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The World Abilitysport Games (known as the IWAS World Games before 2023) are a parasports multi-sport event for athletes who use wheelchairs or are amputees. Organized by World Abilitysport (formerly IWAS), the Games are a successor to the original Stoke Mandeville Games founded in 1948 by Ludwig Guttmann, and specifically the International Stoke Mandeville Games—the first international sporting competition for athletes with disabilities which was held in 1952, itself an Olympic year, between British and Dutch athletes and which ultimately was the forerunner to the modern Paralympic Games.
| Formerly |
|
|---|---|
| Sport | Parasports |
| Founded | 1948 |
| Continent | International (IPC) |
The 1960, 1964, 1968, and 1972 editions of the International Stoke Mandeville Games were held in the same host country as the Summer Olympics; they were later retroactively recognized as also being the first four Paralympic Games. The event continued to be held annually, as simply the International Stoke Mandeville Games, in between Paralympic years.
After the Paralympics expanded to include events for disability classifications other than wheelchairs, the ISMG for wheelchair athletes continued to be hosted annually in Stoke Mandeville, and later other countries, in all non-Paralympic years.
In 2024 the previous IWAS merged with the Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association (CPISRA) to form World Abilitysport and the IWAS World Games were once more renamed World Abilitysport Games accordingly.
A separate event to be known as the Guttmann Games for events and disciplines not yet on the Paralympic Game schedules, organised by World Abilitysport, has been planned for 2024.
The event was first established in 1948 as the Stoke Mandeville Games by neurologist Ludwig Guttmann, who organized a sporting competition involving World War II veterans with spinal cord injuries at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital rehabilitation facility in Aylesbury, England, taking place concurrently with the first post-war Olympic Games in London. In 1952, the Netherlands joined in the event, creating the first international sports competition for athletes with a disability, after which it was renamed the International Stoke Mandeville Games.[1]
In 1960 and subsequent Olympic years, the ISMG began to increasingly be hosted in the same country (if not the same host city) as their respective Olympics, with all other editions remaining in Stoke Mandeville. The Games were also increasingly referred to as "Paralympics", originally in reference to paraplegia, but later officially referring to an event operating in parallel with the Olympic movement. While the Paralympic Games evolved to include athletes from all disability groups beginning in 1976, the Stoke Mandeville Games continued to be organized as a multi-sport event for wheelchair athletes in non-Paralympic years. Games were held annually in Aylesbury under the direction of the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation (ISMGF), which later became the International Stoke Mandeville Wheelchair Sports Federation (ISMWSF).
In 2003, the Games were combined with a competition for amputee athletes organized by the International Sports Organization for the Disabled (ISOD). In 2004, ISMWSF and ISOD merged to create the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS). The Games were subsequently renamed the "World Wheelchair and Amputee Games" in 2005, and later renamed to simply the "IWAS World Games".
In 2024 the previous IWAS merged with the Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association (CPISRA) to form World Abilitysport.
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The inaugural competition, initially named "Stoke Mandeville Games for the Paralyzed" in 1948, was just named "Stoke Mandeville Games" the next year, before becoming the "International Stoke Mandeville Games" (ISMG) in 1952.
Beginning in 1960 during Summer Olympic years, the ISMG were held in the same host city as the Summer Olympics. These particular editions of the Games were retroactively recognised as being the first four Paralympic Games. The Games were otherwise hosted in Stoke Mandeville in all other years. Beginning in 1976, the Paralympic Games began hosting events for amputees and the visually impaired; at this point, the Paralympics were no longer credited as being editions of the ISMG, but the ISMG went on hiatus during Paralympic years.
| Year | Name of the event | Host | Annotation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stoke Mandeville Games | |||
| 1948 | Stoke Mandeville Games for the Paralyzed[2] |  Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | July 28, 1948, archery competition, 16 competitors[3] (14 men, 2 women[4]) |
| 1949 | Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | Six teams competed.'wheelchair netball' (later wheelchair basketball) was introduced.[5] |
| 1950 | Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1951 | Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| International Stoke Mandeville Games | |||
| 1952 | 1st International Stoke Mandeville Games[6] | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | A Dutch team participated, making it an international event for the first time.[3] |
| 1953 | 2nd International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1954 | 3rd International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1955 | 4th International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1956 | 5th International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1957 | 6th International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1958 | 7th International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1959 | 8th International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| Combined International Stoke Mandeville Games and Paralympic Games era | |||
| 1960 | 9th International Stoke Mandeville Games[7] and 1960 Summer Paralympics |  Rome, Italy | 400 competitors from 23 countries (10 with medalists) in 8 sports. First edition occurring outside UK, in the same host city as the Summer Olympic Games.
