Great Danes
Denmark, homeland some of the happiest people on earth, had even more reasons to be cheerful as an eventful Day 4 of The World Games concluded. There was Danish joy as they topped three separate podiums in Canoe Marathon and both doubles team events in Bowling.
Mads Pedersen is a blistering quick paddler, who has dominated Canoe Marathon in recent years, and was the first athlete to bring home the Danish bacon. In the sport, the athletes paddle a long distance. If this was not exhausting enough, they then ground their canoes, lift the craft out of the water, run with it to the next launch point, and then embark on the water once again. Definitely not a sport for the faint hearted, or those with breathing problems.
Bowling is a sport where not quite so much physical exertion is required. Athletes get out of their seats, pick up the bowling ball, walk 5 m and send a delivery that will hopefully send all the pins flying. Both the men’s and women’s Danish doubles team proved too strong for their opponents in the Final match-ups. However, there was a substantial consolation for one half of the American pair, Shannon O Keefe. She also contested the final against Clara Guerrero, who picked up her third medal of The World Games. When Shannon received her gold medal she burst into a flood of tears in front of her home fans, as the strains of the Stars and Stripes began to be played.
It’s a Wonderful Life Saving
The quality on display at the concluding day of the Lifesaving was of such a high standard that it was quite possibly one of the best sessions of sport ever seen at any edition of The World Games. Amongst the German domination in the pool, leading to a number of Games records being established, and one World Record being broken by two teams, there was a competition within a competition as to who could legitimately be regarded as the greatest Life Saver at The World Games. There were not one, not even two but incredibly FOUR swimmers who were showing their credentials.
Coming into the 11th edition in Birmingham, there were three athletes who had been dominant in previous editions. There were two French competitors who had topped the podium five times, and both had won six medals in total. Magali Rousseau and Justine Weyders had been having a private competition as to who could become the first female athlete to amass eight medals from The World Games. Magali crept ahead on Sunday when she became a champion for the sixth time. Also on six was Danny Wieck of Germany, who had won one gold medal less. Five-time medallist in Finswimming, Petra Senanszky also decided to join the party; she became the first person to become a champion in two different sports, when Hungary tied a relay race with Poland for the gold medal.
Who would be the first athlete to extend their dominance? First out of the blocks was Danny, his fifth gold clearly meaning as much as his first. Straight after, it was a Frenchwoman, Magali getting the silver. Then within half an hour of winning his first medal of the day, it was the German swimmer touching in front yet again. Time for the other French lady to join in the fun, picking up a bronze. A slight breather and then it was Petra’s turn, her silver medal making her the first athlete to medal at four consecutive days of The World Games. Just time to draw breath, before Wieck was back for his ninth medal attempt. A poor start saw Germany trail the field in the relay, before their middle leg swimmers rallying, enabling Danny to claim bronze. Who is the best lifesaver? I have got absolutely no idea, it is like having to choose between chicken and pasta, or Michaelangelo and Da Vinci. All I know is it was an absolute privilege to witness four magnificent athletes producing the best session of sport I have seen at The World Games.
Deutschland Uber Nearly Alles Part 1
There was a major surprise in fistball, when the German women's team lost for the first time in 49 matches, when a strong Brazil side shocked them 3-1. Women’s fistball is being included for the first time at The World Games, and it is good to see that the Birmingham edition has inspired the other nations to raise their game.
Deutschland Uber Nearly Alles Part 2
If by some mischance, you ever fall into a river and need rescuing, then the medal races in the Lifesaving at the Birmingham edition of The World Games conclusively proved that your best chance of survival is to choose a German river. Germany were totally dominant in the Crossplex pool, winning all races bar one on the second and concluding day of competition. The person with the easiest job in Birmingham was the DJ, who had to select which national anthem should be played at the podium ceremony. They must have had the stirring German one on repeat and had no need to search for any other national tune until the very final race of the competition.
The pattern was set from the very first race of the session. The starting gun would fire, a swimmer from the most populated nation in Europe would surge to the front and would never be caught. A few minutes later some more German swimmers would prove this was no fluke by doing exactly the same thing. After a break of a few minutes the successful athletes would be led to the medal podium and a black, red gold flag would be lifted to the highest point of the mast. In fact, this pattern would remain unbroken until the team 4x 50m relay. Unusually, the Germans were the slowest away from the start line, and were trailing in last place. The underwater swimmer did extremely well to make up ground, but despite his team mates also having strong legs in the relay, there was too much ground to make up. Unusually for them, the Germans had to settle for a bronze medal, and the DJ had to remember where the Hungarian national anthem had been filed.
Brian Salmon for The World Games
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.