The International World Games Association (IWGA) will announce the host of the 2021 World Games later on today, with Birmingham, Alabama widely seen as the favourite in a three-horse race.
The US city, along with Peruvian capital Lima and Russian city Ufa, will present to the IWGA Executive Board at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) headquarters in Lausanne today before the Board makes the final decision, ahead of tomorrow’s announcement.
The Evaluation Commission for the three bid cities was headed by vice-president Max Bishop, with his six cohorts on the Executive Board, President José Perurena López, Treasurer Lukas Hinder, chief executive Joachim Gossow, and members Anna Arzhanova, Tom Dielen and Fumio Morooka, joining him to select the winner.
This decision will then be formally ratified by the IWGA Annual General Meeting in April.
With the announcement less a day away, Birmingham, home to IWGA Honorary President Ron Froehlich, whose 22 year as the body’s President ended last year, is considered the favourite to win the vote.
The city is seeking to bring the Games back to North America for the first time since the inaugural edition in 1981, held in Santa Clara, California.
Lima, on the other hand, will be hoping to add to their increasing sporting portfolio with the Peruvian capital currently organising the 2019 Pan and Para Pan American Games, as well as the 2017 International Olympic Committee Session at which the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic host will be chosen.
Meanwhile, if Ufa, the capital of Republic of Bashkortostan 1,360 kilometres to the south-east of Moscow, is successful, it will mark an extension of Russia’s “Decade of Sport”.
This will include many major different competitions, including the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the 2019 Winter Universiade in Krasnoyarsk, as well as past events such as last year’s Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Sochi.
The World Games – under the patronage of the IOC – is a quadrennial and multidisciplinary sports event, which showcase more than 25 sports which are not part of the Olympic Movement, such as acrobatic gymnastics, squash, tug of war, sumo and roller sports.
The next edition of the World Games are taking place in Wrocław, Poland from July 20 to 30, 2017.
Source: Inside the Games.