Online vote until 31st January to determine the ‘Best of the Best’
Are The World Games 2022 already history? No, not just yet. The International World Games Association (IWGA) has now published the candidates for the Athlete and the Team of the year 2022. All those nominated – 23 athletes and 12 teams, proposed by their International Federations – took part in the 11th edition of the multi-sport event in Birmingham, USA last summer. Voting will open on 10th January on the IWGA website www.theworldgames.org.
Supporters and friends of The World Games can support their favourite athlete and team on a daily basis from 10 January on throughout the month. Casting your vote gives the ‘best of the best’ the opportunity to achieve another important title. This year for the first time there are two titles at stake: Athlete of the Year and Team of the Year.
On the IWGA website you can learn more about the athletes and teams in the race for the titles. Here, all candidates are introduced with a short report about their achievements and a video.
A little bit about the rules: The first round of the voting will open on 10th January and close on 22nd January and will determine the finalists: the 10 athletes and 7 teams with the most votes will go through to the final round. This round lasts until 31st January, when the winners will be announced. The winners will receive trophies and prizes.
Voting will be promoted on all social media platforms of The World Games. This means that supporters of a candidate will more easily be able to share their enthusiasm on social media, to encourage other fans to support an athlete or team.
The World Games fans can choose their favourite with two clicks. Each participant in the voting can cast votes for the candidates – either Athlete or Team of the Year or both - once per 24 hours on The World Games website. Each time, votes must be given to two candidates. Two votes are awarded to the first-choice candidate and one vote to the second-choice candidate.
Fans can vote separately for both the Athlete of the Year and the Team of the Year. The current ranking and the number of votes cast for each candidate will be shown on the IWGA voting page as the voting period progresses.
It is the ninth time that the IWGA has staged a vote for Athlete of the Year. “It’s a kind of tradition, starting a new year celebrating the achievements of our outstanding athletes. But this time it’s really special. The voting brings back wonderful memories of our event in Birmingham, USA, where our athletes experienced Southern hospitality and celebrated the reunion of The World Games family after the pandemic. The voting will give The World Games athletes a big stage. So the Games are not yet history at all,” commented IWGA President José Perurena.
Past winners:
2013: Marcel Hassemeier (GER), Life Saving & Team USA, Flying Disc
2014: Adam Ondra (CZE), Sport Climbing
2015: Mwai Kumwenda (MAW), Netball
2016: Sofia Olofsson (SWE), Muaythai
2017: Reza Alipourzenashandifar (IRI), Sport Climbing
2018: Marina Chernova & Georgii Pataraia (RUS), Gymnastics
2019: Rani Rampal (IND), Hockey
2022 PR Sreesjeh (IND), Hockey
2020 TWG Greatest Athlete of All Time:
Nicole David (MAS), Squash
The World Games is a multi-sport event staged every four years by the International World Games Association, organised with the support of the International Olympic Committee. The World Games 2022 was held in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, 7-17 July 2022. 3,600 athletes from 34 sports and 100 countries took part in the Games. The 12th edition of The World Games will be held in Chengdu, CHN in 2025.
