When looking at medal tallies, we often focus on the leaders on the list. However, some countries further down on the list might have had their most successful Games ever, and are enjoying the medals as much, if not more, than the ones higher up.
San Marino made history in Wroclaw with their first ever medal at The World Games. In the Raffa Doubles event of Boules Sport, Enrico Dall'Olmo and Jacopo Frisoni each collected a silver medal. The two athletes are sure to become heroes in the small mountainous country; San Marino has never won an Olympic medal, and up to these Gamesonly their sports shooters had enjoyed any success (Mediterranean Games: one silver and two bronzes) at a major international multi-sports competition.
Cornelia Mihai became the first woman from United Arab Emirates to medal at The World Games, when she collected a bronze medal in Air Sports Canopy Piloting. At a stroke she doubled the Middle Eastern country's medal tally at The World Games, their only other podium was a bronze in men’s Snooker in 2009.
Pool player Carlo Biado was the toast of The Philippines, as he dramatically broke the medal drought that has never seen the Asian island nation top the podium at a global multi-sport event. No Filipino has ever won gold at the Olympic Games. The Asian Games, where the islanders compete against other countries from their continent, has proved to be a similarly barren hunting ground.
Sport Climbing World Record holder Reza Alipourshenazandifar, Iran, pulled off a shock victory, in front of the Polish audience who had expected home gold for Marcin Dzienski, speeding to the top of the climbing wall in less time than it takes to pronounce his name. It was the first time in the history of The World Games that Iran has topped a podium.
Karate (Kumite) was a source for two new countries to grab their first gold medals ever at The World Games! Alexandra Grande from Peru won the 61 kg women’s class and Lamya Matoub from Algeria the next weight class, 68 kg. Before Wroclaw, Algeria had one silver medal and Peru two bronzes.
