World Abilitysport Games

The World Abilitysport Games (known as the IWAS World Games before 2023) are a parasports multi-sport event for athletes who use wheelchairs or are amputees. Organized by World Abilitysport (formerly IWAS), the Games are a successor to the original Stoke Mandeville Games founded in 1948 by Ludwig Guttmann, and specifically the International Stoke Mandeville Games—the first international sporting competition for athletes with disabilities which was held in 1952 , itself an Olympic year, between British and Dutch athletes and which ultimately was the forerunner to the modern Paralympic Games.

The 1960, 1964, 1968, and 1972 editions of the International Stoke Mandeville Games were held in the same host country as the Summer Olympics; they were later retroactively recognized as also being the first four Paralympic Games. The event continued to be held annually, as simply the International Stoke Mandeville Games, in between Paralympic years.

After the Paralympics expanded to include events for disability classifications other than wheelchairs, the ISMG for wheelchair athletes continued to be hosted annually in Stoke Mandeville, and later other countries, in all non-Paralympic years.

In 2024 the previous IWAS merged with the Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association (CPISRA) to form World Abilitysport and the IWAS World Games were once more renamed World Abilitysport Games accordingly.

A separate event to be known as the Guttmann Games for events and disciplines not yet on the Paralympic Game schedules, organised by World Abilitysport, has been planned for 2024.

The event was first established in 1948 as the Stoke Mandeville Games by neurologist Ludwig Guttmann, who organized a sporting competition involving World War II veterans with spinal cord injuries at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital rehabilitation facility in Aylesbury, England, taking place concurrently with the first post-war Olympic Games in London. In 1952, the Netherlands joined in the event, creating the first international sports competition for athletes with a disability, after which it was renamed the International Stoke Mandeville Games.^[1]

In 1960 and subsequent Olympic years, the ISMG began to increasingly be hosted in the same country (if not the same host city) as their respective Olympics, with all other editions remaining in Stoke Mandeville. The Games were also increasingly referred to as "Paralympics", originally in reference to paraplegia, but later officially referring to an event operating in parallel with the Olympic movement. While the Paralympic Games evolved to include athletes from all disability groups beginning in 1976, the Stoke Mandeville Games continued to be organized as a multi-sport event for wheelchair athletes in non-Paralympic years. Games were held annually in Aylesbury under the direction of the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation (ISMGF), which later became the International Stoke Mandeville Wheelchair Sports Federation (ISMWSF).

In 2003, the Games were combined with a competition for amputee athletes organized by the International Sports Organization for the Disabled (ISOD). In 2004, ISMWSF and ISOD merged to create the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS). The Games were subsequently renamed the "World Wheelchair and Amputee Games" in 2005, and later renamed to simply the "IWAS World Games".

In 2024 the previous IWAS merged with the Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association (CPISRA) to form World Abilitysport.

The inaugural competition, initially named "Stoke Mandeville Games for the Paralyzed" in 1948, was just named "Stoke Mandeville Games" the next year, before becoming the "International Stoke Mandeville Games" (ISMG) in 1952.

Beginning in 1960 during Summer Olympic years, the ISMG were held in the same host city as the Summer Olympics. These particular editions of the Games were retroactively recognised as being the first four Paralympic Games. The Games were otherwise hosted in Stoke Mandeville in all other years. Beginning in 1976, the Paralympic Games began hosting events for amputees and the visually impaired; at this point, the Paralympics were no longer credited as being editions of the ISMG, but the ISMG went on hiatus during Paralympic years.

