Inauguration The idea for a multi-sport event for non-Olympic sports came from the
General 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. 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. The World Games Council was renamed the
International World Games Association, or IWGA in 1985. The first edition of The World Games was held in
Santa Clara,
US, in 1981. It was opened by
Kim Un-yong, president of the World Games executive committee, at
Buck Shaw Stadium. At the opening ceremony, the athletes marched sorted by sport and not by nation. The 15 sports at the inaugural games included
badminton,
casting,
racquetball, and
taekwondo. The first medals of the Games were awarded in the 640 kilo class of
tug-of-war, with the gold going to the team from England.
Twentieth century 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 in
London. For the third Games in
Karlsruhe,
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 in
The Hague (
1993) asking the participants to pay accommodation costs. The
1997 edition of the Games was due to be held in
Port Elizabeth,
South Africa, but in August 1994, Port Elizabeth pulled out of hosting the Games due to the
political situation in the country.
Lahti in
Finland volunteered to host instead and signed the host contract in January 1995.
Airsports,
dancesport,
aerobics and
jujitsu made their debut in Lahti and have been contested at the Games ever since. 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". A further memorandum of understanding was signed in 2016.
Twenty-first century In
2001, the Games were held in
Akita,
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.
The World Games in 2005, in
Duisburg,
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. The
2013 Games in
Cali,
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. 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. The
2017 Games in
Wrocław,
Poland, were the first to be broadcast on the
Olympic Channel, to 130 countries. Both the
raffa and
lyonnaise disciplines of
boules were cancelled after a storm destroyed the venue and it could not be repaired in time. In 2015, it was announced that the
11th edition of The World Games was to be held in
Birmingham,
Alabama,
US in 2021, beating bids from
Lima in
Peru and
Ufa in
Russia. 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. No
parasports federations are currently part of the IWGA, but The World Games in Birmingham was the first edition to include parasports, with the inclusion of
wheelchair rugby. Birmingham was also to include disabled athletes (one per gender) in
archery. The IWGA is also aiming to secure a partnership with the
International Paralympic Committee and include a quota for para-athletes. ==Features==