World Games 1981

I. World Games
venue	Santa Clara
Participating Nations	58
Participating athletes	1745
Official sports	15th
Invitation Sports	1
opening	July 24, 1981
Closing ceremony	no information
Opened by	Thomas Keller
timeline
	World Games 1985 →

Medal Tally - Official Sports
space	country	G	S.	B.	total
01	United States	37	37	25th	99
02	South Korea	9	3	1	13
03	Italy	7th	12	17th	36
04th	France	7th	6th	6th	19th
05	Japan	7th	4th	5	16
06th	Canada	5	5	5	15th
07th	United Kingdom	4th	4th	4th	12
08th	BR Germany	4th	-	5	9
09	Norway	4th	1	3	8th
10	People's Republic of China	4th	-	-	4th
Complete medal table

The 1st World Games took place from July 24th to August 2nd, 1981 in Santa Clara ( California ) and were the first official World Games event after the so-called Pre-World Games , which took place in Seoul in 1978 .

The opening ceremony took place on July 24, 1981 at Buck Shaw Stadium . Similar to the closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games , the athletes marched into the stadium, but not sorted by country, but by sport for the opening. There were no national flags and no national anthems. Around 8,000 spectators were present at the opening ceremony. A high school marching band , a group of 30 dancers from Santa Clara and four parachutists provided entertainment .

The World Games began - after the opening ceremony - with the tug-of-war competitions. The first inviting sport of the World Games was women's water polo.

1745 athletes participated in 16 sports. Most of the competitions were held on the Santa Clara University campus . An estimated 80,000 spectators attended the first World Games in Santa Clara.

sports

101 competitions in the 15 official sports and one competition in an invitation sport were held.

Official sports

• badminton
• baseball
• Bodybuilding
• bowling
• Casting
• Fin swimming
• Karate ( Kata and Kumite )
• Powerlifting
• Racquetball
• Roller sports ( inline speed skating , roller hockey and roller figure skating )
• Softball
• Taekwondo
• Tug of war
• Trampoline exercise including tumbling
• Water-skiing

Invitation sports

• Water polo

Results

badminton

→ Main article : World Games 1981 / Badminton

discipline	gold	silver	bronze
Men's singles	Chen Changjie	Morten Frost	Prakash Padukone
			Liem Swie King
Ladies singles	Zhang Ailing	Hwang Sun-ai	Lene Køppen
			Fumiko Tohkairin
Men's doubles	Yao Ximing Sun Zhi'an	Thomas Kihlström Stefan Karlsson	Billy Gilliland Dan Travers
			Hariamanto cardboard box Rudy Heryanto
Ladies doubles	Zhang Ailing Lin Ying	Nora Perry Jane Webster	Fumiko Tohkairin Sonoe Ohtsuka
			Hwang Sun-ai Kim Yun-ja
Mixed	Thomas Kihlström Gillian Gilks	Mike Tredgett Nora Perry	Steen Skovgaard Lene Køppen
			Christian Hadinata Imelda Wiguna

baseball

discipline	gold	silver	bronze
Men's	United States	South Korea	Australia

Bodybuilding

discipline	gold	silver	bronze
Gentlemen lightweight	Renato Bertagna	Esmal Abdullah Sadek	Harry Derglin
Ladies lightweight	Pam Brooks	Josée Baumgartner	Christine Reed
Men's middleweight	James Youngblood	Billy Knight	Erwin note
Women middleweight	Kike Elomaa	Gail Schoeter	Deborah Diana
Gentlemen lightweight	Jacques Neuville	Keijo Reiman	Ulf Bengtsson
Men's heavyweight	John Kemper	Wayne Robins	Ahmed Al-Sayed

bowling

discipline	gold	silver	bronze
Men's singles	Arne Svein Strøm	Ernst Berndt	Chris Batson
Ladies singles	Liliane Gregor	Porntip Singha	Mary Lou Vining
Mixed	Ruth Guerster Chris Batson	Ari Leppala Mikko Kaartinen	Hilde Reitermaier Ernst Berndt

Casting

Only men participated in this sport.

discipline	gold	silver	bronze
All-around	Steve Rajeff	Tim Rajeff	Øyvind Førland
Fly target	Harald Mæhle	Chris Korich	Erwin Meindl
Fly wide with one hand	Steve Rajeff	Martin Hayes	Øyvind Førland
Fly wide two-handed	Steve Rajeff	Chris Korich	Øyvind Førland
Multi goal	Øyvind Førland	Chris Korich	Zack Wilson
Multi wide one-handed	Steve Rajeff	Chris Korich	Zack Wilson
Multi wide two-handed	Chris Korich	Bruce Walker	Keith Pryor
Weight goal	Øyvind Førland	Tom Martens	Helmut Hochwartner
Weight precision	Guido Vinck	Harald Mæhle	Steve Rajeff
Weight one-handed	Ernst Rohatsch	Markus Kläusler	Steve Rajeff
Weight one-handed	Chris Korich	Helmut Hochwartner	Kevin Carriero

