World Games sports

The World Games sports comprise all the sports contested in The World Games. ^[1] Starting in Birmingham 2022, there was no distinction between official and invitational sports. José Perurena, IWGA President, stated, "In Birmingham, for the first time, invitational sports were no longer presented separately but were also part of the official programme." ^[2] This is now The World Games policy.

Sports

Disciplines from the same sport are grouped under the same color:

  Included in the Olympic program

  As invitational sport

Official sports
Sport (Discipline)			Body	1981	1985	1989	1993	1997	2001	2005	2009	2013	2017	2022	2025
Air sports			FAI					5	4	5	5	3	3	2	1
Archery			WA		4	4	6	6	6	6	6	7	7	7	7
Beach handball			IHF						2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Billiard sports	Billiards		WCBS						1	1	1	1	1	1	2
	Pool								2	2	2	2	2	2	3
	Snooker								1	1	1	1	1	1	2
Boules sports			WPBF		1	2	2	2	4	6	8	8	12	4	6
Bowling			IBF [s 1]	3	5	3	3	3	3	6	3	3	4	4
Canoe	Canoe marathon		ICF									6		4	4
	Canoe polo									2	2	2	2	2	2
	Dragon boat									4	4				6
Cheerleading			ICU												1
Dancesport			WDSF					2	2	3	3	3	4	5	4
Duathlon			TRI									2			3
Fistball			IFA		1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2
Flag football			IFAF											2 [2]	1
Floorball			IFF					1					1	1	2
Flying disc	Disc golf		WFDF						2						1
	Ultimate					• [3]			1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Gymnastics	Acrobatic gymnastics		World Gymnastics				15	15	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
	Aerobic gymnastics							4	4	5	5	7	5	4	4
	Rhythmic gymnastics								4	4	4	3	4	4
	Trampoline and Tumbling			8	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	4	6
	Parkour													4	4
Ju-jitsu			JJIF					10	9	10	10	13	22	18	19
Karate			WKF	9	12	12	12	12	12	13	13	12	12	12	12
Kickboxing			WAKO										7	6	12
Korfball			IKF		1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2
Lacrosse (women's)			WL										1	1	1
Lifesaving			ILS		10	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16
Muaythai			IFMA										11	12	6
Orienteering			IOF						3	3	5	5	5	5	5
Powerboating			UIM												3
Powerlifting			IPF	9	3	6	6	6	6	6	8	8	8	8	16
Racquetball			IRF	4	2		2				2	2		2	3
Roller sports	Artistic roller skating		WSkate [s 2]	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3
	Roller hockey			1	1	1	1		1
	Inline hockey									1	1	1	1	1	1
	Inline speed skating			8	12	10	10	10	10	12	10	18	18	18	18
	Inline freestyle														4
Sambo			FIAS		17		9								11
Softball			WBSC [s 3]	2	1			1996-2008			1	1		1	2
Sport climbing			IFSC							4	4	4	6	6	6
Squash			WS					2		2	2	2	2	2	2
Sumo			IFS						8	8	8	8	8	8
Tug of war			TWIF	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	3
Underwater sports	Finswimming		CMAS	12	17	14	14	16	10	10	10	10	14	16	16
	Freediving														9
Water skiing, Wakeboard			IWWF	8	6	6	6	12	6	8	6	8	8	8	6
Wheelchair rugby [s 4]			WWR											1 [2]
Wushu			IWUF								13	16		10 [2]	12
Previous official sports
Sport (Discipline)			Body	1981	1985	1989	1993	1997	2001	2005	2009	2013	2017	2022	2025
Badminton			BWF	5			since 1992
Baseball			WBSC [s 3]	1			1992-2008							2020
Beach volleyball			FIVB				2	since 1996
Bodybuilding			IFBB	6	6	6	7	9	7	7	7
Casting			ICSF	11	12		13	12	6	6
Indoor cycling			UCI			5
Netball			World Netball		1	1	1
Rugby sevens			WR [s 5]						1	1	1	1	since 2016
Taekwondo			WT	10	8	12	12		since 2000
Triathlon			TRI			• [3]	4		since 2000
Weightlifting (women)			IWF					9	since 2000
Invitational sports
Sport (Discipline)			Body	1981	1985	1989	1993	1997	2001	2005	2009	2013	2017	2022	2025
Water polo (women) [s 6]			AQUA	1					since 2000
American football			IFAF							1			1
Motocross			FIM		•
Speedway					•								1
Indoor motorcycle trials										1
Aikido			IAF			•	•	•	•	•
Bahn golf			WMF			•
Boomerang						• [3]
Baton twirling							• [5]
Equestrian vaulting			FEI				•
Boule Lyonnaise [s 7]			WPBF					2
Military pentathlon			IMSC					2
Pesäpallo								1
Tug of war (women)			TWIF					2	1
Gateball			WGU						1
Indoor hockey			FIH							2
Tchoukball			FITB								2
Indoor rowing			WR										7
Lacrosse (men's)			WL											1 [2]
Medal Events				104	125	112	155	165	140	169	164	199	201	223	256
Official sports				15	20	19	21	23	27	31	31	32	27	30	35
Invitational sports				1	4	5	3	6	5	6	5	4	4	5	N/A

