IWAS World Games

Israeli delegation to the games, 1969
Israeli delegation to the games, 1969

The International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports (IWAS) World Games (or IWAS World Games) are a multi-sport competition for athletes with a disability, which were the forerunner of the Paralympic Games. The competition has been formerly known as the World Wheelchair and Amputee Games, the World Wheelchair Games, the International Stoke Mandeville Games, the Stoke Mandeville Games (SMG), and in the 1960s and 1970s was often referred to as the Wheelchair Olympics.

The Games were originally held in 1948 by neurologist Sir 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 Summer Olympics in London. In 1952, the Netherlands joined in the event, creating the first international sports competition for disabled people. In 1960, the Ninth Stoke Mandeville Games were held in Rome, Italy, following that year's Olympic Games. These are considered to be the first Paralympic Games. The 2012 Paralympic mascot Mandeville was named after Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

While the Paralympic Games evolved to include athletes from all disability groups, the Stoke Mandeville games continued to be organized as a multi-sport event for wheelchair athletes. Games were held annually in Aylesbury under the direction of the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation (ISMGF), which became the International Stoke Mandeville Wheelchair Sports Federation (ISMWSF).

In 1999, the World Wheelchair Games were held in Christchurch, New Zealand. In 2003, the Games were again held in Christchurch, and combined with a competition for amputee athletes organized by the International Sports Organization for the Disabled. In 2004, ISMWSF and ISOD merged to create the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS). The first games held under the name IWAS World Wheelchair and Amputee Games were held in 2005 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The second IWAS Games were held in 2007 in Chinese Taipei and the third IWAS games were held in Bangalore, India in November 2009.

In 2023, International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS) and Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association (CPISRA) mergered into World Abilitysport. The first edition World Abilitysport is Nakhon Ratchasima 2023.

Games by year

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 Summer Paralympic Games. The Games were otherwise hosted in Stoke Mandeville in all other years. Beginning in 1976, the Paralympic Games began hosting athletes from various disability groups, and considered a distinct event from the ISMG—which were held in Stoke Mandeville during non-Olympic years until 1997.

Year Name of the event Host Annotation
1948 Stoke Mandeville Games for the Paralyzed United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom July 28, 1948, archery competition, 16 competitors (14 men, 2 women)
1949 Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom Six teams competed.'wheelchair netball' (later wheelchair basketball) was introduced.
1950 Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1951 Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1952 1st International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom A Dutch team participated, making it an international event
1953 2nd International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1954 3rd International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1955 4th International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1956 5th International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1957 6th International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1958 7th International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1959 8th International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1960 9th International Stoke Mandeville Games.
later known as the 1st Paralympic Games.
Italy Rome, Italy 400 competitors from 23 countries (10 with medalists) in 8 sports. 1st edition occurring outside UK, in the same host city as the Summer Olympic Games, in the hope of becoming better internationally recognized and integrated with other national and international sports federations to organize what will become later the Paralympic Games.
1961 10th International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1962 11th International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1963 12th International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1964 13th International Stoke Mandeville Games.
later known as the 2nd Paralympic Games.
JapanTokyo, Japan
1965 14th International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1966 15th International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1967 16th International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1968 17th International Stoke Mandeville Games.
later known as the 3rd Paralympic Games.
Israel Tel Aviv, Israel
1969 18th International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1970 19th International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1971 20th International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1972 21st International Stoke Mandeville Games.
later known as the 4th Paralympic Games.
Germany Heidelberg, West Germany
1973 22nd International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1974 23rd International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1975 24th International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1976 5th Summer Paralympics Canada Toronto, Canada 1st games that are fully recognized as Paralympic Games, and no longer counted as International Stoke Mandeville Games.
1977 25th International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1978 26th International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1979 27th International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1980 6th Summer Paralympics Netherlands Arnhem, Netherlands
1981 28th International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1982 29th International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1983 30th International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1984 7th Summer Paralympics United States Long Island, New York, United States
United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
Two separate competitions: one in UK (22 July–1 August) for wheelchair athletes with spinal cord injuries, and the other before in USA (17–30 June) for wheelchair and ambulatory athletes with cerebral palsy, amputees, and les autres [the others].
1985 31st International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1986 32nd International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1987 33rd International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1988 8th Summer Paralympics South Korea Seoul, South Korea 1st edition formally recognized by the new International Co-ordinating Committee (ICC), in coordination with the IPC and IOC, which allowed greater co-operation by National Olympic Committees in regards to the organization of Paralympic Games along with the Olympic Games.
1989 34th International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1990 35th International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1991 36th International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1992 9th Summer Paralympics Spain Barcelona, Spain
1993 37th International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1994 38th International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1995 39th International Stoke Mandeville Games United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1996 10th Summer Paralympics United States Atlanta, Georgia, United States

From 1997, the former International Stoke Mandeville Games yearly event (except on years of Paralympic Games already replacing them) became the "World Wheelchair Games"; it was later renamed "World Wheelchair and Amputee Games" from 2005, and "International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports (IWAS) World Games" from 2009.

