International Wheelchair & Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS) World Games
The International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports (IWAS) World Games, also known as the IWAS World Games, is a multi-sport competition for athletes with disabilities, held every two years. The former name of the IWAS World Games was the International Stoke Mandeville Games, a forerunner of the Paralympics. In 1960s to 1970s, the Games were simply known as the Wheelchair Olympics.
The first IWAS World Games were held in 1948, organized by a neurologist who wanted to have a sporting competition involving the veterans of the World War II with injuries to their spinal cord. They were patients at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in England. It took place alongside the first post-war Summer Olympics in London.
The games were held yearly in Stoke Mandeville under the organization of the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federations (ISMGF), later became the International Stoke Mandeville Wheelchair Sports Federation (ISMWSF). The Stoke Mandeville Games continued to be a multi-sport event for wheelchair athletes while the Paralympics progressed to include athletes from all disability groups.
Wheelchair athlete on the trackThe sports on the program depend on the host organizers, and are selected from: archery athletics, powerlifting, shooting, swimming, table tennis, wheelchair fencing, wheelchair rugby, table tennis and volleyball - which all feature on the Paralympic program.
In the 2003 Games, the competition included amputee athletes, organized by the International Sports Organization for the Disabled. In 2004, the organizations ISMWSF and ISOD combined to create the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS).
Sochi hosted the 2015 International Wheelchair & Amputee Sports Federation World Games, and the 2019 edition was staged in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates in February. The 2021 IWAS World Games was scheduled to include Athletics, powerlifting and cerebral palsy football.
The next IWAS World Games
- The 2020 IWAS World Games was to be held in Thai city Nakhon Ratchasima, from February 20 to 28, 2020, just six months before the Paralympic Games in Tokyo. Both the 2020 IWAS World Games and the Paralympics were postponed, and moved to 2021.
- The 2021 IWAS World Games - this postponed 2020 event was due to be held from 10-12 October, at Vila Real de Santo Antonio, Portugal, in the scenic city located at the eastern edge of The Algarve. The World Games was held here previously, in 2017. This event was to be held after the Paralympics in Tokyo, and a combined event with the inaugural IWAS Guttman Games. However, it was canceled.
Related Pages
- IWAS Guttman Games
- More major events for athletes with a disability
- Other International Multi-Events
- Paralympics
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