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.
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 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 is an international multi-sport event with summer and winter sports competitions featuring Jews and Israeli regardless of religion. Held every four years in Israel, the Maccabiah Games is considered the foremost sports competition for global Jewry.
The International University Sports Federation is responsible for the organization and governance of worldwide sports competitions for student-athletes between the ages of 17 and 25. It was founded in 1949 as the world governing body of national university sports organizations and currently has 165 member associations from five continents. Between 1949 and 2011, it was based in Brussels (Belgium); it was relocated to Lausanne (Switzerland) since 2011.
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 with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa and the Association of African Sports Confederation.
The International Children's Games (ICG) is an International Olympic Committee-sanctioned event held every year where children from cities around the world and between the ages of 12 and 15 participate in a variety of sports and cultural activities.
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.
Youth Olympic Games is an international multi-sport event for athletes aged 15 to 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 Games of the Olympiad. The first summer version was held in Singapore from 14 to 26 August 2010 while the first winter version was held in Austria from 13 to 22 January 2012.
The Asian Youth Games, also known as AYG, is a multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games have been organized by the Olympic Council of Asia. The Games are described as the second largest continental multi-sport event after the Asian Games.
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 and are described as the second largest multi-sport event after the Paralympic Games.
India is a member of the South Asian Zone of the Olympic Council of Asia, and has participated in the Asian Games ever since their inception in 1951. The Indian Olympic Association was established in 1927 and was recognised by the International Olympic Committee in the same year. It is the country's National Olympic Committee.
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.
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 (2021年夏季世界大学生运动会), 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 in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. It was the fourth time the Games was hosted in China. This is the first time the Games was referred to as the "Summer World University Games" rather than the "Summer Universiade."
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).
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 13–23 January 2025, in Turin, Italy. The Piedmontese capital was confirmed as the host city for the games on 15 May 2021. This will be the 7th time in the history that the event will be held in Italy and 2nd time in the city, as the 2007 Winter Universiade was also held there. The city is considered the birthplace of the event, as in 1959 Summer Universiade, its first summer and winter edition was also held there. Torino also hosted the 1970 Summer Universiade and is the second dual World University Games host city, as Sofia in Bulgaria is the first.
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