| The World Games 2022 | |
| Host City: | Birmingham, Alabama, United States |
| Nations: | 99 |
| Athletes: | 3,457 |
| Events: | 223 |
| Opening: | July 7, 2022 |
| Closing: | July 17, 2022 |
| Opened By: | Randall Woodfin |
| Stadium: | Protective Stadium |
| Previous: | Wroclaw 2017 |
| Next: | Chengdu 2025 |
The 2022 World Games were an international multi-sport event held from July 7 to 17, 2022, in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. They were the 11th World Games, a multi-sport event featuring disciplines of Olympic sports and other competitions that are not currently contested at the Olympic Games; the Games featured 3,457 athletes competing in 223 medal events over 34 total sports.[1]
They were originally scheduled to be held in 2021, but were postponed by one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They were the second edition of the World Games to be hosted by the United States since their inaugural edition in 1981.
The cities that bid for the 2022 Games were:
Lima, Peru
Ufa, Russia
Birmingham, United StatesBarcelona and Santiago also considered bids. Cities paid a $125,000 application fee, and submitted information about "venues, infrastructure, volunteers, budget, transportation[,] and other elements".
Birmingham's bid, publicly announced in June 2014, was presented by Edgar Welden, Scotty Myers, and David Benck. It was the only American city authorized to make a bid for these games. Myers, the executive director of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, said the bid was "a dream, but it's not a pipe dream. It's attainable."[2] At the time, organizers projected a budget of $75 million, and the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau anticipated an economic impact of between $224.4 million and $288.6 million in out-of-town dollars.[2]
On January 22, 2015, at its meeting in Lausanne, the International World Games Association (IWGA) elected Birmingham as host of the 2021 World Games.[3] [4]
On April 4, 2020, the Games were postponed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated postponement of the 2020 Summer Olympics.[5]
Venues for The World Games 2022 include:[6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
The 2022 World Games programme featured 30 official sports including 54 disciplines encompassing 206 events.[11] This was the first time that drone racing, canoe marathon, breaking, women's fistball, kickboxing, and parkour were included in the World Games as official sports. Softball and racquetball returned to the official World Games programme. Invitational sports comprising 17 events included duathlon,[12] flag football,[13] wheelchair rugby,[14] wushu (taolu)[15] and men's lacrosse.[16] Both men's and women's field lacrosse were played in a six-a-side format.[17] The numbers in parentheses indicate the number of medal events contested in each sports discipline.
On February 19, 2021, the International Olympic Committee announced that certain Russian athletes would be allowed to compete under the designation "ROC" (for Russian Olympic Committee) at the Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 Winter Games. This penalty also applied through end of 2022 and would have been applied to events affiliated with the International Olympic Committee, such as The World Games.
Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, athletes from Russia along with Belarus were barred from the 2022 World Games, per the IOC's recommendations.[18] Russia originally qualified 62 athletes while Belarus was set to send 11 athletes.[19] Part of the ticket revenue was donated to Ukraine for rebuilding sports venues after the Russian invasion of the country.[20] [21]
Athletes from 110 National Olympic Committees were scheduled to participate.[22] In total, athletes from 99 delegations competed at the 2022 World Games. The only representative team in the 2022 World Games not represented by a National Olympic Committee were the Haudenosaunee teams competing in lacrosse. They were originally not allowed to enter by the International World Games Association due to not having a NOC. A special dispensation was made possible by an act of sportsmanship by the Ireland lacrosse team, who withdrew from its qualifying position to allow the Haudenosaunee to compete.[23]
Source[24]
In the Women's 4 × 50 m obstacle relay of the lifesaving competition, two gold medals were awarded and thus no silver medal was awarded.[25] In the Women's 500 m sprint of the track speed skating competition, only the one gold medal was awarded as the remaining competitors in the final were disqualified.[26]
The event's medal design was unveiled in February 2022.[27]
In March 2019, The World Games 2022 unveiled a mobile experience, designed to generate excitement for the event and educate the local community on the sports of The 2022 Games.[28] The traveling Mercedes Sprinter Van includes a rock climbing wall, a sumo wrestling activity, photo opportunities and an interactive trivia game where guests can win prizes. The van made its official debut at the 15th Annual MortgageBanc Chili Cook-Off on March 2, 2019. It continues to tour throughout 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
In June 2019, The World Games 2022 announced the kickoff of their supplier diversity program, World of Opportunity.[29] The program, which was unveiled to an audience of 400 at the Birmingham CrossPlex, allows certified, diverse businesses to compete for contracts to provide goods and services for The World Games 2022. The categories accepted include (but are not limited to) transportation services, event production, security, promotional items, merchandise, sports equipment, food service, technology, printing, medical supplies, event equipment, waste removal and construction services.
In July 2021, it was announced that CBS Sports Network would broadcast one-hour highlights shows on each of the ten days of competition, and two additional one-hour specials will be shown on other CBS channels and on Paramount+.[30] Olympic Channel also carried coverage.