World Games 2009

World Games VIII

Motto Top Sports - High Spirits
Host city Taiwan Kaohsiung, (Taiwan)
IWGA Designation:  Chinese Taipei
Motto Top Sports - High Spirits
Nations participating 105
Athletes participating 4,800 approx.
Events 35 sports
Opening ceremony July 16, 2009
Closing ceremony July 26, 2009
Officially opened by President Ma Ying-jeou
Main venue Kaohsiung National Stadium; called World Games Stadium during the Games

The World Games of 2009 took place in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, from July 16, 2009 to July 26, 2009. The games featured sports that are not contested in the Olympic Games.

Nearly 6,000 athletes, officials, coaches, referees and others from 103 countries participated in the 2009 Kaohsiung World Games, setting a record high for the multi-sport competition. The International World Games Association (IWGA) President Ron Froehlich praised the July 16–26 games as the "best games ever."[1]

Emblem

The design of the emblem for the World Games 2009 is based on the first Chinese character in the city’s name. The character " kao" (高) means high or superior in English. The toponym stylized as a multicolored ribbon aims to create an atmosphere of festivity and celebration. The warm colors, orange and magenta, at the top and green and blue at the bottom symbolize the sun rising over the ocean and mirror Kaohsiung well: a passionate city with plenty of sunshine – a vibrant metropolis by the sea.

Mascots

Gao Mei (高妹) and Syong Ge (雄哥) are named after the host city, Kaohsiung (according to Tongyong Pinyin). They are intended to personify it as "a city of the sea and the sun", to emphasize "ecology and environmental protection", and to symbolize the "friendliness and hospitality" of the city's residents.[2]

Opening ceremony

World Games 2009 opening ceremony.

The opening ceremony, on July 16, was held in the Main Stadium, and involved 4,000 performers. It was designed to provide "a platform for the world to understand Taiwan better", and focused on music, dancing and depictions of Taiwanese culture, including its aboriginal culture. The ceremony was watched by an estimated 100 million people worldwide.[3]

Among the foreign dignitaries in attendance was the President of Nauru, Marcus Stephen, one of Taiwan's diplomatic allies and himself a former athlete, having won seven gold medals in weightlifting at the Commonwealth Games.[4]

Although China had sent athletes to compete, they were absent from the opening ceremony, reportedly due to Ma Ying-jeou inaugurating the Games in his capacity as the head of state.[5]

News Conference

Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu said the city has shown "soft" power in staging the World Games that concluded and praised Kaohsiung residents for their passion in participating in the event. The mayor spoke at a news conference held after the closing ceremony during which International World Games Association (IWGA) President Ron Froehlich praised the July 16–26 games as the "best games ever."[1]

Chen noted that after the city was awarded the right to host the Games in 2005, it was determined to make it a success, and she said the city showed "confidence and competence" in staging the first international sports event held in Taiwan after "numerous daunting coordination challenges." She also praised the maturity of Kaohsiung residents, saying that their enthusiastic participation and passionate cheering for athletes from every country was "touching." Revenues from ticket sales at the World Games have been initially estimated at NT$65 million. Chen noted Froehlich's praise of Kaohsiung, which she said has displayed friendship, cooperation and community participation, and offered her best wishes to Cali, Colombia, which will host the next World Games in 2013.

She said Kaohsiung is an open, rich and pluralistic city that respects human rights and tolerates different views and political stances as long as they are expressed in a peaceful manners. Concerning the absence of the athletes from China, which was reported to be a boycott, from the opening and closing ceremonies of the World Games, she said that as a big country, she expected it to show more grace and tolerance.

Participants

Sports

Medal table

Official sports

The medal tally during the eighth World Games is as follows. Russia was the overall champion of this edition.[6]

      Host country (Republic of China)

Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1  Russian Federation (RUS) 18 14 15 47
2  Italy (ITA) 16 12 13 41
3  China (CHN) 14 10 5 29
4  United States (USA) 13 8 5 26
5  France (FRA) 11 14 13 38
6  Ukraine (UKR) 11 12 10 33
7  Chinese Taipei (TPE) 8 9 7 24
8  Germany (GER) 6 6 10 22
9  Republic of Korea (KOR) 6 3 5 14
10  Australia (AUS) 5 10 5 20
11  Great Britain (GBR) 4 6 9 19
12  Japan (JPN) 4 5 6 15
13  Colombia (COL) 4 5 3 12
14  Netherlands (NED) 4 5 2 11
15  Brazil (BRA) 4 3 3 10
16   Switzerland (SUI) 3 4 0 7
17  Belgium (BEL) 2 4 1 7
18  New Zealand (NZL) 2 3 6 11
19  Slovakia (SVK) 2 3 3 8
20  Finland (FIN) 2 3 1 6
21  Spain (ESP) 2 3 0 5
22  Slovenia (SLO) 2 2 0 4
23  Austria (AUT) 2 1 2 5
24  Hungary (HUN) 2 1 1 4
25  Croatia (CRO) 2 0 4 6
26  Mongolia (MGL) 1 2 1 4
27  Canada (CAN) 1 1 2 4
27  Poland (POL) 1 1 2 4
29  Greece (GRE) 1 1 1 3
30  Romania (ROU) 1 1 0 2
31  Malaysia (MAS) 1 0 3 4
32  Thailand (THA) 1 0 2 3
32  Venezuela (VEN) 1 0 2 3
34  Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) 1 0 1 2
34  Chile (CHI) 1 0 1 2
34  Indonesia (INA) 1 0 1 2
34  Kazakhstan (KAZ) 1 0 1 2
38  Estonia (EST) 1 0 0 1
38  Fiji (FIJI) 1 0 0 1
38  Mexico (MEX) 1 0 0 1
38  Vietnam (VIE) 1 0 0 1
42  Portugal (POR) 0 2 0 2
43  Egypt (EGY) 0 1 3 4
44  Norway (NOR) 0 1 2 3
44  South Africa (RSA) 0 1 2 3
46  Azerbaijan (AZE) 0 1 1 2
46  Sweden (SWE) 0 1 1 2
48  Argentina (ARG) 0 1 0 1
48  Bulgaria (BUL) 0 1 0 1
48  Denmark (DEN) 0 1 0 1
48  Hong Kong (HKG) 0 1 0 1
48  Lithuania (LTU) 0 1 0 1
48  Qatar (QAT) 0 1 0 1
54  Turkey (TUR) 0 0 3 3
55  Montenegro (MNE) 0 0 2 2
56  Belarus (BLR) 0 0 1 1
56  Bulgaria (BUL) 0 0 1 1
56  Czech Republic (CZE) 0 0 1 1
56  Israel (ISR) 0 0 1 1
56  Luxembourg (LUX) 0 0 1 1
56  Philippines (PHI) 0 0 1 1
56  United Arab Emirates (UAE) 0 0 1 1
Total： 165 165 167 497

Invitational sports not included.

Invitational sports

      Host country (Republic of China) 13 medals Wushu, 4 Dragonboat, 2 Tchoukball, 2 Beach handball, 2 Softball. Total 22 titles (in one event assigned two gold medals).

Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
RankNation
GoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  China (CHN) 8 1 0 9
2  Russian Federation (RUS) 7 1 2 10
3  Chinese Taipei (TPE) 3 5 2 10
4  Iran (IRI) 2 1 1 4
5  Japan (JPN) 1 3 1 5
6  Brazil (BRA) 1 0 1 2
7  Italy (ITA) 1 0 0 1
8  Vietnam (VIE) 0 3 2 5
9  Hungary (HUN) 0 3 1 4
10   Switzerland (SUI) 0 2 0 2
11  Croatia (CRO) 0 1 1 2
11  Germany (GER) 0 1 1 2
11  Hong Kong (HKG) 0 1 1 2
14  Philippines (PHI) 0 1 0 1
15  Canada (CAN) 0 0 2 2
15  Indonesia (INA) 0 0 2 2
15  Republic of Korea (KOR) 0 0 2 2
15  Malaysia (MAS) 0 0 2 2
19  Singapore (SIN) 0 0 1 1
Total： 23 23 22 68

Calendar

In the following calendar for the World Games 2009, each blue box represents an event competition, such as a qualification round, on that day. The yellow boxes represent days during which medal-awarding finals for a sport were held. Each bullet in these boxes is an event final, the number of bullets per box representing the number of finals that were contested on that day. On the left the calendar lists each sport with events held during the Games, and at the right how many gold medals were won in that sport. There is a key at the top of the calendar to aid the reader.[7]

