World Abilitysport Games

Last updated
World Abilitysport Games
Formerly
  • International Stoke Mandeville Games (1952–1995)
  • World Wheelchair Games (1997-2003)
  • World Wheelchair and Amputee Games (2005-2007)
  • IWAS World Games (2009-2022)
Sport Parasports
Founded1948
ContinentInternational (IPC)

The World Abilitysport Games (known as the IWAS World Games before 2023) are a parasports multi-sport event for athletes who use wheelchairs or are amputees. Organized by World Abilitysport (formerly IWAS), the Games are a successor to the original Stoke Mandeville Games founded in 1948 by Ludwig Guttmann, and the International Stoke Mandeville Games—the first international sporting competition for athletes with disabilities, and the forerunner to the modern Paralympic Games.

Contents

The 1960, 1964, 1968, and 1972 editions were held in the same host country as the Summer Olympics; they were later retroactively recognized as the first four Paralympic Games. After the Paralympics expanded to include events for disability classifications other than wheelchairs, the ISMG for wheelchair athletes continued to be hosted in Stoke Mandeville, and later other countries, in non-Paralympic years.

History

The event was first established in 1948 as the Stoke Mandeville Games by neurologist Ludwig Guttmann, who organized a sporting competition involving World War II veterans with spinal cord injuries at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital rehabilitation facility in Aylesbury, England, taking place concurrently with the first post-war Olympic Games in London. In 1952, the Netherlands joined in the event, creating the first international sports competition for athletes with a disability, after which it was renamed the International Stoke Mandeville Games. [1]

In 1960 and subsequent Olympic years, the ISMG began to increasingly be hosted in the same country (if not the same host city) as their respective Olympics, with all other editions remaining in Stoke Mandeville. The Games were also increasingly referred to as "Paralympics", originally in reference to paraplegia, but later officially referring to an event operating in parallel with the Olympic movement. While the Paralympic Games evolved to include athletes from all disability groups beginning in 1976, the Stoke Mandeville Games continued to be organized as a multi-sport event for wheelchair athletes in non-Paralympic years. Games were held annually in Aylesbury under the direction of the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation (ISMGF), which later became the International Stoke Mandeville Wheelchair Sports Federation (ISMWSF).

In 2003, the Games were combined with a competition for amputee athletes organized by the International Sports Organization for the Disabled (ISOD). In 2004, ISMWSF and ISOD merged to create the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS). The Games were subsequently renamed the "World Wheelchair and Amputee Games" in 2005, and later renamed to simply the "IWAS World Games".

Games by year

Israeli delegation to the games, 1969 Dan Hadani collection (990044357180205171).jpg
Israeli delegation to the games, 1969

The inaugural competition, initially named "Stoke Mandeville Games for the Paralyzed" in 1948, was just named "Stoke Mandeville Games" the next year, before becoming the "International Stoke Mandeville Games" (ISMG) in 1952.

Beginning in 1960 during Summer Olympic years, the ISMG were held in the same host city as the Summer Olympics. These particular editions of the Games were retroactively recognised as being the first four Paralympic Games. The Games were otherwise hosted in Stoke Mandeville in all other years. Beginning in 1976, the Paralympic Games began hosting events for amputees and the visually impaired; at this point, the Paralympics were no longer credited as being editions of the ISMG, and thus went on hiatus during Paralympic years.

YearName of the eventHostAnnotation
1948Stoke Mandeville Games for the Paralyzed [2] Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom July 28, 1948, archery competition, 16 competitors [3] (14 men, 2 women [4] )
1949Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom Six teams competed.'wheelchair netball' (later wheelchair basketball) was introduced. [5]
1950Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1951Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
19521st International Stoke Mandeville Games [6] Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom A Dutch team participated, making it an international event [3]
19532nd International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
19543rd International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
19554th International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
19565th International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
19576th International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
19587th International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
19598th International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1960 9th International Stoke Mandeville Games [7] Flag of Italy.svg Rome, Italy 400 competitors from 23 countries (10 with medalists) in 8 sports. 1st edition occurring outside UK, in the same host city as the Summer Olympic Games, in the hope of becoming better internationally recognized and integrated with other national and international sports federations to organize what will become later the Paralympic Games.
196110th International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
196211th International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
196312th International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1964 13th International Stoke Mandeville Games [8] Flag of Japan.svg Tokyo, Japan
196514th International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
196615th International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
196716th International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1968 17th International Stoke Mandeville Games [9] Flag of Israel.svg Tel Aviv, Israel
196918th International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
197019th International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
197120th International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1972 1972 Summer Paralympics [9] [10] Flag of Germany.svg Heidelberg, West Germany
197322nd International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
197423rd International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
197524th International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
197725th International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
197826th International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
197927th International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
198128th International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
198229th International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
198330th International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
198531st International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
198632nd International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
198733rd International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
198934th International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
199035th International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
199136th International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
199337th International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
199438th International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
199539th International Stoke Mandeville Games Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom

From 1997, the International Stoke Mandeville Games became the "World Wheelchair Games"; it was later renamed "World Wheelchair and Amputee Games" from 2005, "IWAS World Games" in 2009, and "World Abilitysport Games" in 2023.

