European Masters Games (open worldwide) nearly as big as Sacto
So we’ve had the National Senior Games, Sacramento and Berea. But coming Sep. 10-20 is one of the 2011’s biggest meets yet — and possibly bigger than worlds. It’s the European Masters Games in Lignano, Italy. And it’s open to Americans (and other non-Eurovets). They also face a Facebook page and a Twitter feed (in English). How modern. How many entered in the meet? I don’t know. But the overall event may hit 4,000. Says an EMG newsletter: “The participants in the European Masters Games 2011 are about to reach 4,000. If, at first, people expected to equal the record of the EMG of Malmoe in 2008 (2950 entries), at the end of July the competitors in Lignano’s event were already over 3,300 and the many requests have led the Organizing Committee to postpone the deadline from 31st July to a date to be arranged.”
English version of European Masters Games homepage. (Also in Italian).)
The EMG newsletter continues:
To this day the entrants come from 61 countries from all 5 continents. The largest group is made up of Italians, but there are also many entries from Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Poland, England, Finland, Lithuania and Slovenia.
There will also be athletes from Australia, U.S.A. India and Africa of exceptional character due to their age and personality: Dalmatian (but Triestine by adoption) fashion designer Ottavio Missoni, track and field multiple champion and a member of the Italian National Team at London 1948 Olympic Games, has entered for the shot put, discus and javelin throwing competitions of Lignano 2011 at the age of 90.
Therefore, there is still time to participate in this exceptional event and discover a new land, unique of its kind owing to its geographical position and traditions, in which antiquity and modernity are interwoven with style and respect. Come to Friuli Venezia Giulia and compete with athletes coming from all over the world!
10 Responses
4000 in many sports together, that is much smaller than Sac.
The Euro Masters Games has a number of interesting features.
Like the U.S. Senior Games, they include a variety of sports including some novelties such as Dance Sport, Clay Targets, and Futsal, in addition to Athletics (T&F).
They apparently have one entry fee (120.00 Italian) that seems to be good to go for as many events or sports as you want (team sports require a team fee). Pretty expensive if you just want to go and High Jump, but a good deal if you want to compete in a wild variety of sports and events.
The best part is the following:
“4.11.2 According to the spirit of the European Masters Games, the athletes do not represent their country of origin, therefore the prize giving ceremonies will be carried out without the hoisting of the flag and without playing the National Anthem of the winning athlete.”
It would be great if the Olympics would follow this rule (and WMA as far as requiring country uniforms when the country governments provide no financial support).
But they still leave the T&F athletes in the dark (as does WMA and the National Senior Games) when it comes to the schedule. For example, on September 15, the HJ and heats of the 400m will be run. Now, is the HJ first or the 400m? Or do they occur at the same time? It makes a big difference.
“It would be great if the Olympics would follow this rule (and WMA as far as requiring country uniforms when the country governments provide no financial support).”
No, that would not be great. We are a nation, and a pretty darn fine one. Go find a better one.
Organizers advise me in an email that the throws (shot put, discus, hammer throw, javelin and weight throw) were closed early do to being full.
The 2013 World Masters Games will be held in Torino, Italy. (The 2009 world event was held in Sydney.)
The WMG in Sydney has around 25,000 participants and was heavily oversubscribed in some track/field events. It was great fun and the track meet was very well run. I cannot say the same thing for the x-c – initially they scheduled everyone to run together (over 2000) men and women of all ages – and what looked like a very narrow path. Then they split the event into men/women but changed the time so that some of the men missed the start of their race and were allowed to run with the women. I did not run the x-c although I had signed up for it as they moved the date and the time so it conflicted with one of my track races. The relays were a do it yourself sort of thing – find 3 others from anywhere and call yourself a team. Many wore their country’s track and field uniforms – many did not.
Frankly I prefer the set-up of the WMA meet even if we do have to buy our own country uniforms.
Others may differ in their opinion but I do not think it is helpful to tell someone whose opinion differs that they should go find another country. I remember the bitterness of the Vietnam era and the “America love it or leave it” anger and the post-9/11 chauvanism.
Our country would be a much better one if we are able to move beyond this type of verbal assault.
For those interested in the Olympic ideal, Article 6 of the Olympic Charter states that the Olympic Games are competitions between athletes in individual or team events and not between countries.
Mary,
I know you have an opinion on everything, but I did not say “go find another country.” I said “go find a better country.” Can you see the difference?
There was no “verbal assault” involved. And don’t lecture me about Vietnam unless you were there with me. I have no clue what you mean by “post 911 chauvanism.” Care to explain?
{For those interested in the Olympic ideal, Article 6 of the Olympic Charter states that the Olympic Games are competitions between athletes in individual or team events and not between countries}
If you were a naked Greek man perhaps.
Seriously, what we do without all those medal counts? Keeping us apprised of which country has the greatest spoils and is therefore superior over the other. We need to remind the world of our greatness. (I’m being sarcastic)
Of course, ideally it would be nice for us all to compete as individuals… it really should not be about national pride, that was not the original intention.
@ Courtland ….“go find a better country.”
Canada ! 🙂
Doug has a point-only country in the Americas with a AAA rating…. 🙂 They do run a great masters nationals up there for sure. And they have Doug.
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