     As Invitational sport

 ● Opening ceremony    Event competitions  ● Event finals  ● Closing ceremony
July 2009 16
Thu		 17
Fri		 18
Sat		 19
Sun		 20
Mon		 21
Tue		 22
Wed		 23
Thu		 24
Fri		 25
Sat		 26
Sun		 Gold
medals
Ceremonies ● ● —
Air sports parachuting         ●●●●● 5
Field archery     ●●●●
●●		 6
Beach handball     ●● 2
Billiards         ●●●● 4
Bodybuilding   ●●●●
●●●		 7
Boules sports Lyonnaise     ●●●● 4
Boules sports Petangue     ●● 2
Boules sports Raffa     ●● 2
Bowling ten pin ●   ●● 3
Canoe polo   ●● 2
Dance sport ● ●● 3
Dragon boat ●● ●● 4
Fin swimming ●●●●
●		 ●●●●
●		 10
Fistball       ● 1
Flying disc     ● 1
Acrobatic gymnastics ●● ●● ● 5
Aerobic gymnastics ●● ●●● 5
Rhythmic gymnastics ●● ●● 4
Trampoline gymnastics ● ●● ●●● 6
Ju-Jitsu ●●●●
●		 ●●●●
●		 10
Karate ●●●●
●●		 ●●●●
●●●		 13
Korfball         ● 1
Life saving ●●●● ●●●● ●●●●
●●		 14
Orienteering ●● ●● ● 5
Powerlifting ●●●●
●		 ●●● 8
Racquetball     ●● 2
Roller sports–Artistic   ●●●● 4
Roller sports–Inline Hockey       ● 1
Roller Sports–Speed ●●●● ●●●● ●● 10
Rugby sevens   ● 1
Softball       ● 1
Sport climbing ●● ●● 4
Squash       ●● 2
Sumo ●●●●
●●		 ●● 8
Tchoukball     ●● 2
Tug of War Indoor ● 1
Tug of War Outdoor ● ● 2
Water skiing     ●● ●●●● 6
Wushu ●● ●●●●
●●●●
●●●		 13
July 2009 16
Thu		 17
Fri		 18
Sat		 19
Sun		 20
Mon		 21
Tue		 22
Wed		 23
Thu		 24
Fri		 25
Sat		 26
Sun		 Gold
medals

Venues

VenueSports
Chengcing LakeArchery, Orienteering
Chung Cheng Martial Arts StadiumBilliards, Racquetball, Squash
Chungcheng StadiumFistball
Cultural Center Jhihde HallBodybuilding, Aerobic gymnastics
Gymnasium of the National Sun Yat-sen UniversityJu-jitsu, Karate
Gymnasium of the Guo-Guang Laboratory School, National Sun Yat-sen UniversityTug of war
Gymnasium of the Kaohsiung Municipal Kaohsiung Senior High SchoolSumo
Gymnasium of the National Kaohsiung Normal UniversityKorfball, Tchoukball
Happy Bowling CenterBowling
I-Shou UniversityRoller sports
Ren-ai ParkBoules
Kaohsiung ArenaAcrobatic gymnastics, DanceSport, Rhythmic gymnastics, Trampoline, Tumbling
Kaohsiung Li De Baseball StadiumSoftball
Kaohsiung County StadiumWushu
Kaohsiung Metropolitan ParkParachuting
Kaohsiung Museum of Fine ArtsOrienteering
Kaohsiung Swimming PoolFinswimming, Lifesaving
Lotus LakeCanoe polo, Water skiing, Dragon Boat race
Shou-shan Junior High SchoolClimbing
Sizihwan BayLifesaving, Beach handball
Sun Yat-sen Hall of the National Sun Yat-sen UniversityPowerlifting
World Games StadiumFlying disc, Rugby sevens
Yangming Skating RinkRoller sports

References

  1. 1 2 "Best Games Ever end on a high note", Taiwan Public Television Service Online, July 26, 2009
  2. ↑ "The World Games 2009 Kaohsiung Mascots", official website
  3. ↑ "A glittering opening ceremony unfolds in Kaohsiung", Taiwan News, July 17, 2009
  4. ↑ "President declares Kaohsiung World Games open", Taiwan News, July 17, 2009
  5. ↑ "China snubs World Games opening", BBC News, July 16, 2009
  6. ↑ "Results of the World Games". International World Games Association. Retrieved 2015-10-26.
  7. ↑ World Games 2009: Main Schedule

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