Held in Rome in the hope of becoming better internationally recognized and integrated with other national and international sports federations to organize what will become recognised as the Paralympic Games. |
| 1961 | 10th International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1962 | 11th International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1963 | 12th International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1964 | 13th International Stoke Mandeville Games[8] and 1964 Summer Paralympics |  Tokyo, Japan | Second Paralympic Games retrospectively |
| 1965 | 14th International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1966 | 15th International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1967 | 16th International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1968 | 17th International Stoke Mandeville Games[9] and 1968 Summer Paralympics |  Tel Aviv, Israel | Third Paralympic Games retrospectively. First edition held outside the Olympic host city. |
| 1969 | 18th International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1970 | 19th International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1971 | 20th International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1972 | 1972 Summer Paralympics[9][10] and 21st International Stoke Mandeville Games |  Heidelberg, West Germany | Fourth Paralympic Games retrospectively, First edition where 'Paralympic Games' title took primacy. Final edition which served as both International Stoke Mandeville Games and Paralympic Games. Held in Olympic host country for first time since 1964. |
| 1973 | 22nd International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1974 | 23rd International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1975 | 24th International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| Paralympic Games and International Stoke Mandeville Games diverge. | |||
| 1977 | 25th International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1978 | 26th International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1979 | 27th International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1981 | 28th International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1982 | 29th International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1983 | 30th International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1985 | 31st International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1986 | 32nd International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1987 | 33rd International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1989 | 34th International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1990 | 35th International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1991 | 36th International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1993 | 37th International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1994 | 38th International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| 1995 | 39th International Stoke Mandeville Games | Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom | |
| World Wheelchair Games | |||
| 1997 | World Wheelchair Games | From 1997, the International Stoke Mandeville Games became the "World Wheelchair Games" | |
| 1998 | World Wheelchair Games | ||
| 1999 | World Wheelchair Games |  Christchurch, New Zealand | |
| 2001 | World Wheelchair Games[11] | ||
| 2002 | World Wheelchair Games[11] | ||
| 2003 | World Wheelchair Games[11] | Christchurch, New Zealand | |
| World Wheelchair and Amputee Games | |||
| 2005 | World Wheelchair and Amputee Games[12] |  Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Renamed "World Wheelchair and Amputee Games"
Over 700 athletes from 44 nations. Five events: track and field, table tennis, archery, shooting, and billiards.[13] |
| 2006 | World Wheelchair and Amputee Games |  Bangalore, Karnataka, India | |
| 2007 | World Wheelchair and Amputee Games[14] |  Taipei, Chinese Taipei | |
| IWAS World Games | |||
| 2009 | IWAS World Games[15][16][17][18] | Bangalore, Karnataka, India | Renamed the IWAS World Games. IWAS World Games move to a biennial cycle from 2010. |
| 2011 | IWAS World Games |  Sharjah, United Arab Emirates | December 1–10, 2011[19] |
| 2013 | IWAS World Games |  Stadskanaal, Netherlands | |
| 2015 | IWAS World Games |  Sochi, Russia | |
| 2017 | IWAS World Games |  Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal | |
| 2019 | IWAS World Games | Sharjah, United Arab Emirates | IWAS World Games returned to annual cycle |
 Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand |
Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[20] | ||
| Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal |
Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[21] | ||
| 2022 | IWAS World Games[22] | Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal | Originally scheduled to be hosted by Sochi, IWAS stripped Sochi of its hosting rights in March 2022 in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and banned Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from participating.[23]
The Games were relocated to Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal, which was originally scheduled to host the Games in 2021.[24] |
| World Abilitysport Games | |||
| 2023 | World Abilitysport Games[25] | Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand[26][27] |
Renamed "World Abilitysport Games" after the merger of IWAS and Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association (CPISRA). The separate CPISRA Games are not considered part of the history of the WASG. |
For some years now, the IWAS Federation has hosted junior competitions, which were named IWAS World Junior Games by 2015. Since 2016 they are called IWAS Under 23 World Games and will only be played in years with even numbers.[28]
In 2024, World Abilitysport announced its inaugural World Abilitysport Guttmann Games. Named after the founder of the Stoke Mandeville Games, the event will take place in Stoke Mandeville in July 2024, and feature competition in sports not on the Paralympic programme. It is scheduled to feature para dance sport and power hockey competitions, as well as wheelchair cricket as a demonstration sport.[29] The event will be broadly analagous to the World Games, a similar multi-sport event for non-Olympic sports and disciplines.
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