Midterm Report of The World Games 2017 Wroclaw, Poland
IOC congratulates IWGA “on the outstanding success“
As we reach the half-way point, the International World Games Association draws a positive report from the 10th edition of The World Games 2017 in Wroclaw/Poland. IWGA President José Perurena stated after five of ten competition days: ”I am fully satisfied with what I've experienced so far.”
José Perurena finds support from notable experts. IOC Sports Director Kit McConnell, member of an IOC observer team in Wroclaw, wrote in a letter to IWGA President Perurena and CEO Joachim Gossow: “My sincere congratulations on the outstanding success of this event. The levels of organisation and branding I saw during my time in Wroclaw were particularly impressive and the appreciation of the athletes.”
After visiting the Sport Climbing venue IOC President Dr. Thomas Bach said: “The sport is also a sport on the Olympic program in Tokyo 2020. Why? You can see here because with climbing you can address the challenges of modern sports. This means we have to go where the people are: to the urban centres.”
Dirk Schimmelpfennig, Chef de Mission for the Team Deutschland, underlined during the IWGA press conference the quality of the multi-sports event: “We have world class competition here. We find the best athletes in each sport here in Wroclaw. The World Games have done the next step. The event in Wroclaw has come closer to the Olympic level. This is important for the sport to take the next step into the Olympic program.”
Looking on the numbers the multi-sport event exceeds the expectations as well. On Wednesday 147,000 tickets were sold, 75 per cent of the total. For many sessions that see medals awarded, the Wroclaw organizers achieved a ticket sale percentage of 90 to 95 per cent. Some competitions such as Finswimming, Billards, Karate, Squash, Speedway, and Tug of War are sold out.
The coverage of The World Games 2017 on the Olympic Channel has been very successful, according to IWGA CEO Joachim Gossow. Thanks to the cooperation with the Olympic Channel, the events can be watched for the first time all over the world.
The IWGA CEO praised the quality of the production, comprising more the 340 hours of content, provided by the Spanish production company ISB in cooperation with ATM system from Poland: “I think we are delivering the best pictures we ever had of The World Games and of some of the sports in our event.”
Live feeds, news clips and delayed recaps of the competition are available for TV channels in more than 120 countries such as China, Germany, Japan, Russia and the USA, transmitted over the Olympic Channel, a newly launched internet television network.
The World Games will conclude on Sunday after ten competition days and 222 medal events from 31 sports (27 on the official programme – 4 invitational sports). More than 3250 athletes from 111 countries are performing at The World Games.