The representatives of the IWGA met with the Organising Committee (WOC) of The World Games 2017 in Wroclaw last week for a Coordinating Committee (CoCom) Meeting.
“WOC presented details of huge progress in many business areas since our last CoCom meeting in December 2016. The different working meetings with IWGA staff and TWG 2017 service partners that have taken place since then have been fruitful, and have supported WOC in their efforts”, says IWGA CEO Joachim Gossow.
The IWGA delegation took a closer look at the detailed report on preparations by Wroclaw and its partner cities (Świdnica, Trzebnica, Jelcz-Laskowice) for the July event. IWGA looked at communication and accommodation plans, and also the facilities planned for journalists at the Main Media Centre. The IWGA delegation was led by President José Perurena and CEO Joachim Gossow. Vice President Max Bishop, Honorary Life President Ron Froehlich and General Manager Chantal Boehi were also part of the IWGA team present.
The IWGA team was impressed by the attention to detail being given to the Opening Ceremony, which is being held at the Wrocław Stadium. The Closing Ceremony is planned for Wolności Square and to have a less official character. It is good news that nearly all renovation work on the Games' venues is finished (the rink for Inline-Hockey and Roller Sports Artistic will be completed in two weeks’ time). In addition, IWGA President Perurena was invited for a short visit to the renovated Olympic Stadium, and he was pleased to see the great work that had been done on this historic facility.
The WOC was represented by President Marcin Przychodny and Deputy President Adam Roczek. The Deputy Sports Minister of Poland, Jan Wider, and his team of colleagues also attended, together with representatives from the Polish Olympic Committee.
Whilst the concept of TWG 2017 Opening Ceremony greatly impressed the IWGA CoCom members, they had some small misgivings with regard to the concept for the Closing Ceremony. However, the WOC gave them reassurance that the final fine-tuning for this event would address their concerns. Another discussion point was the design of the medals for the official and invitational sports of TWG 2017 sports programme. The medals should be finished shortly, and the design will then be made public.
