The World Transplant Games (WTG) are an international multi-sport event, occurring every two years, organized by the World Transplant Games Federation (WTGF). The Games promote amateur sport amongst organ transplant recipients, living donors and donor families.
Summer and winter sports alternate years and the event is open to anyone who has received a solid organ transplant including liver, heart, lung, kidney, pancreas or bone marrow. The idea is that people who receive these organs need to take immunosuppressants for the rest of their lives and since such drugs affect athletic performance, the games were started to give donors a level playing field.[1]
The games started in 1978 in Portsmouth, England with about 100 athletes from the UK, France, Germany, Greece and the United States.
The 2023 games in Perth, Australia include competitors from more than 60 countries and include events over seven days such as cycling, swimming, darts, bowling and more.[2] There are ceremonies during each of the games to honor the families of the deceased and living donors.
| Year | Games | Host | Dates | Nations | Athletes | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | 1 |  Portsmouth, Great Britain | ||||
| 1979 | 2 | Portsmouth, Great Britain | ||||
| 1980 | 3 |  New York City, United States | ||||
| 1982 | 4 | Athens, Greece | ||||
| 1984 | 5 | Amsterdam, Netherlands | ||||
| 1987 | 6 |  Innsbruck, Austria | ||||
| 1989 | 7 | Singapore | ||||
| 1991 | 8 |  Budapest, Hungary | ||||
| 1993 | 9 |  Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | ||||
| 1995 | 10 | Manchester, Great Britain | ||||
| 1997 | 11 |  Sydney, Australia | ||||
| 1999 | 12 | Budapest, Hungary | ||||
| 2001 | 13 |  Kobe, Japan | ||||
| 2003 | 14 |  Nancy, France | ||||
| 2005 | 15 | London, Ontario, Canada | ||||
| 2007 | 16 |  Bangkok, Thailand | ||||
| 2009 | 17 | Gold Coast, Australia | ||||
| 2011 | 18 |  Gothenburg, Sweden | ||||
| 2013 | 19 | Durban, South Africa | [3] | |||
| 2015 | 20 |  Mar del Plata, Argentina | 23 – 30 August | 44 | 1,110 | [4] |
| 2017 | 21 |  Málaga, Spain | 25 June – 2 July | 52 | 2,500 | [5] |
| 2019 | 22 | Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead, Great Britain | 17 – 23 August | 60 | 2,400 | [6] |
| 2021 | 23 | 5K AnyWay (2021 Games set for Houston cancelled) | Virtual | [7] https://wtgf.org/2021-world-transplant-games-cancelled/ | ||
| 2023 | 24 | Perth, Australia | 15 – 21 April | |||
| 2025 | 25 | Dresden, Germany | 16 – 23 August | [8] https://stadion-dresden.de/2022/09/06/world-transplant-summer-games-2025-finden-in-dresden-statt/ | ||
| Year | Games | Host | Dates | Nations | Athletes | Ref | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 1 | Tignes, France | |||||||||
| 1996 | 2 | Pra-Loup, France | |||||||||
| 1999 | 3 | Snowbird, Utah, United States | |||||||||
| 2001 | 4 | Nendaz, Switzerland | |||||||||
| 2004 | 5 |  Bormio, Italy | |||||||||
| 2008 | 6 |  Rovaniemi, Finland | |||||||||
| 2010 | 7 | Sainte-Foy-Tarentaise, France | |||||||||
| 2012 | 8 | Anzere, Switzerland | |||||||||
| 2014 | 9 | La Chapelle-d'Abondance, France | |||||||||
| 2016 | align=center | - | not held | [9] | |||||||
| 2018 | 10 | Anzère, Switzerland | 7–12 January | align=right | |||||||
| 2020 | 11 | Banff, Alberta, Canada | 23–28 February | align=right | [10] | ||||||
| 2022 | (Postponed) | [11] | |||||||||
| 2024 | 12 | Bormio, Italy | 03–08 March | align=right | [12] |
Summer:
Winter:
SPORTS – DONORS(including deceased donor families and living donors)• Road Race• 50m Freestyle• Athletics:100m sprint, ball throw, long jump
worldtransplantgames.org/sports/
worldtransplantgames.org/sports-rules/
Seniors age groups:
Juniors age groups:
http://wtgf.org/sports-youth/
worldtransplantgames.org/games/
wtgf.org/results/
wtgf.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/WTWG-Medals-03-10-2020.pdf
1-CAN
2-FRA
3-USA
4-SUI
5-GBR
6-GER
7-HUN
8-ITA
9-AUT
10-NOR
11-AUS
12-POL
13-CZE
14-FIN
15-SWE