World Games

The World Games are an international event in sports that are not part of the competition programme of the Olympic Games, but nevertheless have a high worldwide spread.

They are held every four years at changing venues, in the year following each Summer Olympic Games. They are organized by the International World Games Association (IWGA) under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee.

Although the World Games, like the Olympic Games, are an international sporting event and involve competitions between the world's top athletes, they are characterised by two special features:

• Participating athletes are representatives of their sport and are selected by the relevant international sports federation and not by umbrella organisations in their home countries.
• Existing facilities will be used as venues for the competitions.

The event consists of selected sports that have Olympic recognition but are not part of the Olympic Games competition programme. Parallel programmes are offered in which the general public can participate, the aim here being the general dissemination of the sport in question and exchanges between local residents and athletes and officials participating/visiting from all over the world. In addition to official sports, which are decided by the IWGA General Assembly, there are invitational sports, which are included in the programme by the respective local organiser (mostly due to good chances of success of the local teams or a hoped-for large spectator interest).

History

In 1980, the World Games Council was founded by various international sports federations whose sports were waiting to be included in the Olympic competition programme. Its purpose is to give a platform to sports not represented at the Summer Olympics. In 1981, the first official games took place in Santa Clara (USA). Three years earlier, the so-called Pre World Games were held in Seoul (Korea) in 1978.

In 1996, the World Games Council was renamed the International World Games Association (IWGA). Since 2000, the Games have been held under the auspices of the IOC.

The World Games have so far been held twice in Germany. Karlsruhe hosted the World Games in 1989 and Duisburg hosted the World Games in 2005, where 3000 athletes competed in 40 non-Olympic sports, held in 25 venues. On 17 March 2008, the IWGA selected the cities of Duisburg and Düsseldorf from among 20 competitors to host the 2013 World Games. On 8 December 2008, however, the city of Duisburg cancelled its bid for financial reasons, after which Düsseldorf also withdrew its application.

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