Talk:1981 World Games

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Number of USA medals[edit]

The referenced newspaper article from Lodi, California, states that the USA won 95 medals. The table in the article says 76. Jeff in CA 05:49, 9 November 2012 (UTC)

This is the source for 76. --Kasper2006 (talk) 07:46, 9 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The total number of medals shown exceeds the sum of all men's and women's medals by 14. This is explained by a note that states, "medals of mixed and open events are only included in the total medal tallies." Thus, for mixed and open events, there were 5 gold medals (USA (2), Great Britain, Australia and Sweden), 4 silver medals (USA (2), Great Britain, Finland), and 5 bronze medals (Canada, Great Britain, Austria Denmark, Indonesia). Unfortunately, there is no further development or elaboration on anything else pertaining to the 1981 World Games, nor are there references to original information from which these data were obtained.

Jeff in CA 16:18, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

Tug-of-War Results[edit]

I witnessed several of the 1981 events in person and recorded the results in a notebook. From that notebook, here are the results of the tug-of-war 720 kg men's competition:

Switzerland 18 points
Netherlands 15
England 12
Sweden 9
Ireland 6
Wales 2
USA 1

Yet, Switzerland is not even listed in the table of medalists!

Jeff in CA 15:50, 14 November 2012 (UTC)

Now, if you want, you can create the article Tug of war at the 1981 World Games. --Kasper2006 (talk) 16:22, 14 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I did that, by the way. Jeff in CA (talk) 21:08, 11 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Finswimming[edit]

I attended many events at the 1981 World Games in person. I recorded some of the results in a notebook that I still have today. At those games, finswimming was called "underwater swimming." Here are the finswimming results from a few of the events as I recorded them. If you want names of athletes, the San Jose Mercury-News covered the games and should have them.

Finswimming

Women’s 50 meter monofin (no snorkel)

1. ________, Italy, 19.93 sec

2. ________, Italy

3. ________, France

Men’s 50 meter monofin (no snorkel)

1. ________, West Germany, 16.671 sec

2. ________, Italy

3. ________, Italy

Women’s 400 meter monofin (with snorkel)

1. ________, France, 3:42.89

2. ________, Italy

3. ________, West Germany

Men’s 400 meter (with snorkel)

1. ________, Italy, 3:28.062 (used separate fins)

2. ________, Sweden (used a monofin)

3. ________, Italy (used a monofin)

Women’s 4x200 meter relay

1. One swimmer from Sweden, three from France

2. Two swimmers from Italy, one from France, one from Sweden

Only teams in race

Men’s 4x200 meter relay

1. Italy II, 6:30.16

2. Two swimmers from France, two from West Germany

3. Sweden

Jeff in CA 20:57, 24 November 2012 (UTC)

President Reagan not at World Games I opening ceremonies[edit]

President Reagan was not at World Games I opening ceremonies. I attended the ceremonies in person at Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara. Reagan had survived the assassination attempt four months earlier. It would have been a big deal if he had been there.

Jeff in CA 14:43, 1 August 2013 (UTC)

No in-line skates[edit]

I attended artistic roller skating and roller hockey. I also saw video highlight coverage of roller speed skating on television. In-line skates were not used. They were so new that they had not yet become universally adopted.

Jeff in CA 14:43, 1 August 2013 (UTC)

Invitational sports?[edit]

Could someone provide a reference that states that some sports were classified as "invitational" sports? Softball and water polo are shown that way as of this writing.

Jeff in CA 14:48, 1 August 2013 (UTC)

.

The World Games website left out two roller skating events for 1981[edit]

The World Games website left out two roller skating events for 1981:

http://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/07/29/World-Games-I-Results/2896365227200/

July 29

Men's 5000m 1. Tom Peterson, U.S., 10:29.58. 2. Guiseppe Cruciani, Italy, 10:29.73. 3. Ermes Fossi, Italy, 10:30.42. 4. Dimitri Vam Cauwemberge, Belgium, 10:31.11. 5. Chuck Jackson, U.S., 10:31.20. 6. Danny Van De Perre, Belgium, 10:31.22. 7. Robb Dunn, U.S., 10:32.10. 8. Scott Constantine, New Zealand, 10:32.24. 9. Augustin Ramirea, Colombia, 10:32.37. 10. Dean Huffman, U.S., 10:33.31. 11. Alvaro Arrendondo, Colombia, 10:34.06. 12. Humberto Triana, Colombia, 10:34.34. 13. Serge Plante, Canada, 10:38.04. 14. Roland De Roo, Belgium, 10:41.69. 15. M. Bagnoli, Italy, 10:51.69. 16. Doug Blair, Canada, 10:56.24.

