The World Dwarf Games (WDG) are a multi-sport event for athletes of short stature. The WDG have been held every four years since 1993 and are the world's largest sporting event exclusively for athletes with skeletal dysplasia. [1] Many Paralympians with growth disorders start their sports careers here.
In 1986, the first international competition for people of short stature was held. In 1993, 10 organizations united and launched the first World Dwarf Games. These were held in Chicago in the United States of America. The associations of these 10 countries then collectively founded the IDSF (International Dwarf Sport Federation), which has since supported a host association organizing the WDG every four years in its country. The WDG aims to motivate people under 1.50 meters from around the world to participate in sports. [2] Individuals with short stature can participate in the Paralympic Games, but only in events such as athletics, swimming, and weightlifting. During the WDG, athletes have the opportunity to participate in a wider range of sports, including soccer, basketball, floor hockey, volleyball, athletics, swimming, boccia, archery, table tennis, badminton, and weightlifting.
At the most recent event in 2023 on the campus of the German Sport University and in the Müngersdorf Sportpark in Cologne, over 500 people from 25 countries participated, with over 2,000 fans attending the event. This edition was originally planned for 2021 but had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The next event is scheduled for 2027 in Australia.
The event's growth is attributed to the increased visibility of disability sports following the 2012 Paralympics. The event promotes inclusion, recognizing abilities over disabilities, and has inspired athletes like Ellie Simmonds, a gold medal-winning swimmer, Claire Keefer, a Paralympic weightlifter and Jahmani Swanson, a Harlem Globetrotter. The Games provide a platform for aspiring Paralympians.
The International Dwarf Sports Federation oversees the organization of the World Dwarf Games. Its objective traces the historical development of dwarf participation in sports, spotlighting initial challenges such as exclusion and low self-esteem. Affiliated with the IDSF, Dwarf Sport organizations, including DAAA, DAAUK, IDSF, and their global counterparts, aim to provide Little People with equal opportunities in sports, yielding positive impacts on inclusion, self-esteem, and a sense of achievement. [3]
| Year | City | Host | Number of Countries | Number of Athletes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Chicago,  United States | Dwarf Athletic Association of America (DAAA) | 10 | 165 |
| 1997 | Peterborough,  United Kingdom | Dwarf Sports Association United Kingdom (DSAUK) | 6 | 83 |
| 2001 | Toronto,  Canada | Little People of Canada (LPC) | 8 | 250 |
| 2005 | Rambouillet,  France | France Nano Sports/L' Association des Personnes de Petite Taille | 14 | 136 |
| 2009 | Belfast, United Kingdom | Dwarf Athletic Association Northern Ireland (DAANI) | 12 | 250 |
| 2013 | East Lansing, United States | Dwarf Athletic Association of America (DAAA) | 17 | 395 |
| 2017 | Guelph, Canada | Canadian WDG Committee | 17 | 450 |
| 2023 | Cologne,  Germany | Bundesverband Kleinwüchsige Menschen und ihre Familien (BKMF) | 25 | 530 |
| 2027 [4] | To be determined,  Australia | Short Statured People of Australia (SSPA) | To be determined | To be determined |
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States (USA) | 158 | 110 | 112 | 380 |
| 2 | Great Britain (GBR) | 72 | 69 | 51 | 192 |
| 3 | Australia (AUS) | 44 | 19 | 14 | 77 |
| 4 | Canada (CAN) | 35 | 19 | 11 | 65 |
| 5 |  Ireland (IRL) | 17 | 11 | 9 | 37 |
| 6 |  India (IND) | 10 | 8 | 5 | 23 |
| 7 |  International Olympic Committee (IOC) | 6 | 6 | 4 | 16 |
| 8 | Germany (GER) | 6 | 3 | 1 | 10 |
| 9 |  Spain (ESP) | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 10 |  Brazil (BRA) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 11 |  Netherlands (NED) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 12 |  Finland (FIN) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 13 |  Sri Lanka (SRI) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 14 | France (FRA) | 1 | 1 | 5 | 7 |
| 15 |  Serbia (SRB) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 16 |  Hungary (HUN) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 17 |  Bulgaria (BUL) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals (17 entries) | 364 | 252 | 216 | 832 | |
16 Country:
16 sports:
Athletics 
Swimming
Shooting 
Powerlifting 
Badminton
Table tennis
Tennis (Recreation)
Boccia 
Archery 
Curling (Kurling) *
Floor hockey 
Soccer
Basketball
Volleyball
Flag football (Recreation) Bass fishing (Recreation)| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States (USA) | 116 | 92 | 85 | 293 |
| 2 | Great Britain (GBR) | 80 | 56 | 65 | 201 |
| 3 | Canada (CAN) | 41 | 39 | 25 | 105 |
| 4 | Australia (AUS) | 34 | 15 | 8 | 57 |
| 5 | France (FRA) | 16 | 15 | 10 | 41 |
| 6 | India (IND) | 15 | 10 | 12 | 37 |
| 7 | Spain (ESP) | 14 | 17 | 0 | 31 |
| 8 | Netherlands (NED) | 14 | 2 | 6 | 22 |
| 9 | Germany (GER) | 8 | 7 | 11 | 26 |
| 10 | Ireland (IRL) | 4 | 8 | 1 | 13 |
| 11 |  New Zealand (NZL) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 12 | Finland (FIN) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| 13 |  Russia (RUS) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 14 |  Kazakhstan (KAZ) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 15 |  Peru (PER) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 16 |  Switzerland (SUI) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 17 |  Austria (AUT) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Hungary (HUN) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 19 |  Chile (CHI) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals (19 entries) | 351 | 268 | 229 | 848 | |
The International Dwarf Sports Federation – IDSF, the organisation responsible for the organisation of the World Dwarf Games maintains affiliations and relationships with the following organizations: [5]
The event has attracted international media attention, with various international TV teams reporting and several documentaries produced to raise awareness. This broad media coverage has contributed to increasing awareness and recognition of the World Dwarf Games in the Netherlands and beyond, including:
In the UK, the BBC has widely covered several editions. [8] [9] In Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Company has often widely covered the WDG. [10] [11] [12] In Canada, news outlets like the CDC [13] have covered local athletes. In 2023 Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau sent a message of support to Canada's participating athletes. [14] In the Netherlands, there has traditionally been significant media attention devoted to the World Dwarf Games (WDG). Various media channels, including NOS, extensively covered the event in 2013, 2017 [15] as well as 2023. [15] [16] In Belgium, the WDG was covered in Gazet van Antwerpen [17] and Het Nieuwsblad. [18]
The WDG have been featured in a number of episodes on the American television series Little People, Big World on TLC. The show, centered around the dwarf members of the Roloff family, has included a number of episodes where members of the family have participated in WDG events.
