Mediterranean Games

Mediterranean Games

Flag of the games
Alexandria Mediterranean Games 1951
First event	1951, in Alexandria, Egypt
Occur every	four years
Last event	2013, Mersin, Turkey
Purpose	Sports for the Mediterranean
President	Mr. Amar Addadi (Algeria)
Website	International Mediterranean Games Committee

The Mediterranean Games are a multi-sport games held every four years, between nations around or very close to the Mediterranean Sea, where Europe, Africa and Asia meet. The games are under the auspices of the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM).

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] In 1949 an unofficial event was held in Istanbul, Turkey^[2] but 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 June 16, 1961, and the said Body was named, upon a Greek notion, ICMG (International Committee for the Mediterranean Games).

The first 11 games took place always one year preceding the Summer Olympic Games. However, from 1993 on, they were held the year following the Olympic games. This transition meant 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.

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). However, their establishment too must be credited to the HOC, for it held a leading part in their being founded despite all difficulties.

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.

The logo of the games, also referred to as the "Mediterranean Olympics", is composed of three white rings symbolically representing Africa, Asia, and Europe — the three continents that border the Mediterranean Sea. This logo has been used since the Split games in 1979, for which it was devised and afterwards accepted for the whole Games. During the closing ceremony, the flag of the games is transferred to the country of the city chosen for the organisation of the next Mediterranean Games.

Participating countries

Participating countries

At present, 24 countries participate in the games:^[3]

• Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia
• Asia: Lebanon and Syria.
• Europe: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain and Turkey.

Kosovo was accepted as a member of the International Committee of Mediterranean Games in October 2015 and is expected to participate for the first time in the 2017 Mediterranean Games in Spain.^[4]

Of all the National Olympic Committees within the Olympic Movement bordering the Mediterranean Sea only the Israeli is not permitted to participate.

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 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 organiser 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.^[5]

There are countries not bordering the Mediterranean Sea which nonetheless participate: Andorra, San Marino, Serbia and Macedonia.

The Hellenic Olympic Committee has suggested that nine more countries that do not satisfy geographic criteria to be allowed to participate, such as Bulgaria, Portugal and some Arab countries.

Flag

The symbol of the Mediterranean Games consists of three rings representing Asia, Africa and Europe, the three continents involved in this competition.^[6] 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.^[6]

Host cities

No inland city has ever hosted the games. All but one of the host cities to date have been situated on the Mediterranean coast. (Casablanca is located on the Atlantic coast.)

Cities that have hosted the Games

No	Year	Host	Nations	Competitors			Sports	Events	Top Country On Medal Table
				Men	Women	Total
I	1951	Alexandria	10	734	---	734	14	91	Italy
II	1955	Barcelona	10	1135	---	1135	20	102	France
III	1959	Beirut	11	792	---	792	17	106	France
IV	1963	Naples	13	1057	---	1057	17	93	Italy
V	1967	Tunis	12	1211	38	1249	14	93	Italy
VI	1971	İzmir	14	1235	127	1362	18	137	Italy
VII	1975	Algiers	15	2095	349	2444	19	160	Italy
VIII	1979	Split	14	2009	399	2408	26	192	Yugoslavia
IX	1983	Casablanca	16	1845	335	2180	20	162	Italy
X	1987	Latakia	18	1845	335	2180	19	162	Italy
XI	1991	Athens	18	2176	586	2762	24	217	Italy
XII	1993	Languedoc-Roussillon	20	1994	604	2598	24	217	France
XIII	1997	Bari	21	2195	804	2999	27	234	Italy
XIV	2001	Tunis	23[7]	2002	1039	3041	23	230	France
XV	2005	Almería	21	2134	1080	3214	27	258	Italy
XVI	2009	Pescara	23	2183	1185	3368	28	244	Italy
XVII	2013	Mersin	24			2994	27	264	Italy
XVIII	2017	Tarragona	Future Event
XIX	2021	Oran	Future Event

Mediterranean Beach Games

The International Mediterranean Games Committee held a meeting on October 20, 2012 in Mersin, Turkey, and decided to organize the Mediterranean Beach Games every 4 years starting from 2015. The Games consist only water sports and beach sports, which aim at bringing together young athletes of the Mediterranean area, giving them the opportunity to participate in sport events.^[8]

Pescara (Italy) was awarded the rights to host the first edition of the Mediterranean Beach Games from 28 August to 6 September.^[9] The sports included in the program of the 1st Mediterranean Beach Games are the following: Aquathlon, Beach Handball, Beach Soccer, Beach Tennis, Beach Volley, Beach Wrestling, Finswimming, Canoe Ocean Racing, Open Water Swimming, Rowing Beach Sprint, Water Ski.