YearName of the eventHostAnnotation
1997World Wheelchair Games
1998World Wheelchair Games
1999World Wheelchair Games Flag of New Zealand.svg Christchurch, New Zealand
2001World Wheelchair Games [11]
2002World Wheelchair Games [11]
2003World Wheelchair Games [11] Flag of New Zealand.svg Christchurch, New Zealand
2005World Wheelchair and Amputee Games [12] Flag of Brazil.svg Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Over 700 athletes from 44 nations. Five events: track and field, table tennis, archery, shooting, and billiards. [13]
2006World Wheelchair and Amputee Games Flag of India.svg Bangalore, Karnataka, India
2007World Wheelchair and Amputee Games [14] Flag of Chinese Taipei for Olympic games.svg Taipei, Chinese Taipei
2009IWAS World Games [15] [16] [17] [18] Flag of India.svg Bangalore, Karnataka, India
2011IWAS World Games Flag of the United Arab Emirates.svg Sharjah, United Arab Emirates December 1–10, 2011 [19]
2013IWAS World Games Flag of the Netherlands.svg Stadskanaal, Netherlands
2015IWAS World Games Flag of Russia.svg Sochi, Russia
2017IWAS World Games Flag of Portugal.svg Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal
2019IWAS World Games Flag of the United Arab Emirates.svg Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
2020IWAS World Games Flag of Thailand.svg Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [20]
2021IWAS World Games Flag of Portugal.svg Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [21]
2022IWAS World Games Flag of Portugal.svg Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal Originally scheduled to be hosted by Sochi, Russia, IWAS stripped Sochi of its hosting rights in March 2022 in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and banned Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from participating. [22]

The Games were relocated to Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal, which was originally scheduled to host the Games in 2021. [23]

2023World Abilitysport Games Flag of Thailand.svg Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand

IWAS Under 23 World Games (IWAS Junior World Games)

For some years now, the IWAS Federation has hosted junior competitions, which were named IWAS World Junior Games by 2015. Since 2016 they are called IWAS Under 23 World Games and will only be played in years with even numbers. [24]

No.YearDatesHost CityVenueEventsResults List
1 2005 6–7 July Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom Result list [ permanent dead link ]
2 2006 14–16 July Flag of Ireland.svg Dublin, Ireland Result list
3 2007 4–6 April Flag of South Africa.svg Ekurhuleni, South Africa Germiston Sports Precinct Result list Archived 2016-09-16 at the Wayback Machine
4 2008 18–27 July Flag of the United States.svg Piscataway, New Jersey, United States Results Archived 2016-09-16 at the Wayback Machine
5 2009 16–19 July Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Nottwil, Switzerland SPZ Nottwil Result list [ permanent dead link ]
6 2010 19–26 August Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Olomouc, Czech Republic Results Archived 2018-09-17 at the Wayback Machine
7 2011 14–21 April Flag of the United Arab Emirates.svg Dubai, United Arab Emirates Result List [ permanent dead link ]
8 2012 19–21 July Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Olomouc, Czech Republic Results [ permanent dead link ]
9 2013 14–21 August Flag of Puerto Rico.svg Mayaguez, Puerto Rico Central American Stadium Ergebnisliste [ permanent dead link ]
10 2014 3–7 August Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom Results
11 2015 2–8 July Flag of the Netherlands.svg Stadskanaal, Netherlands Sportpark Stadskanaal Ergebnisliste [ permanent dead link ]
12 2016 29 June–3 July Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Prague, Czech Republic Results [ permanent dead link ]

World Abilitysport Guttmann Games

In 2024, World Abilitysport announced its inaugural Guttmann Games. Named after the founder of the Stoke Mandeville Games, the event will take place in Stoke Mandeville in July 2024, and feature competition in sports not on the Paralympic programme. It is scheduled to feature para dance sport and power hockey competitions, as well as wheelchair cricket as a demonstration sport. [25]