The World DanceSport Federation (WDSF), formerly the International DanceSport Federation (IDSF), is the international governing body of dancesport and Para dancesport, as recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
Boccia is a precision ball sport, similar to bocce, and related to bowls and pétanque. The name "boccia" is derived from the Latin word for "boss" – bottia. The sport is contested at local, national and international levels, by athletes with severe physical disabilities. It was originally designed to be played by people with cerebral palsy but now includes athletes with other severe disabilities affecting motor skills. In 1984, it became a Paralympic sport and as of 2020, 75 boccia national organizations have joined one or more of the international organizations. Boccia is governed by the Boccia International Sports Federation (BISFed) and is one of two Paralympic sports that have no counterpart in the Olympic program, although it is a Paralympic variant of bocce (boules).
Para-athletics is the sport of athletics practiced by people with a disability as a parasport. The athletics events within the parasport are mostly the same as those available to able-bodied people, with two major exceptions in wheelchair racing and the club throw, which are specific to the division. Certain able-bodied events are rarely contested as para-athletic events outside deaf sport; pole vault, triple jump, hammer and the three hurdling events. The sport is known by various names, including disability athletics, disabled track and field and Paralympic athletics. Top-level competitors may be called elite athletes with disability.
The Dwarf Athletic Association of America (DAAA) is an American athletic organization that sponsors and organizes athletic events for people with dwarfism.
Great Britain competed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. Great Britain sent a delegation of around 400, of which 212 were athletes, to compete in eighteen sports at the Games. The team was made up of athletes from the whole United Kingdom; athletes from Northern Ireland, who may elect to hold Irish citizenship under the pre-1999 article 2 of the Irish constitution, are able to be selected to represent either Great Britain or Ireland at the Paralympics. Additionally some British overseas territories compete separately from Britain in Paralympic competition.
The United States sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China. A total of 213 U.S. competitors took part in 18 sports; the only 2 sports Americans did not compete in were soccer 5-a-side and 7-a-side. The American delegation included 16 former members of the U.S. military, including 3 veterans of the Iraq War. Among them were shot putter Scott Winkler, who was paralyzed in an accident in Iraq, and swimmer Melissa Stockwell, a former United States Army officer who lost her left leg to a roadside bomb in the war.
Boccia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics was held in the ExCeL from 2 September to 8 September, with a maximum of 104 athletes competing in seven events. There were four individual events, two pair events, and one team event.
BC1 is a boccia classification. The class is open to people with several different types of disabilities, including cerebral palsy. BC1 players have events open to them in boccia on the Paralympic Games program.
BC2 is a boccia classification. The class is open to people with several different types of disabilities, including cerebral palsy. BC2 players have events open to them in boccia on the Paralympic Games program.
BC3 is a boccia classification. The class is open to people with several different types of disabilities, including cerebral palsy. BC3 players have events open to them in boccia on the Paralympic Games program.
BC4 is a boccia classification.
Great Britain and Northern Ireland competed, under the name Great Britain, at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016. The first places for which the team qualified were for six athletes in sailing events.
Australia competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016. Australia repeated its 2012 Summer Paralympics achievement in finishing fifth of the medal tally.
Thailand competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016.
South Korea competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016.
Slovakia competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016.
Belgium competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016.
Israel competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016. They are scheduled to compete in sailing, cycling, shooting, and rowing.
Singapore competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016.
The Cerebral Palsy Games are a multi-sport competition for athletes with a disability, which under the former name of the International Stoke Mandeville Games were the forerunner of the Paralympic Games. The competition has been formerly known as the International Cerebral Palsy Games or the Stoke Mandeville Games. Since the 1990s the Games have been organized by Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association (CPISRA), so they called also CPISRA World Games.
