It was a privilege to serve the IWGA
1. What did you decide to step down from the position of the IWGA President?
We have an encouragingly high number of high--‐quality nominations for most of the posts, including the post of President. After careful consideration, I have decided that this gives me an opportunity to stand down at our AGM here in Belek. After a quarter of a century serving the IWGA first as Acting President and then as President, I believe that the time is now right for me to pass the baton to a successor. Naturally, I will continue to help and support that person in whatever way he considers appropriate.
2. Looking back to six terms of your presidency, what has been achieved?
It was a great privilege and a pleasure for me to serve the IWGA and its Members during all these years. Then I have to make clear that nothing was done all by myself. We always worked as a team and I would like to thank all the board members and my CEO Joachim Gossow for their support. Talking about achievements let’s look on some numbers: In The Hague 1983 we sold 70.000 tickets. In Cali 2013 the organizers announced the number of 520.000 spectators. 1983 we had a TV coverage of four hours. In Cali we had 100 hours of TV coverage to be seen in 120 countries all over the world.
3. Right now the IWGA has been working together with several partners. How do you estimate this development?
It was very important for us that Juan Antonio Samaranch agreed to a commitment about the patronage of the IOC for The World Games. This support and the trustful cooperation have helped us a lot. Then I would like to mention that more and more NOC’s support The World Games. This is good for us spreading the news of our multi sports event. First of all it is important for the athletes finding the appreciation of their NOC’s. Some of our sports got the opportunity to be on the Olympic program. For me that shows The World Games are important for our federations, too. They get the opportunity to showcase their sports. We have many sports that have been promoted from The World Games into the Olympics. Our event can be considered as the stepping stone to the Olympics.
4. Looking back at the 2013 World Games, what were your impressions of the event in Cali?
I consider these games to be the Athletes’ Games. Seen through the eyes of the athletes, these were the best World Games ever.
5. What do you think worked well at the event, and what lessons did you learn that you can take forward to future editions of the Games?
The support of the local citizens and their enthusiasm to watch sports that in some cases they had never seen before. In some events, they did not even have a competitor from Colombia. But nevertheless the venues were full and the people from Cali were excited, whoever was competing.
6. The number of athletes and countries participating at the World Games seems to grow with every edition. How big do you think the event can become?
I believe that with our official competition programme and the invitational programme we should not exceed 5000 athletes and officials in total. We have to be careful of gigantism. We have started the process of developing a sports programme which matches the expectations of our member federations, the host city and the media. But most of all, it has to meet the needs of our athletes. The World Games are their games and not ours.
7. How important is the internet as a platform for the IWGA and the World Games itself? Is this an area you will look to expand, particularly regarding media coverage of the World Games?
We have started with a new marketing company, UFA Sports from Germany. They were our partner in Cali for the first time and have been working on developing a media strategy for Wroclaw. We also employed additional staff in our own media department. In Cali we went out to 102 countries with our TV coverage. But what we experienced there, too, was that the access figures of the internet especially showed that our sports attract the interest of the fans. A permanent platform is now needed that makes our events accessible for a wider audience. So we are about to start our own channel, The World Games Channel on internet.
8. What are your future hopes for the World Games and the IWGA?
I am pleased to say that the new board will very likely support the planned measures and take The World Games to the next level. It is a challenge to enhance a multisports event. But looking back to my experiences, it is worthwhile.