All-time medal table 1951–2013

Rank	Team	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Italy	820	686	647	2153[10]
2	France	604	549	492	1645[10]
3	Turkey	310	214	239	763[10]
4	Spain	295	413	500	1208[10]
5	Yugoslavia*	199	177	182	558[10][11]
6	Greece	180	233	318	731[10]
7	Egypt	124	183	215	522[10]
8	Tunisia	77	80	134	291[10]
9	Algeria	65	55	108	227[10]
10	Morocco	59	74	94	227[10]
11	Croatia	41	58	66	165[10]
12	Slovenia	40	39	57	136[10]
13	Serbia*	29	33	38	100[10]
14	Syria	26	37	73	136[10]
15	United Arab Republic	23	21	30	74[10]
16	Lebanon	13	22	44	79[10]
17	Cyprus	10	14	12	36[10]
18	Albania	8	17	18	43[10]
19	Bosnia and Herzegovina	3	6	16	25[10]
20	Montenegro	3	3	6	12[10]
21	Libya	2	1	12	15[10]
22	Malta	2	4	3	9[10]
23	San Marino	1	9	5	15[10]
24	Macedonia	0	1	4	5[10]
25	Monaco	0	1	1	2[10]
26	Andorra	0	0	0	0[10]
Total		2686	2686	3023	8395

• Yugoslavia competed in 1997 and 2001 as FR Yugoslavia.^[12]
• Serbia competed in 2005 as Serbia and Montenegro.

Competitions

33 sports were presented in the Mediterranean Games history.

Sport Years Archery since 1971 Athletics since 1951 Badminton since 2013 Basketball since 1951 Beach volleyball since 2005 Bocce since 1997 Boxing since 1951 Canoeing since 1979 Cycling since 1955 Diving since 1951 Equestrian since 1955

Sport Years Fencing since 1951 Field hockey since 1955 Football since 1951 Golf since 1983 Gymnastics since 1951 Handball since 1967 Judo since 1971 Karate since 1993 Roller hockey since 1955 Rowing since 1951 Rugby union since 1955

Sport Years Sailing since 1955 Shooting since 1951 Swimming since 1951 Table tennis since 1971 Taekwondo since 2013 Tennis since 1963 Volleyball since 1959 Water polo since 1951 Waterskiing since 2009 Weightlifting since 1951 Wrestling since 1951

See also

• Comité international des Jeux méditerranéens

References

1. "History of the Mediterranean Games". International Committee of Mediterranean Games. CIJM. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
2. "Mediterranean Games". gbrathletics.com. Retrieved 21 December 2012. The Mediterranean Games were first held in 1951, although an unofficial Games was previously held in 1949.
3. Participating countries
4. .
5. The games must go on: Avery Brundage and the Olympic movement, Allen Guttmann, page 225.
6. "Mediterranean Games History". Mediterranean Games Site. 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
7. http://www.cijm.org.gr/images/stories/pdf/JM2001.pdf
8. 1st Mediterranean Beach Games
9. Official Website of Pescara 2015 Mediterranean Beach Games
10. CIJM: Medal Tables per Country
11. http://www.cijm.org.gr/images/stories/pdf/Tableau_des_medailles_par_pays_en.pdf
12. http://www.cijm.org.gr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=126&Itemid=97&lang=en

External links

• International Mediterranean Games Committee
• Mediterranean Games Athletic results at gbrathletics website
• Dubrovnik, Mostar and Kotor joint application for 2021 Games, Croatian newspapers Slobodna Dalmacija
• Dubrovnik, Mostar and Kotor joint application for 2021 Games, Bosnian-Herzegovian newspapers
• Mersin XVII Mediterranean Games