The ANOC World Beach Games, known simply as the ''World Beach Games'', is an international

multi-sport event A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organized teams of athletes from (mostly) nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of interna ...

organized by the

Association of National Olympic Committees The Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) is an international organization that affiliates the current 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Each year it gathers all its membe ...

(ANOC). The games are held biennially in odd-numbered years, with a focus on non-

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc sh ...

and

water sports Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a s ...

and a primary target audience of 15 to 35 year olds. It was first held in 2019 in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the count ...

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

History

The ''World Beach Games'' was first announced as a joint project between ANOC and

SportAccord Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) is the umbrella organisation for all (Olympic and non-Olympic) international sports federations as well as organisers of multi-sports games and sport-related international association ...

in October 2013. It was inspired by the success of the regional

Asian Beach Games The Asian Beach Games, also known as ABG, is a multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games have been organized by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA). The Games are described as the second or third largest A ...

first held five years prior. Original plans conceived the Games as a 20–25 discipline event, attracting ~5,000 athletes from all 206

National Olympic Committees A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Gam ...

(NOCs) at a cost of $135 million, and would occur biennially. The concept was approved by the ANOC General Assembly in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

, Thailand in November 2014. Relations between SportAccord and ANOC quickly soured however, and the former unilaterally announced in April 2015 that Sochi, Russia would host the first edition of the Games, more than likely without any involvement from ANOC; the latter then revealed plans for their own, completely independent version of the Games. Shortly after, SportAccord's scheme collapsed, leaving ANOC as the sole organisation moving forward with any such event and opened the application process in the July. In October 2015,

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

, United States was approved as hosts of the inaugural edition at ANOC's General Assembly meeting in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

It was scheduled to take place in 2017. In August 2016, it was postponed by two years to 2019; officially, it was delayed to allow "stakeholders to deliver the best possible event" and give NOCs the "optimum time to prepare their athletes". The scope of the event was substantially scaled-back for the new date, now to feature around 15 disciplines, with thousands less athletes and many fewer NOCs set to attend, for a tremendously reduced cost of $40 million. But in May 2019, just five months before it was due to start, the event was pulled out of San Diego. The local organising committee (LOC) had been unable to raise the capital needed to stage the event. Within weeks, the event was relocated to

, Qatar after a deal was signed with the

Qatari Government The political system of Qatar is a semi-constitutional monarchy with the Emir of Qatar, emir as head of state and Chief executive (gubernatorial), chief executive, and the Prime Minister of Qatar, prime minister as the head of government. Under th ...

to secure funding. This gave Doha a mere four months to prepare for the Games. Despite the short timeframe, the first edition of the Games was finally realised there on schedule in October, with

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

topping the medals table, followed by

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in second, and both

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

tied for third; hosts

finished with one medal (silver). ANOC declared the event a success. Bidding for the second edition of the Games, to be held in 2021, opened in January 2020. However, in May 2020, following the outbreak and subsequent effects of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, a decision was made by ANOC to postpone the next edition of the Games to 2023. Its hosts, Bali, Indonesia, were appointed in June 2022.

List of World Beach Games

Sports

References

External links

Official website
Multi-sport events Beach sports competitions Recurring sporting events established in 2019 {{sport-stub

History

List of World Beach Games

Sports

See also

References

External links