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The European Games is a continental multi-sport event in the Olympic tradition contested by athletes from European nations and several transcontinental countries. The Games were envisioned and are governed by the European Olympic Committees (EOC), which announced their launch at its 41st General Assembly in Rome, on 8 December 2012.[1]

History

The European Games are the 5th continental Games in the Olympic tradition to be initiated, after the Asian Games, Pan American Games, Pacific Games and African Games. As of 2015, every sporting continent[2] has a continental games.[3]

The European Games are not related to the European Championships, a separate multi-sport event organised by individual European sports federations, bringing together the individual European Championships of athletics, swimming, artistic gymnastics, cycling, rowing, golf, and triathlon under a single 'brand' on a four-year cycle beginning in 2018, and broadcast by agreement with the EBU.[4]

List of European Games

The 2015 European Games, the first edition of the event, took place in Baku, Azerbaijan in June 2015, and further editions were planned to be held every four years thereafter. The 2019 edition was held in Minsk, Belarus from 21 to 30 June. The 2023 edition was held in Kraków, Poland from 21 June to 2 July.

The host for the 2027 Games has yet to be announced as of the end of 2023, but Istanbul, Turkey has indicated it would wish to host both the 2027 European Games and the 2027 European Para Championships, as part of a long term bid to host the 2036 Olympic and Paralympic Games.[5][6] This is set to be confirmed later in 2024, with there also being plans to bring back gymnastics and swimming events. [7][8]

European Games is located in Europe
2015
2019
2023
2027
Host cities of the European Games
Edition Year Host City Host Nation Opened by Start Date End Date Nations Competitors Sports Events Top Placed Team Ref.
I 2015 Baku  Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev 12 June 28 June 50 5,898 21 253  Russia (RUS) [9]
II 2019 Minsk  Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko 21 June 30 June 4,082 15 200  Russia (RUS) [10]
III 2023 Kraków-Małopolska  Poland President Andrzej Duda 21 June 2 July 48 6,857 29 253  Italy (ITA) [11]
IV 2027 Istanbul (expected)  Turkey TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD

Participating nations

As of the 2023 edition, 50 nations whose National Olympic Committee is recognized by the European Olympic Committee have competed at the European Games. As of 2023, two of these, Russia and Belarus are suspended. In addition, a Refugee EOC team has been created to take part.[12]

Sports

The 2019 Minsk European Games Sports Programme included 15 sports, 23 disciplines, 10 qualifying sports to Tokyo 2020, 4 Sports European Championship, for a total of 4082 competitors in 201 medal events.

The figures in each cell indicate the number of events for each sport contested at the respective Games.

Sport (Discipline) Body 2015 2019 2023 NG[13]
World Europe
 
Artistic swimming WA LEN 4 8 2
Diving 8 13
Swimming 42
Water polo 2
 
Archery WA WAE 5 8 8 3
Athletics WA EAA 1 10 38 3
Badminton BWF BE 5 5 5 3
Basketball (3x3) FIBA FIBAE 2 2 2 3
Beach handball IHF EHF 2 1
Beach soccer FIFA UEFA 1 1 2 3
Boxing IBA EBC 15 15 13 3
Breaking WDSF 2 1
 
Canoe slalom ICF ECA 10 3
Canoe sprint 15 16 16
 
BMX Freestyle UCI UEC 2 2 3
Mountain biking 2 2
Road cycling 4 4
Track cycling 20
 
Fencing FIE EFC 12 12 2
 
Acrobatic gymnastics FIG UEG 6 6 2
Aerobic gymnastics 2 2
Artistic gymnastics 14 12
Rhythmic gymnastics 8 8
Trampoline 4 4
 
Judo IJF EJU 18 15 1 3
Karate WKF EKF 12 12 12 3
Kickboxing WAKO 16 1
Modern pentathlon UIPM 5 1
Muaythai IFMA 10 1
Padel IPF 3 1
Rugby sevens WR RE 2 1
Sambo (martial art) FIAS ESF 8 18 2
Shooting ISSF ESC 19 19 30 3
Ski jumping FIS 5 1
Sport climbing IFSC 6 1
Table tennis ITTF ETTU 4 5 5 3
Taekwondo WT ETU 8 16 2
Teqball FITEQ 5 1
Triathlon WT ETU 2 3 2
 
Beach volleyball FIVB CEV 2 1
Volleyball 2
 
Wrestling UWW CELA 24 18 2
 
Total events 253 200 254

Medal table

Main article: All-time European Games medal table
European Games medal table
RankNOCGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Russia (RUS)1236486273
2 Italy (ITA)586763188
3 Ukraine (UKR)454351139
4 Germany (GER)433973155
5 Great Britain (GBR)363053119
6 France (FRA)354157133
7 Spain (ESP)343036100
8 Belarus (BLR)332751111
9 Azerbaijan (AZE)29273995
10 Netherlands (NED)25312177
11–46Remaining246307425978
Totals (46 entries)7077069552368
Source: [14]

See also

Global Games

Other EOC-organised events

Other pan-European Games

Community-based multisport events involving EOC members

Other continental games in the Olympic Tradition

References

  1. ^ "EOC LAUNCHES EUROPEAN GAMES". eurolympic.org. 8 December 2012. Archived from the original on 12 June 2015. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  2. ^ Although the Pacific Games takes in all of Oceania/Australasia, the two largest countries in the region, Australia and New Zealand, did not participate because of the danger they would, though their wealth and size relative to other members, excessively dominate the event. They were however provisionally admitted to the Games in 4 sports in which other nations were consistently competitive - rugby sevens, weightlifting, sailing and taekwondo - in 2014.
  3. ^ "Baku 2015 at a glance". baku2015.org. 1 June 2015. Archived from the original on April 20, 2015. Retrieved 4 September 2015.((cite web)): CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. ^ Scotland to host 2018 European Sports Championships
  5. ^ "Turkey to bid for 2027 European Para Championships with view to 2036 Paralympics". www.insidethegames.biz. 2023-08-13. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  6. ^ "Istanbul's interest in 2027 European Games revealed before EOC General Assembly". www.insidethegames.biz. 2023-10-05. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  7. ^ "EOC set to award 2027 European Games to Istanbul; Madrid encouraged to bid for future edition". gamesbids.com. 2024-02-06.
  8. ^ "For the 2027 European Games, Istanbul plays a winner". francsjeux.com. 2024-02-07.
  9. ^ "1st EG Baku 2015". EOC. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  10. ^ "2nd EG Minsk 2019". EOC. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  11. ^ "Malopolska region and the city of Krakow to host 3rd European Games in 2023". The European Games. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  12. ^ "National Olympic Committees". European Games. Archived from the original on 21 July 2019. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  13. ^ Number of Games in which sport was included
  14. ^ "Curtain comes down on 17 glorious days of sport". Organising Committee responsible for the inaugural European Games in Baku. Archived from the original on 19 April 2018. Retrieved 28 June 2015.((cite web)): CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)

External links

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European Championships
European Olympic Committees (EOC)
Association of National Olympic Committees
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