World Games ended in Birmingham, USA, Czechs won six medals

The closing ceremony concluded the 11th World Games hosted by the American city of Birmingham. Thirty non-Olympic sports were competed in Alabama from 7 to 17 July and 207 sets of medals were given away. The Czech team took home six valuable metals.

The event was postponed for a year, last year it did not take place because of the coronavirus pandemic. At the previous World Games, hosted by Wroclaw, Poland, in 2017, the Czech Republic recorded a collection of seven medals. Even with two golds, it was then ranked 26th in the nations’ standings.

This year, Czech athletes have won six medals, which would be enough for an overall split of 28th place, according to their count. The lack of a gold medal makes it a final 53rd position in the ranking of nations, in which more than a hundred participated.

The silver was won in bowling by Jaroslav Lorenc, who became European Vice-Champion earlier this year. The inline hockey team also lost in the final, failing to defend the five-year-old gold after losing 1:2 after extra time against the USA. The second place was also taken by orienteer Tereza Janošíková in the sprint event.

The Czech Republic scored one more team success, after last year’s bronze in the World Championships, the floorball players dominated the third place match in Birmingham. They won 7:3 against Latvia. The men’s sprint race also brought the Czech orienteering team a podium finish, with Tomáš Křivda taking bronze. In the weight category up to 75 kg, the bronze medal went to kickboxer Petr Dvořáček.

“And let’s add to that six fourth places, when our athletes were very close to a medal, and other excellent placements,” Martin Doktor, the head of the team and sports director of the Czech Olympic Committee, recalled other quality performances for the Czech Olympic Team website.

Germany topped the nations’ standings, with 24 of its 47 total precious metals coming from gold. Sixteen firsts were claimed by two countries, and thanks to 18 domestic silvers compared to Ukraine’s 12, the Americans finished second just ahead of the Eastern European nation’s representatives.

Filip Šuman, Vice-Chairman of the Czech Olympic Committee for Non-Olympic Sports, told our team’s website that the interest of the World Games lies in the huge variety of sports disciplines.

“The absolute world’s top athletes compete here, and it is very difficult to qualify. The international competition is huge. Proof of this is that 73 countries have won at least one medal,” Šuman points out that the joy of being on the podium has been enjoyed at least once by participants from most of the teams.

We will wait three years for the twelfth edition of this multi-sport event, the 2025 World Games will be hosted by the Chinese city of Chengdu. The event will return to Asia after sixteen years, having been hosted by Kaohsiung, Taiwan in 2009.

Source: The World Games, Czech Olympic Team