“Seize the day!”
This phrase or its equivalents such as “This is our time.” are widely used in sporting circles to motivate teams and athletes. Whereas sports people train for the future, they compete in the here and now. Every time they compete, there is always the possibility of a bad performance, or a lucky one, or an exceptional one. Very often the athlete does not know until the day itself, what is going to happen.
The Chengdu 2025 edition of The World Games has been notable so far for the number of smaller sporting nations that have equalled or bettered their previous podium appearances at the premier multi-event competition for non-Olympic sports. Let us meet some of the athletes who were able to seize the moment in China.
Paraguay has one of the smallest teams in Chengdu- just one athlete, but what a competitor! Speed skater Julio Cesar Mirena indeed reigned supreme in the 10,000m Points race. He broke away from the pack together with Spaniard Francisco Peula, early on in the race. No one was able to bridge the gap to the race leaders, as they continued to share all the points available. The final lap saw Peula increase his speed to just cross the line marginally in front of the South American.
He said immediately afterwards “ I am the only athlete from Paraguay in Chengdu and I am very happy to get Paraguay’s first ever medal at The World Games.”
Interestingly,the next edition of the impressive World Skate Games is due to take place in the Paraguayian capital of Asuncion in 2026. Looks like that event has just found its first ambassador, to promote roller sports in that nation!
Cuba had only competed once before at The World Games with their best athlete finishing 15th in Speed Skating. Rolando Salgado their sole athlete had the easiest job in Chengdu with regard to improving his nation’s greatest performance at the multi-sports event.
Step 1 Get a visa to China- accomplished
Step 2 Make sure he was not disqualified in the Underwater Free diving competitions, where competitors hold their breath for as long as possible- accomplished
That meant as one of the 10 competitors in the pool, he was already the most successful athlete the island nation had ever sent to the Games! However as one of the most accomplished athletes in the discipline, his silver medal came as no surprise.
Another one person delegation was that of Bermuda; Krista Dyer, an Afro Caribbean personal fitness instructor who somehow managed to get into the Asian dominated sport of Wushu, finished in a highly creditable 4th place in her Sanda combat competition. A very notable achievement for the small island to get into a medal match at their debut at The World Games!
Roller sports also provided another nation the opportunity to step onto the medal podium for the first time. Everything seemed against the Men’s team from Namibia; to be good at inline hockey you generally need to have a strong ice hockey pedigree. You also need somewhere to purchase the sticks, skates and other equipment needed to play the sport. Finally you need opponents of a good standard that you can practise against. The desert African nation is not particularly known for any of these things. Yet despite these disadvantages, the team had built such a bond that they beat established nation France in the bronze medal game!
Captain Christiaan Coetzee praised his team ”It was really tight. I'm super proud of every single player of our team and the coaches. We really worked hard to get here.”
Montenegro’s bronze medal in the Ju-Jitsu Mixed Duo Show equalled their best ever performance at The World Games.The only other time they have reached the lowest step of the podium was in Karate in 2009. The discipline looks very much like a WWE contest, with staged martial arts moves and props. I can confidently say that it was the first time in a major global sporting event that an artist’s easel has ever been used to provide a medal winning routine! The Balkan pair of Stefan Vukotic and Lidja Cakovic comically argued over who should wield the paintbrush!
There were also two nations who won only the second medal in their history, many decades after their first and only podium appearance
Latvia last experienced glory at The World Games in Sambo in 1993 with a silver. So it was a real surprise that the Baltic nation team of Elizabete PEKSENA and Rainers BALODIS reached the minor medal match of the Disc Golf competition. The match against neighbours Estonia was a thriller, going to a play off. They were still level after the first extra hole, both holing straightforward shots. At the next hole, Estonia’s disc hit the basket but did not bounce in. The surprised but jubilant Latvians took full advantage. Saudi Arabia had reached the top step of the podium in 1997 with their Air sports athlete. Their long wait for a subsequent appearance finally ended when Ju Jitsu fighter Abdullah Nada came away with more than Nada in his bronze medal 85kg match.