4	•
Dance sports	IDSF					2	2	3	3	•
Field archery	FITA		4	4	6	6	6	6	6	•
Finswimming	CMAS	12	18	13	13	15	10	10	10	•
Fistball	IFA		1	1	1	1	1	1	1	•
Flying disc	WFDF						3	1	1	•
Ju-Jitsu	JJIF					10	7	11	11	•
Karate	WKF	9	12	12	12	12	12	13	13	•
Korfball	IKF		1	1	1	1	1	1	1	•
Life saving	ILS		12	16	16	16	26	26	16	•
Orientering	IOF						3	3	5	•
Powerlifting	IPF	9	3	6	6	6	6	6	8	•
Racquetball	IRF		2		2				2	•
Rugby sevens	IRB						1	1	1	•
Squash	WSF					2		2	2	•
Sumo	IFS							8	8	•
Tug of war	TWIF	2	2	2	2	2	3	3	3	•
Water skiing	IWWF	8	6	6	6	12	12	8	6	•
Total events								179	164

Discontinued sports

     Included in the Olympic program

Sport (Discipline)	Body	81	85	89	93	97	01	05	09	13
Badminton	BWF	5
Baseball	IBAF	1			1992-2008
Casting	ICSF	11	12		13	11	6	6
Indoor cycling	UCI			5
Netball	IFNA		1	1	1
Nine pin bowling	FIQ							3
Racquetball	IRF	•
Roller hockey	FIRS	1	1	1	1		1
Sambo	FIAS		17		9
Softball	ISF	2	1			1996-2008
Taekwondo	WTF	10	8	12	12		since 2000
Triathlon	ITU				2		since 2000
Weightlifting (women)	IWF					9	since 2000

Invitational sports

Sport (Discipline)	Body	81	85	89	93	97	01	05	09	13
American football	IFAF							1
Baton twirling					•
Aikido	IAF			•	•		1	*
Bahn golf				•
Beach handball	IHF						2	2	2
Boules Lyonnaise	CMSB					2
Dragon boat	IDBF							4	4
Duathlon	ITU									•
Floorball	IFF					1
Gateball	WGU						1
Indoor hockey	FIH							2
Indoor trial	FIM							1
Road roller speed skating	FIRS									•
Marthon canoeing	ICF									•
Military pentathlon	CISM					2
Pesäpallo						1
Softball	ISF					1996-2008			1	•
Sumo	IFS						5
Tchoukball	FITB								2
Tug of war	TWIF					2	2
Water polo (women)	FINA	•					since 2000
Water skiing	IWWF				•
Wushu	IWUF								13	•

Sports at TWG2009 in Kaohsiung

• Artistic and Dance Sports
  • Acrobatic Gymnastics
  • Aerobic Gymnastics
  • Rhythmic Gymnastics
  • Trampoline and Tumbling Gymnastics
  • DanceSport (Latin, RnR, Standard)
  • Artistic Roller Skating
• Ball Sports
  • Beach Handball (Invitational Sport)
  • Canoe Polo
  • Fistball
  • Tchoukball (Invitational Sport)
  • Korfball
  • Racquetball
  • Rugby 7s
  • Softball (Invitational Sport)
  • Squash
• Martial Arts
  • Ju-Jitsu
  • Karate
  • Sumo
  • Wushu (Invitational Sport)
• Precision Sports
  • Billiards (Pool, Carom, Snooker)
  • Boules Sports (Petanque, Lyonnaise, Raffa)
  • Bowling
  • Archery (Field)
• Strength Sports
  • Bodybuilding
  • Powerlifting
  • Tug of War (Men Outdoor, Women Indoor)
• Trend Sports
  • Air Sports
  • Climbing (Lead, Speed)
  • Dragon Boat (Invitational Sport)
  • Fin Swimming
  • Flying Disc
  • Lifesaving (Pool, Beach)
  • Orienteering (Sprint, Middle Distance, Team Relay)
  • Roller Sports (Inline Hockey, Speed)
  • Water Ski (Barefoot, Tournament, Wakeboard)

Past TWG sports and disciplines

Baseball Lacrosse – Last contested in 1989 Pelota Basque Pelota Sambo – Last contested in 1989 (may return to World Games) [6] Surfing Nine Pin Bowling Cable Wakeboard The following sports were part of past editions of the World Games, but have since been adopted by the Olympics as official events. Badminton – became an Olympic sport at the 1992 Summer Olympics 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.)

All-time medal table

Main article: World Games all time medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Italy	120	120	111	351
2	United States	114	106	91	311
3	Russia	81	58	44	183
4	Germany	76	71	75	222
5	France	70	70	71	211
6	Great Britain	47	49	66	162
7	China	41	37	20	98
8	Japan	37	29	43	109
9	South Korea	37	13	17	67
10	Australia	35	50	36	121

External links

• IWGA Official Website
• The World Games 2013 Cali
• The World Games 2009 Kaohsiung
• The World Games 2005 Duisburg
• Results of TWG2009