Four cities expressed interest in hosting the 2017 Games. After examination of the files, the application of Genoa, Italy was not brought to the next step. The candidate cities were announced by the IWGA in August 2011:
Just a few days before the awarding ceremony, Cape Town withdrew its bid for financial reasons. The final decision was announced by Ron Froehlich, President of the International World Games Association, on 12 January 2012 in Lausanne. The 10th edition of The World Games was awarded to Wrocław.
The opening ceremony took place in the Stadion Miejski on 20 July 2017. Artistic conception of the opening Ceremony was implemented by Polish director and TV producer, Krzysztof Materna, who was responsible for the direction of the show, scenario details, artistry, choreography, composition, sound system specialties and all special effects of the ceremony. The ceremony highlighted aspects of Polish culture and featured the popular singer, Dawid Kwiatkowski, and Radzimir Dębski, Kamil Bednarek, and Steve Nash alongside the Turntable Orchestra. The Games were officially opened by President of International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach.
Sports
The 2017 World Games programme featured 27 official sports, and 4 invitational sports encompassing 219 events. This was the first time that floorball, women's lacrosse, and Muay Thai were included in the World Games as official sports, and the first time indoor rowing, kickboxing and motorcycle speedway were included as invitational sports. The numbers in parentheses indicate the number of medal events contested in each sports discipline.
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Participating nations
Closing ceremony
The closing ceremony was held on 30 July 2017 at Wolności Square near the National Forum of Music in Wrocław.
Calendar
Medal table
Medal design
Wrocław's medal design was unveiled in July 2017. The official sports medals were a diameter of eight centimetres, larger than the invitation sports medals which were a diameter of six centimetres. The face of the medals features The World Games logo, while the reverse displays original work by Professor Mateusz Dworski. In the centre of the medal is a globe containing the image of the Wrocław City Hall building. The medals were designed by Dworski, a lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, and were produced by the Polish National Mint. This is the table of the medal count of the 2017 World Games, based on the medal count of the International World Games Committee. These rankings sort by the number of gold medals, earned by a National Olympic Committee. The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze medals. If, after the above, countries are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically by IWGA Country Code. Although this information is provided by the IWGA, the IWGA itself does not recognize or endorse any ranking system.
The official mascots of the 2017 World Games are a boy and a girl named 'Hansel and Gretel', named after the popular fairy tale and townhouses in Wroclaw. The duo were selected from a nationwide voting in February 2015, and were chosen in November 2015. They symbolise Wroclaw as a place of positive meetings.