The World Transplant Games (WTG) are an international multi-sport event, occurring every two years, organized by the World Transplant Games Federation (WTGF). The Games promote amateur sport amongst organ transplant recipients, living donors and donor families.
Summer and winter sports alternate years and the event is open to anyone who has received a solid organ transplant including liver, heart, lung, kidney, pancreas or bone marrow. The idea is that people who receive these organs need to take immunosuppressants for the rest of their lives and since such drugs affect athletic performance, the games were started to give donors a level playing field.
History
The games started in 1978 in Portsmouth, England with about 100 athletes from the UK, France, Germany, Greece and the United States.
The 2023 games in Perth, Australia include competitors from more than 60 countries and include events over seven days such as cycling, swimming, darts, bowling and more. There are ceremonies during each of the games to honor the families of the deceased and living donors.
Summer Games
| Year | Games | Host | Dates | Nations | Athletes | Ref |
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| 1978 | 1 |  Portsmouth, Great Britain
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| 1979 | 2 | Portsmouth, Great Britain
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| 1980 | 3 |  New York City, United States
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| 1982 | 4 |  Athens, Greece
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| 1984 | 5 |  Amsterdam, Netherlands
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| 1987 | 6 |  Innsbruck, Austria
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| 1989 | 7 |  Singapore
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| 1991 | 8 |  Budapest, Hungary
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| 1993 | 9 |  Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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| 1995 | 10 | Manchester, Great Britain
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| 1997 | 11 |  Sydney, Australia
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| 1999 | 12 | Budapest, Hungary
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| 2001 | 13 |  Kobe, Japan
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| 2003 | 14 |  Nancy, France
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| 2005 | 15 | London, Ontario, Canada
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| 2007 | 16 |  Bangkok, Thailand
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| 2009 | 17 | Gold Coast, Australia
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| 2011 | 18 |  Gothenburg, Sweden
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| 2013 | 19 |  Durban, South Africa
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| 2015 | 20 |  Mar del Plata, Argentina
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23 – 30 August | 44 | 1,110 | |
| 2017 | 21 |  Málaga, Spain
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25 June – 2 July | 52 | 2,500 | |
| 2019 | 22 | Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead, Great Britain
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17 – 23 August | 60 | 2,400 | |
| 2021 | 23 | 5K AnyWay (2021 Games set for Houston cancelled)
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Virtual | |||
| 2023 | 24 | Perth, Australia
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15 – 21 April | |||
| 2025 | 25 |  Dresden, Germany
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16 – 23 August | |||
Winter Games
| Year | Games | Host | Dates | Nations | Athletes | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 1 | Tignes, France
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| 1996 | 2 | Pra-Loup, France
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| 1999 | 3 | Snowbird, Utah, United States
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| 2001 | 4 |  Nendaz, Switzerland
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| 2004 | 5 |  Bormio, Italy
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| 2008 | 6 |  Rovaniemi, Finland
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| 2010 | 7 | Sainte-Foy-Tarentaise, France
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| 2012 | 8 | Anzere, Switzerland
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| 2014 | 9 | La Chapelle-d'Abondance, France
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| 2016 | - | not held | ||||
| 2018 | 10 | Anzère, Switzerland
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7–12 January | |||
| 2020 | 11 | Banff, Alberta, Canada
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23–28 February | |||
| 2022 | (Postponed) | |||||
| 2024 | 12 | Bormio, Italy
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3–8 March | |||
Sports
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Summer: |
Winter:
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SPORTS – DONORS (including deceased donor families and living donors) • Road Race • 50m Freestyle • Athletics: 100m sprint, ball throw, long jump
worldtransplantgames.org/sports/
worldtransplantgames.org/sports-rules/
Age Groups
Seniors age groups:
- (18-29), (30-39), (40-49), (50-59), (60-69), (70-79) and (80+). Doubles events: (18-29), (30-49) and (50+).
Juniors age groups:
- (5 years and under), (6-8), (9-11), (12-14) and (15-17). Juniors 16 or 17 years of age are permitted to compete in adult age events, but must then compete only in adult events.
2020
wtgf.org/results/
wtgf.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/WTWG-Medals-03-10-2020.pdf
1-CAN
2-FRA
3-USA
4-SUI
5-GBR
6-GER
7-HUN
8-ITA
9-AUT
10-NOR
11-AUS
12-POL
13-CZE
14-FIN
15-SWE
References
- ^ Mathewson, Eryn (2023-04-13). "The unexpected journeys of four athletes to one of the biggest competitions you've probably never heard of". CNN. Retrieved 2023-04-13.
- "How the World Transplant Games: gave Watford man a post-op goal". BBC News. 2023-04-11. Retrieved 2023-04-13.
- Nelson, Barry (13 August 2013). "Kaylee wins gold, 25 years after becoming world's first heart transplant baby". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
- "2015 Summer Transplant Games Official Web Site". Archived from the original on 16 November 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - "2017 Summer Transplant Games Official Web Site". Retrieved 29 June 2016.
- "2019 Summer Transplant Games Official Web Site". Retrieved 24 August 2019.
- "Media Release: World Transplant Games - New host city awarded". Retrieved 24 August 2019.
- "World Transplant Summer Games 2025 finden in Dresden statt". 5 September 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
- "HOST FOR THE 2018 WINTER WORLD TRANSPLANT GAMES ANNOUNCED" (Press release). World Transplant Games Federation. 4 May 2017.
- "11TH WORLD TRANSPLANT WINTER GAMES 2020" (Press release). World Transplant Games Federation. 20 June 2019.
- "12TH WORLD TRANSPLANT WINTER GAMES TO TAKE PLACE IN BORMIO, ITALY IN 2024" (Press release). World Transplant Games Federation. 20 June 2021.
- "12TH WORLD TRANSPLANT WINTER GAMES TO TAKE PLACE IN BORMIO, ITALY IN 2024" (Press release). World Transplant Games Federation. 20 June 2021.
External links
| World Transplant Games | |
|---|---|
| Summer | |
| Winter | |