Year Name of the event Host Annotation
1997 World Wheelchair Games
1998 World Wheelchair Games
1999 World Wheelchair Games New Zealand Christchurch, New Zealand
2000 11th Summer Paralympics Australia Sydney, Australia
2001 World Wheelchair Games
2002 World Wheelchair Games
2003 World Wheelchair Games New Zealand Christchurch, New Zealand
2004 12th Summer Paralympics Greece Athens, Greece
2005 World Wheelchair and Amputee Games Brazil Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Over 700 athletes from 44 nations. Five events: track and field, table tennis, archery, shooting, and billiards.
2006 World Wheelchair and Amputee Games India Bangalore, Karnataka, India
2007 World Wheelchair and Amputee Games Chinese Taipei Taipei, Chinese Taipei
2008 13th Summer Paralympics China Beijing, People's Republic of China
2009 IWAS World Games India Bangalore, Karnataka, India
2011 IWAS World Games United Arab Emirates Sharjah, United Arab Emirates December 1–10, 2011
2012 14th Summer Paralympics United Kingdom London, United Kingdom
2013 IWAS World Games Netherlands Stadskanaal, Netherlands
2015 IWAS World Games Russia Sochi, Russia
2016 15th Summer Paralympics Brazil Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2017 IWAS World Games Portugal Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal
2019 IWAS World Games United Arab Emirates Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
2021 replaced by the 16th Summer Paralympic Games postponed from 2020 to 2021
2022 IWAS World Games Portugal Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal On 15 March 2022, IWAS decided to relocate it from Sochi, Russia to Vila Real de Santo António and earlier, on 9 March 2022, IWAS stated that no participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials are allowed

IWAS World Games

Names :

  • 1-International Stoke Mandeville Games (1948 to 1995): 39 editions occurring every year (including 4 editions before 1976 that were backwardly recognized also as the first 4 Paralympic Games), except on years of Paralympic Games since 1976
  • 2-World Wheelchair Games (1997 to 2003): 6 editions occurring every year, except on years of Paralympic Games
  • 3-World Wheelchair and Amputee Games (2005 to 2007): 3 editions occurring every year, except on years of Paralympic Games
  • 4-IWAS World Games (since 2009): 6 editions occurring every 2 years with odd numbers, except on years of Paralympic Games (when the Paralympic Games were postponed from 2020 to 2021, they replaced the IWAS World Games)
No. Year Host City Events
1 2009 India Bangalore, Karnataka, India
2 2011 United Arab Emirates Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
3 2013 Netherlands Stadskanaal, Netherlands
4 2015 Russia Sochi, Russia
5 2017 Portugal Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal
6 2019 United Arab Emirates Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
2021 replaced by the 16th Summer Paralympic Games postponed from 2020 to 2021
7 2022 Portugal Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal
8 2023 Thailand Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand
9 2025

IWAS Under 23 World Games (IWAS Junior World Games)

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.

No. Year Dates Host City Venue Events Results List
1 2005 6–7 July United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom Result list[permanent dead link]
2 2006 14–16 July Republic of Ireland Dublin, Ireland Result list
3 2007 4–6 April South Africa Ekurhuleni, South Africa Germiston Sports Precinct Result list Archived 2016-09-16 at the Wayback Machine
4 2008 18–27 July United States Piscataway, New Jersey, United States Results Archived 2016-09-16 at the Wayback Machine
5 2009 16–19 July Switzerland Nottwil, Switzerland SPZ Nottwil Result list[permanent dead link]
6 2010 19–26 August Czech Republic Olomouc, Czech Republic Results Archived 2018-09-17 at the Wayback Machine
7 2011 14–21 April United Arab Emirates Dubai, United Arab Emirates Result List[permanent dead link]
8 2012 19–21 July Czech Republic Olomouc, Czech Republic Results[permanent dead link]
9 2013 14–21 August Puerto Rico Mayaguez, Puerto Rico Central American Stadium Ergebnisliste[permanent dead link]
10 2014 3–7 August United Kingdom Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom Results
11 2015 2–8 July Netherlands Stadskanaal, Netherlands Sportpark Stadskanaal Ergebnisliste[permanent dead link]
12 2016 29 June–3 July Czech Republic Prague, Czech Republic Results[permanent dead link]

See also


This page was last updated at 2024-03-01 05:08 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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