A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports between organized teams of athletes from (mostly) nation-states. Events are typically held over a few days to accommodate the large number of events held, often more than those in single-sport competitions. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of international significance was the modern Olympic Games. Some of the most recognised sporting events in the world today are multi-sport events – the Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games, the Pan American Games and the Mediterranean Games – among others. This article lists all major multi-sport events, whether defunct or functioning, in the modern day. A full listing of all major multi-sport events is provided in the table below.
Transnational multi-sport events are often organised across concords of cultural elements between nations. These include language, such as the Francophone Games for French-speaking nations; ethnic, such as the Maccabiah Games for Jewish athletes; political, such as the Spartakiad used to oppose the Olympics; occupation, such as the Universiade for university students; and gender, such as World Outgames for the gay community. Participation is also delineated across other lines including region, religion, age, and season (winter instead of summer). A number of multi-sport events are held within nations, where athletes representing various intra-national states or districts compete against each other; these include the Thailand National Games and the National Games of China. These differences in intended audiences are highlighted in the table.
Prior to the modern day, there were instances of multi-sport events held centuries or millennia in the past. The Tailteann Games, held near modern Telltown in Ireland, was one of the first multi-sport festivals to be recorded, with a history that traces back to 1829 BC. There were several other games held in Europe in the classical era. the Panhellenic Games encompassed the Ancient Olympic Games, which was the precursor to the modern Olympic Games; the Pythian Games; the Nemean Games; and the Isthmian Games. The Roman Games, held in ancient Rome, focused on Greek sports as well as the Etruscan sport of gladiatorial combat. Other multi-sport festivals emerged in the Middle Ages in Europe, including the Cotswold Olimpick Games in England, the Highland games in Scotland still in existence today, and the Olympiade de la République in France in the 19th century.
As these multi-sport events or festivals occurred pre-20th century, when the rules for today's modern sports were largely different or yet to be established, these are not included in the table. The events noted in this section document all known historical multi-sport events.
Scope
Multi-sport events can be classified by scope. Some cater to international audiences; some to regional audiences; and some are held within nations. These differences are presented in the table as well, in addition to other divisions such as ethnicity and historical origins as described earlier.
Similarly, there are also regional multi-sport events held that purely cater to regional audiences regardless of cultural and/or political elements. These are often grouped by continent and sub-continental regions. Each continent has at least one major continental Games; the Asian Games are held for athletes in Asia; In Africa, the African Games perform the same continental function, and In the Americas, the largest multi-sport event that fits the description is the Pan American Games; countries in Oceania compete in the Pacific Games, while Europe has two similar events, the European Games organised by the European Olympic Committees in the tradition of the Olympic Games, and the European Championships , organised by a group of European sports federations.
The criteria in listing a multi-sport event is as follows: The event should have received significant media coverage where it is covered; national, regional, or international. At the same time, organization of the event is taken charge by a formal body, with at least one sport in the event sanctioned by an international sports federation that is recognized by the International Olympic Committee or the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF).
Legend 1. Established – Year in which first edition was held 2. Year in which last edition is held 3. Recurrence (in years) 4. Location where next edition is held 5. Cultural and/or political elements that limit audiences as intended (e.g. ethnicity, religion, gender, occupation)
A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organized teams of athletes from (mostly) nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of international significance was the Olympic Games, first held in modern times in 1896 in Athens, Greece, and inspired by the Ancient Olympic Games, one of a number of such events held in antiquity. Most modern multi-sport events have the same basic structure. Games are held over the course of several days in and around a "host city", which changes for each competition. Countries send national teams to each competition, consisting of individual athletes and teams that compete in a wide variety of sports. Athletes or teams are awarded gold, silver or bronze medals for first, second and third place respectively. Each game is generally held every four years, though some are annual competitions.
The Deaflympics, also known as Deaflympiad are a periodic series of multi-sport events sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at which Deaf athletes compete at an elite level. Unlike the athletes in other IOC-sanctioned events, athletes cannot be guided by sounds. The games have been organized by the Comité International des Sports des Sourds since the first event in 1924.
A demonstration sport, or exhibition sport, is a sport which is played to promote it, rather than as part of standard medal competition. This occurs commonly during the Olympic Games, but may also occur at other sporting events.
The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad".
The International Wushu Federation (IWUF) is an international sport organization and is the governing body for wushu in all its forms worldwide. The IWUF is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and is also a member of the ARISF, GAISF, FISU, IWGA, and the ISF.
The Maccabiah Games, first held in 1932, are an international Jewish and Israeli multi-sport event held quadrennially in Israel. The Maccabiah Games are open to Jewish athletes from around the world, and to all Israeli citizens regardless of their religion. It is the third-largest sporting event in the world by number of competitors, with 10,000 athletes competing. The Maccabiah Games were declared a "Regional Sports Event" by, and under the auspices and supervision of, the International Olympic Committee in 1961.
The African Games, formally known as the All-Africa Games or the Pan African Games, are a continental multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the African Union (AU) with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) and the Association of African Sports Confederations (AASC).
