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World Beach Games

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World Beach Games
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Sports

The ANOC World Beach Games, known simply as the World Beach Games, is an international multi-sport event organized by the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC). The games are held biennially in odd-numbered years, with a focus on non-Olympic beach and water sports and a primary target audience of 15 to 35 year olds. It was first held in 2019 in Doha, Qatar.

History

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The World Beach Games was first announced as a joint project between ANOC and SportAccord in October 2013.[1] It was inspired by the success of the regional Asian Beach Games first held five years prior. Original plans conceived the Games as a 20–25 discipline event, attracting ~5,000 athletes from all 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) at a cost of $135 million,[2][3] and would occur biennially.[4] The concept was approved by the ANOC General Assembly in Bangkok, Thailand in November 2014.[5]

Relations between SportAccord and ANOC quickly soured however, and the former unilaterally announced in April 2015 that Sochi, Russia would host the first edition of the Games, more than likely without any involvement from ANOC;[6] the latter then revealed plans for their own, completely independent version of the Games.[7] Shortly after, SportAccord's scheme collapsed, leaving ANOC as the sole organisation moving forward with any such event and opened the application process in the July.[8]

In October 2015, San Diego, United States was approved as hosts of the inaugural edition at ANOC's General Assembly meeting in Washington, D.C. It was scheduled to take place in 2017.[9][10] In August 2016, it was postponed by two years to 2019; officially, it was delayed to allow "stakeholders to deliver the best possible event" and give NOCs the "optimum time to prepare their athletes".[11] The scope of the event was substantially scaled-back for the new date, now to feature around 15 disciplines, with thousands fewer athletes and many fewer NOCs set to attend, for a tremendously reduced cost of $40 million.[12] But in May 2019, just five months before it was due to start, the event was pulled out of San Diego. The local organising committee (LOC) had been unable to raise the capital needed to stage the event.[13] Within weeks, the event was relocated to Doha, Qatar after a deal was signed with the Qatari Government to secure funding.[14][15] This gave Doha a mere four months to prepare for the Games.[16] Despite the short timeframe, the first edition of the Games was finally realised there on schedule in October, with Spain topping the medals table, followed by Brazil in second, and both Italy and the United States tied for third; hosts Qatar finished with one medal (silver).[17] ANOC declared the event a success.[18]

Bidding for the second edition of the Games, to be held in 2021, opened in January 2020. However, in May 2020, following the outbreak and subsequent effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, a decision was made by ANOC to postpone the next edition of the Games to 2023.[19] Its hosts, Bali, Indonesia, were appointed in June 2022.[20] However, in July 2023, less than a month before the games were due to start, the event was cancelled due to Indonesia's withdrawal as host at short notice, apparently due to the government not releasing the necessary funds.[21]

List of World Beach Games

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Host cities of the World Beach Games
Edition Year Host city Host country Opened by Start date End date Nations Competitors Sports Events Top-ranked team Ref.
I 2019 Doha  Qatar Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani 12 October 16 October 97 1,237 13 36  Spain [22]
II 2023 Bali  Indonesia Cancelled [23]
III 2025 Future event

Sports

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Sport (Discipline) Body 2019
Badminton (Air badminton) BWF —
Basketball (3x3 basketball) FIBA 2
Football (Beach soccer) FIFA 2
Handball (Beach handball) IHF 2
Karate (Kata) WKF 2
Rowing (Beach sprint) WRF —
Sailing (Kiteboarding) WS 2
Sailing (Kitefoiling) —
Skateboarding (Park) WSK 2
Sport Climbing (Bouldering) IFSC 2
Surfing (Longboard surfing) ISA —
Surfing (Shortboard surfing) —
Swimming (Open water swimming) FINA 2
Tennis (Beach tennis) ITF 3
Triathlon (Aquathlon) ITU 3
Volleyball (4x4 beach volleyball) FIVB 2
Water polo (Water polo) FINA —
Waterskiing (Wakeboarding) IWWF 2
Waterskiing (Waterski jumping) 2
Wrestling (Beach wrestling) UWW 8
Total events 36

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Mackay, Duncan (21 October 2013). "Exclusive: World Beach Games to be launched in 2015 by SportAccord and ANOC". Inside the Games. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  2. ^ Sprecher, Mary Helen (17 June 2022). "2023 World Beach Games Awarded – But Only One City Wanted to Host". Sports Destinations Management. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
  3. ^ Mackay, Duncan (16 November 2015). "San Diego hope ANOC World Beach Games could boost chances of staging Olympics". Inside the Games. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  4. ^ "ANOC launches RFP for World Beach Games rights". SportBusiness Media. 9 December 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  5. ^ Butler, Nick (16 November 2014). "Exclusive: World Beach Games will occupy unique place on sports calendar, promises Sheikh Ahmad". Inside the Games. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  6. ^ Butler, Nick (20 April 2015). "World Beach Games to be organised by SportAccord in Sochi in 2019". Inside the Games. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  7. ^ Butler, Nick (6 June 2015). "Exclusive: ANOC Beach Games to bear no relation to SportAccord version". Inside the Games. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  8. ^ Butler, Nick (8 July 2015). "Fifteen sports to feature at first ANOC World Beach Games as host city application process opens". Inside the Games. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  9. ^ "San Diego Awarded Inaugural 2017 ANOC World Beach Games". ANOC. 30 October 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-11-18. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  10. ^ Garske, Monica (30 October 2015). "San Diego Chosen as Host City for Inaugural 'World Beach Games'". NBC San Diego. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  11. ^ Sprecher, Mary Helen (24 August 2016). "World Beach Games in California Hit Low Tide, Reschedule for 2019". Sports Destinations Management. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
  12. ^ Butler, Nick (29 October 2017). "Inaugural ANOC World Beach Games in San Diego in 2019 set to be on smaller scale than first planned". Inside the Games. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  13. ^ Mackay, Duncan (30 May 2019). "ANOC World Beach Games to be relocated from San Diego". Inside the Games. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  14. ^ Morgan, Liam (14 June 2019). "Qatar to replace San Diego as hosts of 2019 ANOC World Beach Games". Inside the Games. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  15. ^ "Qatar replaces San Diego as host of 1st World Beach Games". The Washington Post. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  16. ^ "QOC celebrates one year anniversary of ANOC World Beach Games Qatar 2019". Around the Rings. 12 October 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  17. ^ "Golden finish to memorable ANOC World Beach Games". ANOC. 16 October 2019. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  18. ^ Burke, Patrick (4 October 2022). "Lindberg says survey results shows ANOC World Beach Games "a very good, successful event"". Inside the Games. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  19. ^ Morgan, Liam (1 May 2020). "Exclusive: ANOC postpone next World Beach Games to 2023". Inside the Games. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  20. ^ "Bali to host 2023 ANOC World Beach Games". Antara. 11 June 2022. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  21. ^ Regan, Helen (6 July 2023). "Indonesia pulls out of hosting World Beach Games, months after Israel controversy". CNN. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  22. ^ "ANOC World Beach Games Medal Table".
  23. ^ Mackay, Duncan (4 July 2023). "Bali withdraws as host of ANOC World Beach Games after claiming Indonesia Government refused to release budget". Inside the Games. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
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