International Multi-Sport Events

Some of the most important events on the sporting calendar are competitions involving many sports, including the most popular sporting event the Olympic Games. There are many more of these multi-sport events than most people would know about, particularly those that cater to athletes from a particular region or from a particular group.

Below are many of the more signficiant major multi-sport events. See our complete alphabetcial list, as well discontinued multi-sport events and ancient multisport events.

Did you know that the event with most participants of any multi-sport event is the World Masters Games? (it has twice as many competitors as the Summer Olympics).

List of Major Multi-Sport Events

• Olympic Games — the biggest sporting event in the world. There is a Summer and Winter edition held every four years.
• World Games — for mostly non-Olympic sports.
• The X Games — for extreme action sports. There is a Winter version too.
• World Combat Games — first held in 2010, then again in 2013. Features 15 Martial Arts and Combat Sports, Aikido, Boxing, Fencing, Judo, Jujitsu, Karate, Kendo, Kickboxing, Muaythai, Sambo, Savate, Sumo, Taekwondo, Wrestling, Wushu.
• World Artistic Games — includes; Artistic, Rhythmic, Trampoline, Acrobatic and Aerobic Gymnastics; Standard, Latin, FreeStyle, Rock'n'Roll and HipHop DanceSport; Synchronised Swimming and Diving; Figure Roller Skating, Artistic Cycling and AeroMusicals.
• World Beach Games — The inaugural event is to be held in Qatar in 2019. 14 sports will feature on the program, which will be a mixture of sports traditionally played on sand and others which take place on the water.
• World Air Games — an international competition of multi-discipline air sports such as ballooning, hang gliding and gyrocopters.
• Urban Games — in planning, expected to be feature 3x3 basketball, skateboarding and cycling trials.
• World Mind Games — players compete in bridge, chess, draughts, go and xiangqi.
• eGames — a multi-national video game competition

By Language

• Francophone Games — for nations that speak French
• Lusophony Games — for Portuguese-speaking countries.
• Pan Arab Games — for Arabic-speaking nations.

Specific Occupation Groups

• Military World Games — for military athletes from over 100 countries.
• World Police and Fire Games — for law enforcement officers and firefighters worldwide.

By Specific Population Sub-Group

• Gay Games — for the worldwide LGBT and allied community
• World University Games — organized for student athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The FISU Games were previously held under the name of Universiade. There are Winter and Summer editions of the FISU Games. (see more school events)

By Age

• World Masters Games — for mature athletes.
• World Senior Games
• European Masters Games
• Youth Olympic Games — for athletes aged 14 to 18 years.
• Commonwealth Youth Games — for athletes aged 14 to 18 from the 71 Commonwealth countries.
• International Children's Games — an annual multi-sport competition involving young athletes aged between 12 and 15
• Kingdom Games —  a multi-sport event held every two years between the youth of the countries that are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. 
• European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) — for young athletes from Europe.

Political or Religious Association

• Commonwealth Games — for countries of the commonwealth family.
• Islamic Solidarity Games — for all nations from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
• Maccabiah Games — for Jewish athletes worldwide.
• Women's Islamic Games.

Regional Association

• Asian Games — multi-sport Games for Asian countries, first held in 1951.
  • Southeast Asian Games — for nations in Southeast Asia
  • East Asian Games — for nations in East Asia
  • West Asian Games — for nations in West Asia
  • Central Asian Games — for nations in Central Asia
  • South Asian Games — for nations in South Asia
  • Asian Beach Games — for beach and water sports
  • Asian Indoor-Martial Arts Games — combining the Asian Indoor Games and Asian Martial Arts Games.
• Europe Region
  • European Games — multisport competition for European nations first held in 2015.
  • The European Championships — a new multi-sport event bringing together the existing European Championships of several sports, held every four years starting in 2018.
  • European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) — for young athletes from Europe.
  • Games of the Small States of Europe — a multi-sport event involving Andorra, Cyprus, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, and San Marino.
• All-Africa Games — for all African nations.
• Bolivarian Games — a multi-sport competition involving athletes from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.
• Pan American Games — for all nations of the Americas
• Central American and Caribbean Games — for nations in the Caribbean, Central America and/or bordering the Caribbean sea.
• Central American Games — for countries in the Central America.
• Caribbean Games — for countries in the Caribbean
• South American Games — a regional multi-sport event held between nations in South America.
• South American Beach Games — a biennial multi-beach-sport event for South American countries.
• Arctic Winter Games — for athletes from the circumpolar North
• Mediterranean Games — for all nations bordering the Mediterranean Sea
• The Pacific Games — for countries around the South Pacific. It is held every four years and began in 1963. Formerly known as the South Pacific Games.
• Micronesian Games — a multisport event for ten participant countries, States and territories located within the Micronesian region of Oceania.
• Island Games — for mostly European islands
• Indian Ocean Island Games — for all islands in the Indian Ocean.
• Afro-Asian Games — was an international sporting event between African and Asian countries held in 2003.
• World Eskimo Indian Olympics

For Athletes with Disabilities

• Paralympic Games — held in conjunction with the Summer Olympic Games.
• Deaflympics — for deaf athletes
• Défi sportif — a multi-sport event for disabled athletes held in Montreal, Canada. Involves athletes of the five types of disabilities: auditory, physical, psychiatric, intellectual, and visual as well as athletes of all levels.
• Special Olympics World Games — Winter and Summer events held every 4 years for athletes with intellectual disabilities.
• World Abilitysport Games — a multi-sport competition for wheelchair athletes, formerly known as the Stoke Mandeville or World Wheelchair Games. The Guttman Games are similar, but for non-Paralympic sports
• Invictus Games — an international Paralympic-style multi-sport event for wounded soldiers

If you know of others that should be listed here, let me know.