Mediterranean Games Explained

Formation:1951 Mediterranean Games in Alexandria, Egypt
Recurrence:Four years
Last:2022 Mediterranean Games in Oran, Algeria
Next:2026 Mediterranean Games in Taranto, Italy
Purpose:Multi-sport event for nations on the Mediterranean Sea
Leader Title:President
Leader Name:Davide Tizzano

The Mediterranean Games is a multi-sport event organised by the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM). It is held every four years among athletes from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea in Africa, Asia and Europe. The first Mediterranean Games were held in 1951 in Alexandria, Egypt, while the most recent games were held in 2022 in Oran, Algeria.

History

The idea was proposed at the 1948 Summer Olympics by Muhammed Taher Pasha, chairman of the Egyptian Olympic Committee and vice-president of the International Olympic Committee (I.O.C.), assisted by the Greek member of the I.O.C. Ioannis Ketseas.[1] Separate Mediterranean sports events preceded the games. From 1947 to 1949, the Mediterranean Athletics Championships were contested,[2] [3] and the Mediterranean Cup football competition was held in 1949 and 1950.[4] The first official Mediterranean Games were held in Egypt in 1951.

The Games were inaugurated in October 1951, in Alexandria, Egypt, in honour of Muhammed Taher Pasha, with contests being held in 13 sports along with the participation of 734 athletes from 10 countries. In 1955, in Barcelona, during the II Games, the set up was decided of a Supervisory and Controlling Body for the Games, a kind of Executive Committee. The decisions were finally materialized on 16 June 1961, and the said Body was named, upon a Greek notion, ICMG (International Committee for the Mediterranean Games). Twelve countries have hosted the Mediterranean Games: four from Africa: Egypt (1951), Tunisia (1967, 2001), Algeria (1975, 2022) and Morocco (1983); six from Europe: Spain (1955, 2005, 2018), Italy (1963, 1997, 2009), Turkey (1971, 2013), Yugoslavia (1979), Greece (1991) and France (1993) and two from Asia: Lebanon (1959) and Syria (1987).

The first eleven games took place one year before the Summer Olympic Games. Since 1993, games have been held the year after the Olympic Games. This transition means that the only time the Mediterranean Games were not held four years after the previous Games was in 1993, when Languedoc-Roussillon in France hosted the Games just two years after Athens. In 2018, the Mediterranean Games calendar was reset again when Tarragona hosted the Games in the mid-even year between the Summer Olympic Games (and the same year as the FIFA Men's World Cup).

Description

The Mediterranean Games, in terms of the preparation and composition of the National Delegation, are held under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee and the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC).

Athens is the permanent seat of the ICMG (regardless of who the President might be) and the committee's General Secretary is Greek. This comes as a further tribute to Greece, highlighting its leading role with regard to the function and strengthening of the institution. Except that Greece bailed out of its 2013 Mediterranean Games commitment when the two cities of Volos and Larissa were supposed to host the 2013 edition of the Games. But because of Greece's financial troubles, they had to give that up and the 2013 honors went instead to Turkey, with the city of Mersin rescuing the 2013 edition of the Games instead.

Participating countries

At present, 26 countries participate in the games:[5]

Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia

Lebanon, Syria and Turkey.

Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Kosovo, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Portugal, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia and Spain

Kosovo was accepted as a member of the International Committee of Mediterranean Games in October 2015 and participated for the first time in the 2018 Mediterranean Games in Tarragona, Spain.[6] One athlete representing the Vatican City participated in an unofficial ("non-scoring") manner in the women's half marathon event at the 2022 Mediterranean Games in Oran, Algeria.[7]

Of all the National Olympic Committees within the Olympic Movement bordering the Mediterranean Sea, Israel and Palestine have not participated in the games, nor has Great Britain who represents the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar and Akrotiri and Dhekelia.

In the case of Israel, Allen Guttman in The Games Must Go On argued that Israel's exclusion is both antisemitic and politically motivated due to antagonism towards Israel by the participating Muslim and Arab nations. The IOC's Avery Brundage was not supportive of Israel's desire to compete, saying: "I cannot understand why anyone wants to go where he is not wanted". The International Amateur Athletics Federation pushed the issue at the 1959 Mediterranean Games in Beirut by refusing to grant permission to hold an athletics competition unless Israel were allowed to compete. Lebanese games organizer Gabriel Gemayel conceded to this, but sidestepped the ruling by holding a parallel Lebanese Games comprising athletics events between the present nations alongside the official Mediterranean Games competitions.[8] In September 2023, European Olympic Committees president Spyros Capralos called on the International Committee of Mediterranean Games to open a discussion about admitting both Israel and Palestine as members.[9]

There are countries not bordering the Mediterranean Sea which nonetheless participate: Portugal, Andorra, Kosovo, San Marino, Serbia and North Macedonia. Serbia, Kosovo and North Macedonia were all formerly part of Yugoslavia, which competed until its breakup and dissolution.

The Hellenic Olympic Committee has suggested that nine more countries that do not satisfy geographic criteria could be allowed to participate, such as Bulgaria, and some Arab countries such as Jordan and Iraq. Portugal competed in the 2018 Mediterranean Games after a decision which approved Portugal as effective National Olympic Committee.[10] [11]

Flag

The symbol of the Mediterranean Games consists of three rings representing Asia, Africa and Europe, the three continents involved in this competition.[12] The rings dissolve in a wavy line in their lower part, as if they were immersed in the Mediterranean Sea. During the closing ceremony, the flag is transferred to the country of the city chosen to host the next Mediterranean Games.[12]

Hosts

All host cities have been coastal and all but one on the Mediterranean coast (Casablanca is on the Atlantic coast).