1. The world governing body for nine-pin and ten-pin bowling changed its name from Fédération Internationale des Quilleurs to World Bowling in 2014.
2. Previously Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports which merged with International Skateboarding Federation in September 2017 to form the current World Skate.
3. The World Baseball Softball Confederation, which currently governs both baseball and softball, was created by a 2013 merger of two former governing bodies—the International Baseball Federation and the International Softball Federation.
4. Paralympic Sport since 2000
5. During the period in which rugby sevens was contested at the World Games, the world governing body was known as the International Rugby Board. The current name of World Rugby was adopted in 2014.
6. A structured invitational sport program did not exist for the 1981 World Games. Press coverage did not refer to water polo as an invitational sport. An agreement was reached with FINA in the lead-up to the games not to allow women's water polo athletes to march in the opening ceremony, to assuage the displeasure of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for its being included in the program. ^[4]
7. From 2001 Boule Lyonnaise has been part of the Boules Sports program.

Past TWG sports and disciplines

• Bodybuilding (Bodybuilding, Fitness) – Last contested in 2009 ^[6]
• Bowling (Nine-pin bowling) – Contested only in 2005 as official
• Cable wakeboard - Contested in 2005 and 2025 as official
• Casting – Last contested in 2005
• Flying Disc (Disc golf) – Contested in 2001 and 2025 as official
• Indoor cycling (Artistic cycling, Cycle ball) – Contested only in 1989 as official
• Lifesaving (Beach) – Last contested in 2009
• Netball – Last contested in 1993
• Roller hockey (quad skate) - Last contested in 2001

Past TWG sports and disciplines added to the Olympic Games

• Badminton – became an Olympic sport at the 1992 Summer Olympics
• Baseball and Softball – were Olympic sports from 1992 (baseball)/1996 (softball) to 2008, and returned to the Olympics in 2020 and 2028 as optional sports
• Beach volleyball - became an Olympic sport at the 1996 Summer Olympics
• Breakdancing - became an Olympic sport at the 2024 Summer Olympics
• Flag football – will become an Olympic sport at the 2028 Summer Olympics
• Karate – became an Olympic sport at the 2020 Summer Olympics
• Lacrosse sixes – will become an Olympic sport at the 2028 Summer Olympics (lacrosse was competed at the 1904 and 1908 Summer Olympics as field lacrosse)
• Rugby sevens – became an Olympic sport at the 2016 Summer Olympics (rugby union was competed as 15-a-side at the 1900, 1908, 1920 and 1924 Summer Olympics)
• Sport climbing – became an Olympic sport at the 2020 Summer Olympics
• Squash – will become an Olympic sport at the 2028 Summer Olympics
• Taekwondo – became an Olympic sport at the 2000 Summer Olympics
• Trampoline – certain individual events were introduced at the 2000 Summer Olympics
• Triathlon – became an Olympic sport at the 2000 Summer Olympics
• Water polo (women) - became an Olympic sport at the 2000 Summer Olympics (men never competed in water polo in The World Games, as it has been in all Summer Olympics since 1900)
• Weightlifting (women) - became an Olympic sport at the 2000 Summer Olympics (men never competed in weightlifting in The World Games, as it has been all Summer Olympics since 1920 and was also in the Summer Olympics in 1896 and 1904)

References

1. "World Games". sports123.com. Archived from the original on June 17, 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
2. "Interview of the Month | IWGA". The World Games. 22 Dec 2022. Retrieved 2024-02-25.
3. "THE WORLD GAMES CONTINUE TO GROW!". TheWorldGames.org. IWGA. 2019. Retrieved 2021-07-14. (In 1989) Aikido and Minigolf were presented as invitational sports, and Triathlon, Boomerang and Flying Disc were among the demonstration sports. This was the first time there were sports demonstrations at The World Games.
4. Berkow, Ira (July 28, 1981). "Unheralded Sports Exert a Pull, Too". New York Times. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
5. "History | World Baton Twirling Federation". www.wbtf.org. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
6. After various violations of Anti-Doping Rules at the 2009 World Games, IWGA decided to remove the sport from the program for the 2013 World Games in Cali. "IWGA - Body Building". theworldgames.org. Retrieved 3 July 2013.

External links

• The Sports of the World Games at International World Games Association web site