Women's 15,000m 1. Annie Lambrechte, Belgium, 33:45.02. 2. Paolo Christofori, Italy, 33:45.03. 3. Monica Lucchese, Italy, 33:45.03. 4. Darlene Kessinger, U.S., 33:45.04. 5. Paolo Sometti, Italy, 33:46.02. No times -- 6. Mary Barriere, U.S. 7. Fiona Wass, New Zealand. 8. L. Fioni, Italy. 9. Sue Dooley, U.S. 10. Christine de Clerck, Belgium. 11. Marie-Claire van Damme, Belgium.

"World Games I Results". United Press International. 29 July 1981.

World Games website description of 1981 Games is too cheery[edit]

I just had to comment on the ridiculously cheerful ode to brotherhood and problem-free organization that The World Games website contains as its description of the 1981 Games. Of particular interest is how the writer knew what "all " of the athletes felt emotionally. Here it is, interspersed with my own emphasis and comments in italics:

"The World Games 1981 in Santa Clara was first and foremost a pioneer event, testing the concept. The City of Santa Clara was not a Host City in the sense that the city was involved in the organisation of the event. The World Games officials had found an excellent venue in the facilities and accommodation of the Santa Clara University which they rented, together with some other venues, from the city. (Other cities with venues were San Jose, Cupertino, Milpitas and Berkeley.)

"The World Games participants did not know what to expect from this new event. When they entered Santa Clara University, they felt like arriving in an “Olympic village”, as all sports were hosted together on the campus of the SCU. (The Belgian speed skaters had no sheets on their beds the first night. One roller hockey player said that he knew the Olympics and that this was nothing like the Olympics.) The meals in the dining hall of the campus were a great experience, as the participants met face-to-face with their fellow World Games competitors from other sports. The participants of World Games I were hosted for the full period of the event, so all participants were present at the Opening in the Buck Shaw Stadium. (Baseball teams were arriving directly after an international competition in Asia, so it is doubtful that they were all present at the opening ceremonies. Women’s water polo teams were arriving from a Canadian tournament and besides, they were not allowed to be part of the parade, because the IOC got its undies twisted in knots. Racquetball did not start until the next-to-last day of the Games, so their athletes’ presence on that day was doubtful too.) The games were opened by Mr. Thomas Keller, President of the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) who read out the greetings of the President of the United States of America, Mr. Ronald Reagan. (As an interested resident, I was at the opening ceremonies, and I do not recall the mention or participation of Thomas Keller, although he certainly could have been present. News articles make no mention of him. I do have a photo (now in the Wikipedia article) of the president of the World Games executive committee, Dr. Un Yong Kim, opening the Games. I was about 10 rows below where he stood. The greetings of Reagan were conveyed by Casey Conrad, not by Keller. News articles do mention Kim and Conrad.)

"The competitors focused primarily on the matches with the top-class athletes of their own sport. After the athletes finished their competitions, they visited the other sport venues, to cheer the performances of their fellow World Games competitors. (Did Pollyanna write this? Sure, it’s nice and some athletes probably did. However, the individual sports federations were supposed to pay for the room and board of their athletes, and money probably was scarce for some.) The competitions in Santa Clara were excellent tournaments with sadly very few spectators, as the residents of the City of Santa Clara were totally unaware of the event; there had been no publicity whatsoever. (I can’t speak for all the residents of Santa Clara in 1981, but as a resident of San Jose, I certainly knew about the event. It’s true there was little publicity and many people were unaware, but there were newspaper advertisements for tickets, and the local TV station’s news shows mentioned the upcoming event prior to the Games and played video highlights every day. It did not help that the Games' promotions agency, Global Sports Management of New York, pulled out in the final months.)

"Though the participants were happy with the event, the World Games organization encountered major financial problems. The event could only continue through the financial assistance of the West Nally Group (a marketing company led by Patrick Nally). In return for giving financial assistance for World Games I, the West Nally Group obtained the commercial rights of the World Games events.

"The participants of the World Games 1981 were proud to have been part of a great event. At home, however, they found that nobody, with the exception of their parents and wives, (what about husbands or boyfriends?) had any knowledge of the World Games and certainly not of their performance and results at the World Games in Santa Clara." (The United Press International news agency provided daily coverage, so any newspaper subscribing to UPI could have printed the news.)

Jeff in CA (talk) 21:03, 11 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]