CP-ISRA World Games
Bring Smiles and Success

The 2001 CP-ISRA World Games will be remembered for the sun, smiles and success as countless world records were smashed at the largest single-disability sports event ever staged.

The first records to go when the Games took place from July 21 to 28 in Nottingham were the entry figures of almost 1,000 competitors from 44 countries. They took part in a program of seven sports - athletics, soccer, swimming, cycling, table tennis, powerlifting and bowls, and were joined at the opening ceremony by the President of the IPC, Dr. Robert Steadward.

In a rare week of glorious British sunshine, world records came and went on a daily basis as new stars emerged to complement those who made their mark in Sydney last year. In total, 25 track and field records were broken, with perhaps the pick of the bunch Mikhail Popov's world-best of 11.48 seconds in the 100m (class 8), which made him the fastest man in cerebral palsy sport. But world-class displays were not just confined to athletics and it was widely acknowledged that with a whole host of competitors from a huge variety of countries performing well, standards across every sport had markedly improved.

World Games Sports Coordinator Phil Peat believes that this sort of strength in depth not only demonstrated how far disability sport has come but also how quickly it is continuing to improve. He said: "I've been involved in four World Games and there have been significant improvements every time. Even when you compare some of the performances to last year's Paralympics, there were some tremendous strides forward. For instance, Stephen Miller broke his own world record three times in the class 2 club, but looking at how well the other throwers were performing, it was almost a case needing to do that if he wanted to win a medal."

However, the huge scale of the event and the changes that are on-going in disability sport the world over has led its organizers to appreciate that the next event, scheduled for 2005, requires a complete re-think. Said Games Director Colin Rains: "It is time for the Games to move on. They have become so big that it is very clear that a professional organization is needed to run them - even if it is only three or four people. The last four World Games have all taken place in Nottingham and have been run on the goodwill of volunteers. Although I cannot praise them too highly for their efforts over the years, there is a limit to what we can ask of them. We have lit a torch and can be very proud of what has been achieved. By taking the initiative many years ago, opportunities have been created for those with cerebral palsy that simply don't exist elsewhere and 1,000 competitors from 44 countries bear testament to that. CP-ISRA won't go away and one thing is for certain… if our organization didn't exist, after these Games it would be necessary to invent it."

Dr. Rains believes that the time is now right to pass on the baton and Hong Kong, Tunisia, Germany and Scotland have already expressed an interest in picking it up. They have been asked to confirm it in writing by the start of November.

Phil Turner
Bowles Associates