The World Games is kind of Olympic games for non-Olympic sports. It’s an international multi-sport event, held every fourth year. The International Olympic Committee and the World Games association are organizing those games since 1995.

The sport of orienteering made its debut in 2001, when it was included at the World Games in Japan. This year’s World Games are organized in Taiwan.

There are 26 different sports that officially will be presented in Asia, and five extra sports on a invitational program. The organizers state that more than 5000 athletes from all over the world are expected to participate in Kaohsiung.

The World Games has also a big opening ceremony today. The athletes and officials will parade through the Main Stadium, under their national flags.

The O-Elite is in Taiwan
There will be three competitions, included in this year’s orienteering program at the World Games:

Sprint Distance – Museum of Fine Arts
Friday July 17, 13:45-16:30
winning time: 12 min

Middle Distance – Chengcing Lake
Saturday July 18, 12:30-16:30
winning time: 27-28 min

Mixed Relays – Chengcing Lake
Sunday July 19, 14:00-16:30
winning times: 2 x 26 min (women) + 2 x 29 min (men)
*The mixed relays consist of two men and two women. The men are running the first and third leg, and the women – second and fourth.

Part of the old map in Chengcing Lake - the venue for the middle distance and the mixed relay. Picture: The WorldGames 2009 Orienteering website

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36 men and 36 women qualified for the World Games, and as we stated in a recent interview with the Norwegian Øystein Kvaal Østerbø – the stars are taking it seriously! It looks like the World Games are as important as the World Championships, and the fight for the medals will be tough!

Pasi Ikonen, Daniel Hubmann, Andrey Khramov, Minna Kauppi and many of the best orienteers in the world will fight for the World Games-medals. The Asian teams will try to gain some good results on home ground – Team Japan for example is represented by it’s biggest hope – Yoko Bamba.

The International Orienteering Federation’s website writes that Orienteering was one of the first sports to sell out all the tickets for the races – sounds impressing, regarding the popularity of our sport in Asia.

The organizers are promising live tracking, and online video broadcasting. So stay tuned, and watch your favourites in Taiwan!

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Official website for the orienteering races at WG2009
(with old maps, live results and TV-broadcast)

Tip: The time zone in Taiwan is China Standard Time, which is 8 hours ahead of GMT, and 7 hours ahead of the Central European Time.