Fin swimming

discipline	gold	silver	bronze
50 m distance diving men	Jürgen Kolenda	Sandro Sola	Dario Broglia
50 m distance diving women	Cristina Covoni	Monica Crovetti	Anne Menguy
100 m distance diving men	Jürgen Kolenda	Dario Broglia	Thierry Lasbleye
100 m distance diving women	Cristina Covoni	Anne Menguy	Marina Beck
100 m fin swim men	Jürgen Kolenda	Sandro Sola	Dario Broglia
100 m fin swim women	Anne Menguy	Cristina Covoni	Anne-Marie Rouchon
200 m fin swim men	Jürgen Kolenda	Valter Olander	Sandro Sola
200 m fin swim women	Anne-Marie Rouchon	Anne Menguy	Marion Collot
400 m fin swim men	Giuseppe Galantucci	Valter Olander	Paolo Vandini
400 m fin swim women	Anne-Marie Rouchon	Monica Crovetti	Marina Beck
800 m fin swim women	Anne-Marie Rouchon	Marion Collot	Monica Crovetti
1500 m fin swim men	Paolo Vandini	Giuseppe Galantucci	Valter Olander

karate

Kata

discipline	gold	silver	bronze
Men's	Keji Okada	Masashi Koyama	Domingo Llanos
Ladies	Susuko Okamura	Mie Nakayama	Maria Moreno

Kumite

discipline	gold	silver	bronze
60 kg men	Masayuki Naito	Fernando Roseuero	Joe Tierney
			Giuseppe Tinnirello
65 kg men	Yoshikazu Ono	Toshiaki Maeda	Robert De Luca
			Kesayoshi Yokouchi
70 kg men	Cecil Hackett	Bernard Bilicki	Yukiyoshi Marutani
			Seiji Nishimura
75 kg men	Lin Chingmin	Fred Royers	Gouze
			Ángel López
80 kg men	Osamu Kamikodo	Hisao Murase	Tokey Hill
			Otti Roethoff
﹢80 kg men	Ludwig Kotzebue	Chen Chien	Claudio Guazzaroni
			Francisco Torres
Open class men	Victor Charles	Marc Pyrée	Claude Pettinella
			Billy Blanks

Powerlifting

Only men participated in this sport.

discipline	gold	silver	bronze
52 kg	Hideaki Inabe	Don MacVicar	Not forgiven
56 kg	Gary Hunnicut	Not forgiven	Not forgiven
60 kg	Ito Chokichi	George Hummel	Mark Shijo
75 kg	Mauro Di Pasquale	Ray Neeley	Not forgiven
82.5 kg	Jim Grudzien	Dennis Wright	Not forgiven
90 kg	Walter Thomas	Jim Len	Not forgiven
100 kg	Jim Cash	Fred Hatfield	Not forgiven
110 kg	Scott Palmer	Gene Kunit	Not forgiven
Super heavyweight	Doyle Kennedy	Dave Shaw	Not forgiven

Racquetball

discipline	gold	silver	bronze
Men's singles	Ed Andrews	Mark Martino	Martin Padilla
Ladies singles	Cindy Baxter	Barbara Faulkenberry	Betsy Massie
Men's doubles	Jeff Kwartler Mark Malowitz	Federicq Alvarez Raul Canales	Frits Groenendijk Tom Luykx
Ladies doubles	Karen Borga Mary Ann Cluess	Dineke Kool Miriam Wielheesen	Martinez Suarez

Roller sports

Inline speed skating

discipline	gold	silver	bronze
5,000 m women elimination	Monica Lucchese	Paola Sometti	Annie Lambrechts
10,000 m elimination men	Tom Peterson	Hermes Fossi	Moreno Bagnolini
10,000 m elimination women	Paola Cristofori	Darlene Kessinger	Annie Lambrechts
20,000 m elimination men	Scott Constantine	Giuseppi Cruciani	Moreno Bagnolini
Half marathon women	Annie Lambrechts	Mary barrier	Sue Dooley
Marathon men	Tom Peterson	Hermes Fossi	Danny Vandeperre