See also

Related Research Articles

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The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, are held almost immediately following the respective Olympic Games. All Paralympic Games are governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1984 Summer Paralympics</span> Multi-parasport event in the US and UK

The 1984 International Games for the Disabled, canonically the 1984 Summer Paralympics, were the seventh Paralympic Games to be held. There were two separate competitions: one in Stoke Mandeville, England, United Kingdom for wheelchair athletes with spinal cord injuries and the other at the Mitchel Athletic Complex and Hofstra University on Long Island, New York, United States for wheelchair and ambulatory athletes with cerebral palsy, amputees, and les autres [the others]. Stoke Mandeville had been the location of the Stoke Mandeville Games from 1948 onwards, seen as the precursors to the Paralympic Games, as the 9th International Stoke Mandeville Games in Rome in 1960 are now recognised as the first Summer Paralympics. As with the 1984 Summer Olympics, the Soviet Union and other communist countries except China, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Yugoslavia boycotted the Paralympic Games. The Soviet Union did not participate in the Paralympics at the time, arguing that they have no disabled people in the country. The USSR made its Paralympic debut in 1988, during Perestroika.

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References

  1. ↑ Vanlandewijck, Yves (2011). The Paralympic Athlete : Handbook of Sports Medicine and Science . Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. pp.  3–30.
  2. ↑ Paralympics: Where Heroes Come Archived 2010-06-11 at the Wayback Machine , by Dr. Robert Steadward and Cynthia Peterson. Edmonton, Alberta: One Shot Holdings Ltd., 1997, melazerte.com, May 30, 2010.
  3. 1 2 Remembering Paralympics past, BBC, July 15, 2008.
  4. ↑ The Paralympics: It all started with Veterans Archived 2016-08-15 at the Wayback Machine . Veteran Affairs Canada
  5. ↑ "the very first gamez". mandeville legacy.
  6. ↑ Chronology of Events in the Development of Wheelchair Basketball Archived 2011-04-30 at the Wayback Machine , International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF)
  7. ↑ Rome 1960, International Paralympic Committee (IPC)
  8. ↑ The Thirteenth International Stoke Mandeville Games for The Paralysed, dinf.ne.jp, March 17, 1999.
  9. 1 2 Summer Games Governance 1960 to 1992 Archived 2012-12-16 at archive.today , International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS)
  10. ↑ 21st Wheelchair Olympics, by Charles J. Bierbauer, The Pittsburgh Press, August 1, 1972, Google News Archive Search
  11. 1 2 3 2003 World Wheelchair Games / Jeux Mondiaux 2003 Archived 2010-02-17 at the Wayback Machine , Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association
  12. ↑ 2005 World Wheelchair and Amputee Games Archived 2010-12-12 at the Wayback Machine , cwsa.ca
  13. ↑ 21. Sports – Accomplishments Abroad – The First IWAS World Wheelchair and Amputee Games Archived 2011-06-18 at the Wayback Machine , gio.gov.tw
  14. ↑ Singapore wins 14 medals at 2007 World Wheelchair and Amputee Games, sglead.wordpress.com, September 18, 2007.
  15. ↑ Official website of the 2009 IWAS World Games Archived 2010-05-07 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ↑ 2009 IWAS World Wheelchair & Amputee Games, International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS) Archived 2012-09-08 at archive.today
  17. ↑ The Official Website of 2009 IWAS World Games Archived 2010-05-07 at the Wayback Machine
  18. ↑ 2009 IWAS World Games [ permanent dead link ], International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS), November 24, 2009.
  19. ↑ IWAS announced today that the bid to host the IWAS World Games [ permanent dead link ], International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS), February 8, 2011.
  20. ↑ "IWAS World Games cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic". www.insidethegames.biz. 2020-10-03. Retrieved 2024-03-24.
  21. ↑ "IWAS World Games in Portugal cancelled due to COVID-19". www.insidethegames.biz. 2021-09-27. Retrieved 2024-03-24.
  22. ↑ "IWAS Statement – Russia and Belarus". Int'l Wheelchair & Amputee Sports Federation. 9 March 2022. Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  23. ↑ "IWAS relocates 2022 World Games to Vila Real de Santo Antonio in Portugal". www.insidethegames.biz. 2022-03-16. Retrieved 2024-03-24.
  24. ↑ IWAS announces a new look for their IWAS Games programme [ permanent dead link ], auf: iwasf.com, retrieved 9 September 2016.
  25. ↑ "Inaugural World Abilitysport Guttmann Games Details Announced - World Abilitysport". worldabilitysport.org. 2024-01-11. Retrieved 2024-03-24.
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