NoYearHost CityDatesOpened byNationsCompetitorsSportsEventsTop Country On
Medal Table
MenWomenTotal
119515 - 20 OctoberFarouk I10734 --- 73414 91
21955 Barcelona15 - 25 JulyFrancisco Franco101135---1135 20102
31959 Beirut11 - 23 OctoberFuad Chehab11792--- 79217106
41963 Naples21 - 29 SeptemberAntonio Segni131057---1057 1793
519678 - 17 SeptemberHabib Bourguiba12 1211 38 1249 14 93
619716 - 17 OctoberCevdet Sunay14 1235127 136218 137
71975 Algiers23 August - 6 SeptemberHouari Boumédiène152095349244419160
81979 Split15 - 29 SeptemberJosip Broz Tito1420093992408 26192
91983 Casablanca3 - 17 SeptemberHassan II161845335218020162
101987 Latakia11 - 25 SeptemberHafez al-Assad181529467199619162
111991 Athens28 June - 12 JulyKonstantinos Karamanlis182176586276224217
121993 Languedoc-Roussillon16 - 27 JuneFrançois Mitterrand191994604 259824217
131997 Bari13 - 25 JuneOscar Luigi Scalfaro212166790295627234
142001 Tunis2 - 15 SeptemberZine El Abidine Ben Ali23[13] 19721019299123230
152005 Almería24 June - 3 JulyJuan Carlos I2121261077320327258
162009 Pescara25 June - 5 JulyRenato Schifani23 21831185336828244
172013 Mersin20 - 30 JuneRecep Tayyip Erdoğan2419941070306427264
182018 Tarragona22 June - 1 JulyFelipe VI2621801468364828246
192022 Oran25 June - 6 JulyAbdelmadjid Tebboune2620141284329824244
202026 Taranto23 August - 3 SeptemberPresident of Italy (expected)Future Event
21203024 July - 4 AugustPresident of Kosovo (expected)Future Event
Notes

All-time medal table

Medal Table 1951–2022

Rank TeamGamesGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 19 924 791 747 2462[14]
2 19 652 600 569 1821
3 19 384 269 314 967
4 19 353 481 575 1409
5 19 200 257 349 806
6 12 199 177 182 558
7 17 156 209 255 620
8 17 89 101 159 349
9 15 86 76 131 293
10 17 72 90 116 278
11 8 57 69 79 205
12 8 55 64 99 218
13 5 54 51 58 163
14 17 32 42 76 150
15 1 23 21 30 74
16 11 19 21 25 65
17 10 11 19 18 48
18 18 10 23 42 75
19 2 10 18 21 49
20 8 6 8 25 39
21 2 6 1 3 10
22 10 5 10 8 23
23 4 4 8 10 22
24 3 3 2 9 14
25 13 2 1 14 17
26 19 1 4 4 9
27 15 1 3 1 5
28 5 0 0 0 0
29 1 0 0 0 0
Total19 3408 3409 3914 10731
- Yugoslavia competed in 1997 and 2001 as FR Yugoslavia.[15]

- Serbia competed in 2005 as Serbia and Montenegro.

Doping

Changes by Doping:

  1. Nurcan Taylan - Weightlifting at the 2009 Mediterranean Games - 53 kg Women - 2 Gold
  2. Gülcan Mıngır - Athletics at the 2013 Mediterranean Games – Results - 3000m Steeplechase Women - 1 Bronze

Competitions

Throughout the history of the Mediterranean Games, 33 different sports have been presented.

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See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: History of the Mediterranean Games. International Committee of Mediterranean Games. CIJM. 21 June 2015.
  2. http://srv-web1.parliament.gr/display_doc.asp?item=44100&seg= εφ. "Αθλητική Ημέρα", Μάιος 1935.
  3. Web site: Mediterranean Games. gbrathletics.com. 21 December 2012. The Mediterranean Games were first held in 1951, although an unofficial Games was previously held in 1949..
  4. https://www.rsssf.org/tablesm/medgames.html Mediterranean Cup and Games
  5. Web site: Participating countries. pescara2009.it. 15 March 2018.
  6. http://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1031327/exclusive-kosovo-accepted-as-member-of-international-committee-of-the-mediterranean-games Kosovo accepted as member of International Committee of the Mediterranean Games
  7. Web site: Vatican City primed for debut at Mediterranean Games . July 2022 .
  8. The games must go on: Avery Brundage and the Olympic movement, Allen Guttmann, page 225.
  9. Web site: Capralos calls on ICMG to open discussion on membership of Israel and Palestine . 13 September 2023 .
  10. News: Participation of Portugal in the MG Tarragona 2017. 20 August 2016. cijm.org.gr.
  11. News: Portugal new member of the ICMG. 1 February 2018. cijm.org.gr.
  12. Web site: 2008 . Mediterranean Games History. Mediterranean Games Site. 2008-10-02 .
  13. Web site: Archived copy . 2013-06-15 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130728092531/http://www.cijm.org.gr/images/stories/pdf/JM2001.pdf . 2013-07-28 .
  14. Web site: Medals table per country and per Games.
  15. Web site: International Committee of the Mediterranean Games.