Roller hockey

discipline	gold	silver	bronze
Men's	Portugal	United States	Argentina

Figure skating

discipline	gold	silver	bronze
Men's singles	Mike Glatz	Rick Elsworth	Michele Biserni
Ladies singles	Anna Conklin	Elena Bonati	Tina Kneisley
Roll dancing	Holly Valente William Richardson	Cindy Smith Mark Howard	Kim Geoghegan Eamon Geoghegan
Pair skating	Tina Kneisley Paul Price	Ann Green Rick Elsworth	Sylvia Gingras Guy Aubin

Softball

discipline	gold	silver	bronze
Men's	United States	United States	Canada
Ladies	United States	Canada	Bahamas

Taekwondo

Only men participated in this sport.

discipline	gold	silver	bronze
Needle weight	Ki-moon Kwon	Dae Sung Lee	Aldo Codazzo
			Reinhard Langer
Flyweight	Ki-Mo Yang	Franco Banito	Dominico Maelionico
			Fernando Celada
Bantamweight	Bum-Soo Chung	Oscar Aguilar	Geremia di Costanzo
			Serge Langlois
Featherweight	Jun-Kul Lee	Jorge Garcia	Juan Mangoni
			Raffaele Marchione
lightweight	Young Kuk Kim	Alfonso Qahhaar	Luigi Signore
			Kone Sowleymane
Welterweight	Jeong-Kuk Kim	Paul Rusca	Ruben Thijs
			Antonio Hernandez
Light middleweight	Il-Nam Oh	Chul Hoe Kim	Helmut Gartner
			Patrice Remarck
medium weight	Dong-Jun Lee	Jersey Long	Andreas Scheffler
			Luigi D'Oriano
Light heavyweight	Chan Jung	Cisse Abouaye	Tom Federle
			Hsin-Nien Sun
Heavyweight	Darrell Hanegan	Chong-Man Park	Harry Prijs
			Miguel Esquivel

Tug of war

discipline	gold	silver	bronze
Men outdoor 640 kg	England	Switzerland	Netherlands
Men outdoor 720 kg	Switzerland	Netherlands	England

Trampoline exercise

discipline	gold	silver	bronze
Double mini trampoline men	Brett Brown	Carl Heger	Tim Cleave
Double mini trampoline women	Christine Tough	Bethany Fairchild	Norma Letho
Trampoline men's single	Yves Milord	Steve Elliott	Rand Wilson
Trampoline women's singles	Bethany Fairchild	Norma Letho	Not forgiven
		Christine Tough
Synchronized jumping men	Carl Heger Steve Elliott	Paul Rugheimer Carlos Villarreal	Brett Brown Alan Gouthier
Synchronized jumping women	Barbara Letho Norma Letho	Bethany Fairchild Mary Borkowski	Not forgiven
Tumbling gentlemen	Steve Elliott	Randy Wickstrom	Steve Cooper
Tumbling ladies	Angie Whiting	Kristi Laman	Stacey Hansen

Water-skiing

discipline	gold	silver	bronze
Figure run men	Patrice Martin	Carl Roberge	Sammy Duvall
Figure run women	Ana María Carrasco	Karin Roberge	Anita Carlman
Slalom men	Bob LaPoint	Andy Mapple	Mike Neville
Slalom women	Cindy Benzel	Sue Fieldhouse	Cindy Todd
Jumping gentlemen	Sammy Duvall	Mike Hazelwood	Glen Thurlow
Jumping ladies	Marlon van Dijk	Sue Lipplegoes	Cindy Todd
Overall gentlemen	Sammy Duvall	Carl Roberge	Mike Neville
Overall ladies	Ana María Carrasco	Anita Carlman	Karin Roberge

Water polo

The final round took place on July 27, 1981. In the game for gold, the Dutch defeated the first American team (US Team I) 13: 7. In the bronze medal match, the Canadians won 11: 3 against the second American team (US team II).

discipline	gold	silver	bronze
Ladies	Netherlands	United States	Canada

swell

• History of the World Games 1981

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Joe Sargis: With a simple ceremony, a touch of pageantry and ... In: United Press International . July 24, 1981. Retrieved August 19, 2017 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Joe Sargis: It seemed only fitting that the first gold medal ... In: United Press International . July 25, 1981. Retrieved August 19, 2017 . 
3. ^ Joe Sargis: The World Games slipped out of town Monday, quietly ... In: United Press International . August 3, 1981. Retrieved August 19, 2017 . 
4. ^ Joe Sargis: The Netherlands, with Ria Roos scoring four goals, buried ... In: United Press International . July 28, 1981. Retrieved August 19, 2017 .