World Games


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, recognized by the International Olympic Committee. The World Games are held every four years, one year after the Summer Olympic Games. The next host city will be Birmingham, United States in 2022 then Chengdu, China in 2025.
A number of the sports that were on the programme of the World Games have been discontinued because they are now included in the programme of the Olympic Games, for example badminton, beach volleyball, trampolining, rugby sevens, taekwondo, triathlon, and women's weightlifting. Other sports have been Olympic sports in the past.
Some of the sports that are held at the World Games are acrobatic gymnastics, ultimate, orienteering, karate, powerlifting, tug of war, finswimming, squash, korfball, billiards, water skiing, and dance sport. 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. Between 25 and 30 sports have been included in the official programme of the World Games. In addition, the IWGA, in coordination with the host city, can invite some sport to participate in the "invitational" programme.
To become part of the World Games programme, the sport must be widely spread in the world and the specific international sports federation must be a member of the IWGA. In each sport, only the best athletes or teams may participate, as determined by the international sports federations. In most classes, it is necessary to qualify by a top ranking at the world championships or a qualification tournament to be able to participate.

Editions

YearEditionHost CityHost CountryOpened byAthletesCountriesOfficial
Sports		Invitational
Sports		Official
Events		Top of the Medal Table
19811Santa ClaraKim Un-yong174558151104
19852LondonCharles Palmer122757201134
19893KarlsruheRichard von Weizsäcker120650172112
19934The HagueBeatrix of the Netherlands226472224155
19975LahtiMartti Ahtisaari137973226164
20016AkitaAtsuko Toyama196893225140
20057DuisburgOtto Schily246493276169
20098KaohsiungMa Ying-jeou2536101265165
20139CaliAngelino Garzón2982103265171
201710WrocławThomas Bach3168102274199
202211Birmingham
202512Chengdu

1 The Republic of China is recognised as Chinese Taipei by International World Games Association and the majority of international organisations it participates in due to political considerations and Cross-Strait relations with the People's Republic of China.

Sports/disciplines

These were the official sports/disciplines of the 2017 World Games programme.

Artistic and dance sports

Through the 2017 World Games

Footnotes