Year	Name of the event	Host	Annotation
Stoke Mandeville Games
1948	Stoke Mandeville Games for the Paralyzed[2]	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom	July 28, 1948, archery competition, 16 competitors[3] (14 men, 2 women[4])
1949	Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom	Six teams competed.'wheelchair netball' (later wheelchair basketball) was introduced.[5]
1950	Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1951	Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
International Stoke Mandeville Games
1952	1st International Stoke Mandeville Games[6]	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom	A Dutch team participated, making it an international event for the first time.[3]
1953	2nd International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1954	3rd International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1955	4th International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1956	5th International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1957	6th International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1958	7th International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1959	8th International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
Combined International Stoke Mandeville Games and Paralympic Games era
1960	9th International Stoke Mandeville Games[7]and 1960 Summer Paralympics.	Rome, Italy	400 competitors from 23 countries (10 with medalists) in 8 sports. First edition occurring outside UK, in the same host city as the Summer Olympic Games. Held in Rome in the hope of becoming better internationally recognized and integrated with other national and international sports federations to organize what will become recognised as the Paralympic Games.
1961	10th International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1962	11th International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1963	12th International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1964	13th International Stoke Mandeville Games[8] and 1964 Summer Paralympics.	Tokyo, Japan	Second Paralympic Games retrospectively
1965	14th International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1966	15th International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1967	16th International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1968	17th International Stoke Mandeville Games[9] and 1968 Summer Paralympics.	Tel Aviv, Israel	Third Paralympic Games retrospectively. First. edition held in venue other than the Olympic venue
1969	18th International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1970	19th International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1971	20th International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1972	1972 Summer Paralympics[9][10] and 21st International Stoke Mandeville Games	Heidelberg, West Germany	Fourth Paralympic Games retrospectively, First edition where 'Paralympic Games' title took primacy. Final edition which served as both International Stoke Mandeville Games and Paralympic Games. Held in Olympic host country for first time since 1964.
1973	22nd International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1974	23rd International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1975	24th International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
Paralympic Games and International Stoke Mandeville Games diverge.
1976	No Games		1976 Summer Paralympics in Toronto
1977	25th International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1978	26th International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1979	27th International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1980	No Games		1980 Summer Paralympics in in Arnhem
1981	28th International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1982	29th International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1983	30th International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1984	No Games		1984 Summer Paralympics in New York and Stoke Mandeville
1985	31st International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1986	32nd International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1987	33rd International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1988	No Games		1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul. From this edition, Paralympic Games always held in Olympic host City by agreement withe IOC.
1989	34th International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1990	35th International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1991	36th International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1992	No Games		1992 Summer Paralympics in Barcelona
1993	37th International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1994	38th International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1995	39th International Stoke Mandeville Games	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom
1996	No Games		1996 Summer Paralympics in Atlanta, Georgia
World Wheelchair Games
1997	World Wheelchair Games		From 1997, the International Stoke Mandeville Games became the "World Wheelchair Games"
1998	World Wheelchair Games
1999	World Wheelchair Games	Christchurch, New Zealand
2000	No Games		2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney.
2001	World Wheelchair Games[11]
2002	World Wheelchair Games[11]
2003	World Wheelchair Games[11]	Christchurch, New Zealand
2004	No Games		2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece
World Wheelchair and Amputee Games
2005	World Wheelchair and Amputee Games[12]	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Renamed "World Wheelchair and Amputee Games" Over 700 athletes from 44 nations. Five events: track and field, table tennis, archery, shooting, and billiards.[13]
2006	World Wheelchair and Amputee Games	Bangalore, Karnataka, India
2007	World Wheelchair and Amputee Games[14]	Taipei, Chinese Taipei
2008	No Games		2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing
IWAS World Games
2009	IWAS World Games[15][16][17][18]	Bangalore, Karnataka, India	Renamed the IWAS World Games.
2010	Not held		IWAS World Games move to a two-yearly cycle from 2010.
2011	IWAS World Games	Sharjah, United Arab Emirates	December 1–10, 2011[19]
2010	No Games		2012 Summer Paralympics in London
2013	IWAS World Games	Stadskanaal, Netherlands
2014	Not held		First year with neither IWA World Games or predecessor, nor Paralympic Games since 1948.
2015	IWAS World Games	Sochi, Russia
2016	No Games		2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro
2017	IWAS World Games	Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal
2018	Not held
2019	IWAS World Games	Sharjah, United Arab Emirates	IWAS World Games returns to annual cycle
2020	IWAS World Games	Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[20]
2021	IWAS World Games	Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[21] See also 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo.
2022	IWAS World Games[22]	Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal	Originally scheduled to be hosted by Sochi, Russia, IWAS stripped Sochi of its hosting rights in March 2022 in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and banned Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from participating.[23] The Games were relocated to Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal, which was originally scheduled to host the Games in 2021.[24]
World Abilitysport Games
2023	World Abilitysport Games[25]	Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand[26][27]	Renamed "World Abilitysport Games" after the merger of IWAS and Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association (CPISRA). The separate CPISRA Games are not considered part of the history of the WASG.
2024	No Games		2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris

For some years now, the IWAS Federation has hosted junior competitions, which were named IWAS World Junior Games by 2015. Since 2016 they are called IWAS Under 23 World Games and will only be played in years with even numbers.^[28]

No.	Year	Dates	Host City	Venue	Events	Results List
1	2005	6–7 July	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom			Result list[permanent dead link]
2	2006	14–16 July	Dublin, Ireland			Result list
3	2007	4–6 April	Ekurhuleni, South Africa	Germiston Sports Precinct		Result list Archived 2016-09-16 at the Wayback Machine
4	2008	18–27 July	Piscataway, New Jersey, United States			Results Archived 2016-09-16 at the Wayback Machine
5	2009	16–19 July	Nottwil, Switzerland	SPZ Nottwil		Result list[permanent dead link]
6	2010	19–26 August	Olomouc, Czech Republic			Results Archived 2018-09-17 at the Wayback Machine
7	2011	14–21 April	Dubai, United Arab Emirates			Result List[permanent dead link]
8	2012	19–21 July	Olomouc, Czech Republic			Results[permanent dead link]
9	2013	14–21 August	Mayaguez, Puerto Rico	Central American Stadium		Ergebnisliste[permanent dead link]
10	2014	3–7 August	Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom			Results
11	2015	2–8 July	Stadskanaal, Netherlands	Sportpark Stadskanaal		Ergebnisliste[permanent dead link]
12	2016	29 June–3 July	Prague, Czech Republic			Results[permanent dead link]

• http://www.iwasf.com/iwasf/index.cfm/games/iwas-world-junior-games1111/past-games111/

In 2024, World Abilitysport announced its inaugural World Abilitysport Guttmann Games. Named after the founder of the Stoke Mandeville Games, the event will take place in Stoke Mandeville in July 2024, and feature competition in sports not on the Paralympic programme. It is scheduled to feature para dance sport and power hockey competitions, as well as wheelchair cricket as a demonstration sport.^[29] The event will be broadly analagous to the World Games, a similar multi-sport event for non-Olympic sports and disciplines.

• International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation

• Summer Games Governance 1960 to 1992, IWAS
• IWAS World Games from the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS) website
• "2012 – The Paralympics come home", BBC, July 4, 2008. A look back at the origins of the Stoke Mandeville Games.