The Coordination Committee for The World Games 2017 has held its final meeting in Wroclaw this week. “It all went really well”, says IWGA Vice President Max Bishop. “We reviewed everything that had taken place, all the figures, and also the challenges the organisers had met during the Games, and how they had been overcome. The evaluations are not yet complete, but the report we received from the organisers was very detailed indeed.”
In Wroclaw, there is a History Path: paving stones made of bronze with measurements of 30 x 70 cm, commemorating the most important events from the history of the city. Amongst the events there are establishing the bishopric (1000), Mongol invasion (1241), joining Wroclaw to the Bohemian crown (1335), plague epidemic (1361), and the first railway line (1842). On Thursday, Vice President Bishop and Mayor of Wroclaw, Rafał Dutkiewicz, unveiled a new paving stone on the path: one dedicated to The World Games 2017!
Mayor Dutkiewicz says: “The Games were both a sport and organisational success for us. It was a time of amazing emotions and amazing competitions involving thousands of athletes from around the world. The residents of Wrocław and of Lower Silesia as a whole, had a chance again to show what a unique meeting place Wrocław is.”
Altogether 240 000 fans came to Wroclaw to watch the Games at 26 venues and in the fan zone, 3 500 athletes from 111 countries took part, as well as 1 600 volunteers, and 700 journalists from 50 countries.
More than 400 hours of live television transmissions were produced and broadcast in Poland over the Polsat, Polsat Sport, Polsat Sport Extra, Polsat Sport News, Polsat Sport Fight and Super Polsat stations. The broadcast was available in 131 countries, among others, CCTV5 from China, TBS from Japan, Germany’s Sport1, Match TV in Russia, ESPN LA covering all the countries of Latin America and finally the Olympic Channel – the official channel of the International Olympic Committee. The combined viewership totalled 420 million viewers.
The Games were the most difficult logistical undertaking in the history of Polish sport. The capital of Lower Silesia will now be left with several beautiful sport venues thanks to The World Games 2017: Olympic Stadium, the roller-skating track in Millennium Park and the swimming pool complex on Wejherowska Street.
