World Games

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The World Games are an international sports competition held triannually.

History

Over the course of the 19th century, various sports leagues developed in nations around the world. By the middle of the century, international competitions began to be held, initially on an irregular basis, and generally within alliances.

Gradually, a wide range of international sports competitions arose, such as the Empire Games in the British Empire, and the Pan-German Games in the Holy Roman Empire.

As an internationalist sentiment rose in the late 19th century, there became talk of establishing international festivals, to promote world piece and friendship. One result of this was the World's Fairs. In 1895, an international conference was held in Paris, proposing an International Sports Festival, later renamed the World Games (though, confusingly, its organizing committee has retained the name International Sports Festival Committee to this day).

The International Sports Festival Committee hammered out the details. It was agreed that the games would be held in a different nation every year, and that the host nation would be responsible for organizing the games and determining the rules that would be used.

The earliest games were competitions between both national and private teams, but, by 1908, private teams had disappeared.

The first games were quadrennial, but the frequency was increased to triannual in 1912, and then biannual in 1924. Beginning in that year, a Winter Sports Festival was also held in conjunction with the Games. The games returned to a triannual schedule in 1934.

Event History: Early in the history of the World Games, the main events were limited in number to the basic field sports (rugby, football, rounders and the like). There were several "off time" events, featuring other athletic activities such as various throwing events (spear, hardball) for accuracy and distance; kicking (usually a football) also for accuracy and distance; running (short distance sprints, longer distance around a track, leaping gates and the like); scrumming; tackling and leaping (for height). There were also "off field" events, such as archery, fisty cuffs, and unofficial sports such as la crosse, bandy and cricket. The off time events were originaly played inside the stadium outside of regular event times. The off field events were held at any time, but outside the main stadium, often in a nearby venue such as a park or convenient field. They served as warm up events and entertainment for the crowds and also as ways of boosting a side's image and supporters' morale. Thus, even if a side lost its main event, participants could still claim to be fastest or strongest in some related endeavour. At first, these secondary events were played mainly by benchwarmers so the principle players would not be tired or injured for the main events.

As time has passed, these contests proved to be increasingly popular. As can be seen from the list of World Game events, the popularity of the one time off field events has secured their posiiton as main events in the modern Games.

Locations of World Games

	World Games			Winter Sports Festival
Year	Games	Host City	Country	Games	Host City	Country	Notes
1900	1st	Paris	France
1904	2nd	Athens	Greece
1908	3rd	Chicago	North American League
1912	4th	Stockholm, Sweden	Scandinavian Realm
1915		Berlin	Holy Roman Empire				Cancelled due to First Great War
1918							Cancelled due to First Great War
1921	5th	Antwerp	Batavian Kingdom
1924	6th	Toledo	Castile and Leon	1st	Chamonix	France
1926	7th	Edinburgh	Scotland	2nd	Lucirn	Helvetia
1928	8th	Boston	North American League	3rd	Oslo	Scandinavian Realm
1930	9th	Sednîr	Australasia	4th	Ōtepoti	Aotearoa
1932	10th	Vilnius	Lithuania	5th	Tallinn	Estonia
1934	11th	Berlin	Holy Roman Empire	6th	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Holy Roman Empire
1937	12th	Tòquiò	Japan	7th	Sapporo	Japan	First Games in Asia
1940							Cancelled due to Second Great War
1943							Cancelled due to Second Great War
1946							Cancelled due to Second Great War
1949	13th	Bon Aire	Riu de l'Argent				Many nations did not participate due to the Second Great War
1952	14th	Helsinki	Scandinavian Realm	8th	Zürich	Helvetia	First post-War Games
1955	15th	Munich	Holy Roman Empire	9th	Innsbruck	Austria
1958	16th	Cape Town	South Africa	10th	Ceres	South Africa	First Games in Africa
1961	17th	Belgrade	CSDS	11th	Novi Pazar	CSDS	The last World Games held in a single country
1964	18th	Xinjing	Beihanguo	12th	Trst	CSDS	The Winter Games was the only one held back-to-back in the same country. Originally, Olmyc in Bohemia was to be the winner, but a scandal broke out due to the head of the Bohemian committee getting a bribe in exchange of victory that it was given to the runner-up, Trst, the choice being controversial on its own.
1967	19th	Ciudad de Mejico	Mejico	13th	Grenoble	France
1970	20th	Rome	Papal States	14th	Pecär	Bohemia
1973	21st	New Amsterdam	NAL	15th	Kastelnow	Helvetia
1976	22nd	Ville-Marie	New Francy	16th	Innsbruck	Austria
1979	23rd	Seoul,Corea	Japan	17th	Vuriloche	Araucania and Patagonia
1982	24th	Moscow	Russian Empire	18th	Yerevan	Armenia	Boycotted by Western nations and many Muslim nations
1985	25th	Philadelphia	North American League	19th	Czieta da Saray	CSDS	Boycotted by Snorist nations
1988	26th	City of Montrei	Montrei	20th	Kartalkaya	Turkey
1991	27th	Warsina	Republic of the Two Crowns	21st	Mzaar Kfardebian	Lebanon
1994	28th	Palermo	Two Sicilies	22nd	Hamar	Scandinavian Realm
1997	29th	Manila	Bornei-Filipinas	23rd	Gudauri	Georgia
2000	30th	Viridian City	Oregon	24th	Isfahan	Persia
2003	31st	Quiòto	Japan	25th	Val de Niav	Montrei
2006	32nd	Castreleon	Kemr	26th	Turin	Italy
2009	33rd	Athens	Greece	27th	Lhasa	Tibet	The hosting of the games in Tibet was widely protested by activists opposed to the current Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government.
2012	34th	London	England	28th	Sochi	Russia
2015	35th	Rio de Janeiro	Brasil	29th	Lachung	Sikkim
2018	36th	Edo	Japan	30th	Phieñchhañ, Corea	Japan	First games since 1961 to be held in a single country. Also the second time Edo becoming the host city, this time under its current name.
2021	37th	Almaliq	Turkestan	31st	Urumchi	Uyguristan

Qualifications

In 1905, the International Sports Festival Committee revised the World Games charter, to take effect in 1908, abolishing private teams. It established the present system of National Chapters to the ISFC. Any entity with a National Chapter to the ISFC may field a team. National Chapters, despite their name, are not restricted to individual nations. A sub-national entity, with the consent of its governing nation, may have a National Chapter (but, if so, may not also participate in its governing nation's Chapter), and two or more nations may share a Chapter. For example, the Japanese Empire has no National Chapter for the Empire as a whole. Instead, there are three NC's. Corea, Ezo, and a single NC for Yamato and Lùquiù (due to Lùquiù's small size, the Lùquiù NC merged with Yamato's in 1993).

Awards

In each event, the 1st place winner is given an Olive Branch, the 2nd place winner a gold medal, the 3rd place a silver, and the 4th place bronze.

Events

The exact set of events varies from year to year. In the 2006 World Games, the following events were held: Incomplete?

• Archery
• Bandy
• Basketball
• Boxing
• Cricket
• Distance Jumping
• Distance Kicking
• Distance Throwing
• Fencing
• Hurdles
• Javelin Tossing
• Lacrosse
• Marathon
• Pole Vaulting
• Precision Kicking
• Precision Throwing
• Racing
• Relay Racing
• Rugby
• Soccer
• Swimming
• Tug of War
• Weight Lifting
• Wrestling

There are talks of including Kabaddi and Kokburu, but as of this writing, no decision has been made.