The World Games 2022 in Birmingham is a perfect place to get together. On Monday, US Senator Gary Palmer met with team members from Ukraine. On the same day, the experts from the time-keepers Swiss Timing also talked with the observer delegation from Chengdu, host city of The World Games 2025. IWGA President also dropped by the Virtual World Games Pavilion at the BJCC on Sunday and gathered first experiences in eGaming together with archer Toja Ellison and the US Floorball team.
One after the other:
Politics meets sports
Congressman Gary Palmer asked a simple question during his meeting with Team Ukraine, "What can I do for you?" Illia Shevliak, President of the Sports Committee of Ukraine, responded, "Birmingham and The World Games have already done a lot for us." Illia Shevliak thanked IWGA José Perurena once again for quickly and clearly pledging assistance after Russian troops invaded his country. More than that, he said, the IWGA actively supported the Ukrainian athletes to allow them to compete in the Birmingham Games. Birmingham and Alabama, he said, had shown themselves to be a good host, offering many athletes a safe stay and training facilities long before the opening ceremony of TWG 2022 on 7 July. To thank them, and his team members, José Perurena and Palmer presented host gifts. One of them was shirts like those worn by the athletes from Ukraine when they marched in during the opening ceremony: Proud to be Ukraine.
Technology meets host
Thomas Kutzke of IWGA partner Swiss Timing took time on Thursday to talk about exactly that, about time. Swiss Timing will also take care of the timing systems at the Games in Chengdu, Peoples Republic of China. At the meeting with the delegation of the host city of the Games in 2025, the timekeepers explained that they just do much more than take time. The accreditation, the results service, the graphics with starting line-ups or results service for the TV broadcast are also provided by Swiss Timing. They also provide the official medal tally, which we publish every evening with our newsletter. Gifts were exchanged as well.
President meets Virtual eGamer
IWGA President José Perurena visited the first Virtual World Games Pavillion at the Games and met host Cem Herder, member of the IWGA team in Birmingham, Alabama. President Perurena was accompanied by the full US Floorball team as well as Slovenian top archer Toja Ellison, wife of US archer Brady Ellison. It was Ellison who showed IWGA President how to use the bow for the digital archery competition. The group then went on to experience the two additional virtual sports - Softball and Racquetball. The fact that the floorball players from the USA visited the Virtual World Games Pavillion was not entirely coincidental. The "gaming room" is located in the BJCC right next to the Floorball venue, which will become the Korfball venue on Wednesday.
The World Games is a multi-sport event staged every four years by the International World Games Association, organised with the support of the International Olympic Committee. The 11th edition of The World Games will be held in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, 7-17 July 2022. 3,600 athletes from 34 sports and over 100 countries will take part in The World Games.