The European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) is a biennial multi-sport event for youth athletes from the 50 member countries of the association of European Olympic Committees. The festival has a summer edition, held for the first time in Brussels in 1991, and a winter edition, which began two years later in Aosta. It was known as the European Youth Olympic Days from 1991 to 1999.
The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) is an international multi-sport event for athletes between 15 and 18 years old, organized by the International Olympic Committee. The games are held every four years in staggered summer and winter events consistent with the current Olympic Games format, though in reverse order with the Olympic Winter Games held in leap years instead of the Summer Olympic Games. The first summer version was held in Singapore from 14 to 26 August 2010 while the first winter version was held in Innsbruck, Austria from 13 to 22 January 2012.
The Asian Para Games, also known as Para Asiad, is a multi-sport event regulated by the Asian Paralympic Committee that's held every four years after every Asian Games for athletes with physical disabilities. Both events had adopted the strategy used by the Olympic and Paralympic Games of having both games in the same city. However, the exclusion of Asian Para Games from Asian Games host city contract meant that both events ran independently of each other. The Games are recognized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and are described as the second largest multi-sport event after the Paralympic Games.
Sports in Malaysia are an important part of Malaysian culture. Sports in Malaysia are popular from both the participation and spectating aspect. Malaysians from different walks of life join in a wide variety of sports for recreation as well as for competition. In the broadest definition of sports—physical exercise of all sorts—the four most popular recreational sports among the general population of Malaysia are exercise walking, aerobic exercise, strength training, and running. Other most popular sports are bicycling, swimming, climbing, camping, bowling, hiking, fishing, scuba diving and paragliding.
Pakistan is a member of the South Asian Zone of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), has participated in the Asian Games since their second edition in 1954. The Pakistan Olympic Association, established in 1948, and recognised in the same year by the International Olympic Committee, is the National Olympic Committee for Pakistan.
The European Games is a continental multi-sport event in the Olympic tradition contested by athletes from European nations and several transcontinental countries. The Games were envisioned and are governed by the European Olympic Committees (EOC), which announced their launch at its 41st General Assembly in Rome, on 8 December 2012.
The International Federation of Muaythai Associations, or IFMA, called the International Federation of Muaythai Amateur until 27 July 2019, is a sport governing body of amateur and professional Muay Thai and Muay boran consisting of 140 member countries worldwide with 5 continental federations after unification of International Federation of Muaythai Amateur and World Muaythai Council. IFMA is officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF), the Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations (ARISF), the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) International World Games Association (IWGA), and Trim and Fitness International Sport for All Association (TAFISA). Muaythai has been included in many official sport programs such as the World Games, World Combat Games, Arafura Games, TAFISA Games, SEA Games, Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, Asian Beach Games, Demonstration Sport in the Asian Games.
2024 in sports describes the year's events in world sport. The main highlight for this year is the 2024 Summer Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in Paris.
Asia Pacific Deaf Games is a deaf multi-sport event established in 1984 which is held every 4 years in the Asia Pacific region. It is the successor to the "Far Eastern Deaf Football Championship" which was held in Taipei in 1983. The inaugural games was held in 1984 in Hong Kong. At that time, the games was known as the Asia Pacific Deaf Football Championship which was held biennially until 1988. In 1988, the games' governing body Asia Pacific Deaf Sports Confederation was formed during the 3rd Championship in Melbourne, Australia with Ms. Wendy Home as its first administrator. The games changed its name to its present name, the Asia Pacific Deaf Games when the games was held in Seoul, South Korea in 1992 after Asia Pacific Deaf Sports Confederation passed a resolution to change the name of the games, which has since been held once every four years.
The 2021 Summer World University Games, officially known as the XXXI Summer World University Games and also known as Chengdu 2021, was a multi-sport event sanctioned by the International University Sports Federation (FISU), held from 28 July to 8 August 2023 primarily in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China. It was the fourth edition of the Games hosted by China. This is also the first edition to be referred to as the "Summer World University Games" rather than the "Summer Universiade." The games marked the 15th anniversary of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.
The Lake Placid 2023 FISU World University Games, commonly known as Lake Placid 2023, was a collegiate multi-sport winter sports held between January 12 to January 22, 2023 and had Lake Placid, New York, United States, as main host city. Alongside Lake Placid, events were also hosted by neighbouring cities of Wilmington, Saranac Lake, Potsdam and North Creek also located at the New York state. The event is also known as the 31st Winter Universiade as administered by the International University Sports Federation (FISU).
World Skate is the only governing body in the world for all sports performed on skating wheels. The organisation is the successor of the Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports (FIRS) founded on 21 April 1924.
The 2025 FISU Winter World University Games, also known as the XXXII Winter World University Games, or the 32nd Winter Universiade, and commonly known as Turin 2025 or Torino 2025, is a multi-sport event scheduled from Jan. 13-23, 2025, in Turin, Italy. The Piedmontese capital was confirmed as the host city for the games on 15 May 2021. This will be the 12th time in the history that the event will be held in Italy after occurring for the seventh time after the most recent 2019 Summer Universiade held in Naples.
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