Home game for the president: the Executive Committee of the International World Games Association met in August for its first official working meeting in Madrid, the home town of IWGA President José Perurena. The Board accepted an invitation from the Olympic Channel, which is based in Madrid, for the meeting. Meeting at the Olympic Channel headquarters set the road for further close cooperation with a view towards The World Games 2021 in Birmingham, Alabama. The new board was elected in April at the Annual General Assembly of the IWGA in Bangkok, Thailand.
IWGA President Jose Perurena sums up the board meeting extremely positively: "We have set the framework for the work of the Board for the next four years. Of course the preparations for the next edition of The World Games, 15 to 25 July 2021, were the main focus. But we have also started to develop our strategic direction for the future, and have worked with partners such as the IOC, WADA and other event organisers on the content".
The Board approved the plans for the sports programme of The World Games in 2021. IWGA CEO Joachim Gossow will coordinate the final details with the member associations and the Local Organising Committee in Birmingham. "After the Board's approval, I am confident that we will be able to present a programme with all sports and disciplines at the beginning of September,” said Gossow. “Then we will start to develop a preliminary schedule for the ten days of competition. At the Competitions Managers Meeting in Birmingham in October, it will already be possible to talk very specifically about the course of events and requirements for the Games in three years' time.”
“At our meeting in Madrid we made arrangements as to which board member is responsible for which task,” said José Perurena. “This allocation of tasks enables concentrated and effective work within the Board. We have had a good start, and I look forward to meeting the challenges ahead with this team,” he continued.
Amongst other arrangements, the new board member Jan Fransoo will take the lead in the strategic development of the multi-sport event. Antonio Espinos is designing the sequence of steps for further membership applications; the IWGA now has 37 member federations. Volker Bernardi is appointed IWGA spokesman in the Anti-Doping Commission.
The next board meeting is scheduled for early November in Birmingham in conjunction with the meeting of the Coordination Commission, in which the Local Organising Committee will also participate.
The World Games is a multi-sport event staged every four years by the International World Games Association under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee. The 11th edition of The World Games will be held in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, 15-25 July 2021. 3,600 athletes from over 30 sports and 100 countries will take part in the Games.
