The voting is about to start. The New Year will be off to a good start: on 1st January the voting for The World Games Athlete of the Year begins. Sports fans can vote for their favourite until 31st January at www.theworldgames.org. But beware! Those who are not among the top ten by 15th January will be eliminated from the race. The results will be displayed on The World Games website.
Same rules as last year
The rules of the game are simple, and have not changed from those of 2017. The voting page will be online from 1st January. There, all candidates will be introduced by means of a text about their outstanding performances, a photo and a short video. Everyone can vote once per day for their candidate. A bonus for new subscribers to the IWGA Newsletter is that they can vote two times per day.
After the first round, lasting until 15th January, the ten athletes or teams with the highest ranking will move into the final. These candidates will take the votes already cast into the final round. The winner will then be determined on 31st January at midnight CET. The World Games honours the new Athlete of the Year with a trophy and a high-quality wrist-watch from Tissot.
25 candidates
25 international federations will send their top athletes or teams into the race in the fifth edition of the vote. There have never been so many of them before. "Many of our member federations see the chance to activate their fans by voting, giving them the opportunity to get involved," says Anna Jacobson, IWGA Communication Officer. “Social media users will get the chance not only to be a consumer, but also to participate actively," Anna Jacobson explains further.
Spread this news widely!
The federations are therefore invited to spread the election notification widely, in order to reach as many supporters as possible. This includes sharing postings on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The voting also has the effect of raising attention to the national federations themselves.
The IWGA also presents each candidate over its social media channels with its own postings. This makes it easier for the federations to promote their candidates by sharing their specific post.
“In addition, it makes sense that federations communicate the intermediate results via their own platforms, and thus push their own candidates once again. That can make a big difference,” says Anna Jacobson. "Last year we could see very clearly that shortly before the two deadlines, the number of votes increased significantly. A candidate also gets a tail wind if he motivates his personal fans to vote for him.”
More than 90,000 votes for 2017 winner
Optimal support is necessary to get far ahead. In 2017 the speed climber Reza Alipourshenazandifar from Iran won with 90,790 votes. His fiercest rival, the power lifter Larysa Soloviova from Ukraine, had only 734 fewer votes.
Anna Jacobson is looking forward to this year’s race: "We have a very exciting list of candidates. I think they all deserve to win the title! What you can see is that outstanding athletes and teams perform in the sports of The World Games. These exceptional candidates also deserve exceptional support. It's impossible to predict who will finish first. But one can say that it is important to activate your own fan base. The federation that does this best has a good chance of bringing home the title. "
The World Games is a multi-sport event staged every four years by the International World Games Association under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee. The 11th edition of The World Games will be held in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, 15-25 July 2021. 3,600 athletes from over 30 sports and 100 countries will take part in the Games.
