It is hard to believe that once upon a time there were very few trophies awarded for winning in sport.
In the ancient Olympic Games, an olive wreath was the prize. When the modern Olympics commenced in Athens in 1896 only the winner and runner up received a prize. The winner a silver medal and the runner up bronze. At the 1900 Olympic Games there were no medals and competitors received cups or trophies as their reward.
The gold, silver and bronze medals did not come into being until the St Louis games of 1904. In more recent times even those who do not make the finals have received medals, participation medals for being a part of the Olympic Games.
Regrettably this trend has in the past 20 years seeped into so many sports, where every player in every team, irrespective of whether they have won anything in the season or not receives a trophy. No longer is it a case of to the victor go the spoils!
In a similar period of history, the sport of hockey had a ban on league competitions and games being played for cups or prizes. The sport was supposed to be recreational, a social occasion.
When a Rules Board was set up Ireland asked for dispensation to have a league and cups, their argument being that they had to compete with other sports such as football and rugby which offered such incentives. They believed that the sport would suffer in terms of participation if it did not match those sports. They were granted their wish.
Hockey did eventually introduce leagues, and trophies for winning those leagues also came into existence. However, one thing that was not allowed was prize money, and even when there was the possibility of Prize money the Governing Body the International Hockey Federation (FIH) stipulated that a percentage of those monies must be paid to them.
Hockey was not alone in this approach. Cricket fought tooth and nail to remain an amateur sport. It was only in the North of England that leagues were set up and competition was fierce. In the South clubs played each other in a far more genteel and friendly atmosphere.
Today it is a very different world. Almost every sporting competition offers prize money, with the only exception being the International Olympic Committee when they host the Olympic Games. (Is Anyone Paying The Piper)
There is another global sporting event that the IOC is associated with and that is The International World Games Association. The IWGA state on their website “While both IOC and IWGA share similar principles and values, The World Games has a different event concept.”
For the World Games “the national sports authorities (NSO/NOC) do not nominate the participating athletes. However, some International Federations nominate athletes and teams in consultation with the national sports authorities.” (National Sporting Organization/ National Olympic Committee)
Yet the World Games are part of the Olympic movement. The Olympic Broadcast Channel is used to ensure global coverage.
“Both events unite the world’s best athletes under one roof, competing for gold and celebrating in peace and friendship. Like the Olympic Games, The World Games is the pinnacle event in their career.” Some may question this claim made on their website.
There are 39 International Sporting Federations that are a part of the International World Games Association. To many when they were conceived back in 1980 the belief was that the World Games were an event for those sports that were not Olympic sports. They were a chance for these sports to show their appeal and professionalism to push for a claim to be included in the Olympic Games.
That appears to have changed. On their website the organisation states it “was founded with the goal ‘to strengthen the bonds of friendship between International Sports Federations and to promote excellence in sport. For that purpose, to promote and coordinate World Championships and other competitions into an international, modern, multisport festival called World Games, to be organized at regular intervals.’”
So where down the track does that leave each individual sport’s World Championships? As we have seen the Olympic Games’ relevance has waned since the various sports introduced their own World Championships; although an Olympic medal still means a great deal to any sportsman or woman, being a World Champion carries a little more weight. (Losing Its Lustre)
Of the 39 sports that are signed up to the World Games only 12 were Olympic sports in Tokyo in 2021. The IWGA has roller sports as one of their sports and skateboarding was in Tokyo, and has been included in this list, however there are more roller sport events. Also, Baseball/Softball is included but this is a sport that is in and out of the Olympic Games depending on the host city.
Some would say that the IWGA consists of predominantly second tier sports. Or at least sports looking to gain traction and become established sports. Sports that need media coverage in order to grow and increase awareness.
So, to create an award called the World Athlete of the Year, just doesn’t sit well. When there are some huge sports being played such as football, basketball, tennis, and golf and the athletes from these sports not being included as a part of the process makes the claim that the winner is the “World Athlete of the Year” a little fatuous.
While previous winners have no doubt been deserving and are clearly outstanding in their sports regrettably many would remain unknown to most of the sports loving fans in the world.
What is interesting about this award is that the athletes are nominated by their international federation.
It then becomes a popularity contest, like so many sports awards in the modern era. As the IWGA revealed “each participant can cast votes for the candidates once per 24 hours on The World Games website. Each time, votes must be given to two candidates: two votes to your first-choice candidate and one vote to your second-choice candidate.”
The winner in 2021 was PR Sreejesh of India from the sport of hockey. Congratulations to him.
Congratulations should also go to the International Hockey Federation for nominating an India player, no doubt knowing from their own International awards that the vast Indian population would get behind their man. (Is Resentment the Cause of Hostility?) After all, Sreejesh is a national hero and an extremely personable individual.
However, one must question why the FIH put forward anyone. As hockey has not participated at the World Games since the Games were hosted by Duisburg in Germany back in 2005. Even then it was an invitational sport, and it was indoor hockey that was showcased and not 11-a-side!
Surely in order to be an athlete nominated for such an award that sport should have participated in the most recent World Games?
When one digs deeper, India did not participate at the World Games in 2005 and that meant that PR Sreejesh did not play in the indoor hockey. In fact, in 2005 India sent only two athletes to the World Games and they competed in Billiards and Bodybuilding.
It is no fault of the individual athlete, but it seems strange to have an athlete receive an award from a sporting event at which they have never participated.
Yet this happened in 2019 when the FIH nominated another Indian player Rani Rampal for the award, and she too scooped the pool of votes to be crowned World Athlete of the year.
When one looks at the winners in the previous years they have come from the sports of Squash, Sport climbing, Lifesaving, Netball, Muay Thai and Gymnastics. Except for Netball which last participated in 1993, all the other sports are regular participants of the World Games.
Who made the decision in Hockey to nominate these players and what was the thought process behind it? Was it believed to be an easy way to garner publicity, knowing that the Indian people will always support their athletes and hence they are likely to win?
Have these nominations undermined the actual World Games World Athlete of the Year award? If so, that is very sad.
For athletes who have competed at the World Games this award has relevance, and would no doubt be respected if it was voted on by their fellow athletes rather than the public. Going to a public vote has nothing to do with an athlete’s ability and performance, it comes down to promotion and public popularity.
Sadly, once again this looks to be an award that has been devalued thanks to the process by which the winner is decided. To restore any credibility the International World Games Association needs to revise the process under which athletes are nominated and also the voting.
