CSIT World Sports Games 2023 - a complete success

The WSG2023 in Emilia Romagna in the towns of Ravenna, Riccione, Forlì, Cesena, Cesenatico, Misano Adriatico and the centrepiece Cervia were pompous and colourful. The Games in the Emilia Romagna region will be remembered in many ways, as shown by the spectacular opening ceremony with 3,500 people in Piazza Garibaldi and a parade of 44 nations from all over the world. And with the Closing Ceremony and an impressive closing party at the Fantini Club on the beach of Cervia with the taking down of the CSIT flag and the handover to Loutraki in Greece, the "host" of the World Sports Games 2025.

Broad sports program for all

3,800 athletes, plus referees, coaches, staff and volunteers. In total, the 7th CSIT World Sports Games had around 5,000 participants spread across 7 cities and 47 competition venues. Hundreds of medals in gold, silver and bronze were presented in 20 official CSIT international championships and 33 different sports. Almost all participating federations were able to take home precious medals.

The Mexican "invasion"

In terms of the number of participants, the Italians were clearly ahead. 363 AiCS members, 217 from ACSI and 20 from UISP. A total of 600 Italians took part in the official championships. In addition, there were a few starts in partner and demonstration sports. This time, The largest foreign group was INDET Mexico, with 288 participants, followed by FSGT France with 187 and INATEL Portugal with 119. There were just 53 for NCS Netherlands, which nevertheless took third place in the overall medal table thanks to podium finishes in swimming.

Colourful distribution of medals

The list of medals won often naturally follows the list of participant numbers; however, this time, with a few surprises. Those who suspected host Italy at the top were wrong. ASKÖ Austria clearly won the medal table with 153 gold, 137 silver and 77 bronze medals. INDET Mexico followed with 101/82/87, host Italy with the associations AICS, ACSI and UISP only came third with 92/81/69 medals. The Dutch and Austrians were great swimmers. The Israeli champions in mamanet and chess, the Mexicans a bit in everything - from swimming to basketball - from volleyball to football - from tennis to especially nightlife. As expected, the Italians were the excellent hosts and, above all, champions in fair play.

Fair Play Award to Italian beach wrestler

The most coveted prize of WSG2023, the Fair Play Award, went to Alessandro Bellavia of CAB-Bologna. For a noble, truly heroic act. The Italian beach wrestling athlete forfeited his gold medal due to misinterpretation of the rules. The jury had based the team score on the Italian federal criteria and not on international standards, which meant that the CAB/AiCS wrestlers took first place with a two-point lead. ASKÖ Austria lodged a protest and demanded a recount according to international rules. The protest was accepted with the agreement of the Italian team. The winner's trophy, which had already been presented to Italy, thus went to Austria, who, however, in the spirit of fairness, left the trophy with Italy. As an award for not winning gold and for his fair conduct, Alessandro Bellavia received the "CSIT Green Card" from the international jury and was presented with the CSIT Fair Play Award at the closing ceremony of WSG2023.

The most spectacular sports

Of the 33 sports contested, 20 were international CSIT championships. In addition, there were some demonstration sports and partner championships. Among them were pole sports in Forlì, water basketball in Riccione and Greco-Roman wrestling on the beach of Cervia. Dance sport was outstanding, the absolute protagonist at the PalaGalassi in Forlì with 700 participants in the U16, Youth and Adults classes. The performances on Friday and Saturday evening with world champions of dance sport left the audience speechless.

The WSG2023 in Italy is history - we are already looking forward to the next edition of the CSIT World Sports Games 2025 in Loutraki, Greece.