Tug-of-War

The sport of Tug of War, also known as tug o' war or rope pulling, has a long history. The origins are very old, possibly originally part of a ritual or religious contest. Tug of war was even part of the Ancient Olympics, first being held in 500BC. You may also be surprised to know that it was even held at the modern Olympics from 1900 to 1920 (see more about Olympic Tug of War competition).

tug of war team

Tug-of-war contests are held between two teams of eight competitors in each team. The teams align themselves at each end of the rope, and the aim of the competition is to pull the other along in order to win.

Eight athletes are on each of the two opposing teams. The rope is between 33.5 and 36 meters in length, 10 to 12.5 cm in diameter and usually made of hemp. The best athletes of each team are usually the ones first in line - as well as the anchor. The anchor is the last man or woman who may wrap the rope around his or her body. Any team that pulls the center of the rope four meters past the starting point is declared the winner.

Tug of War at the World Games 

This sport made its debut at the 1981 Santa Clara World Games with just one discipline - Outdoor. Subsequently, it featured at the 1985 London World Games, the 1989 Karlsruhe World Games, 1993 The Hague World Games, the 1997 Lahti World Games, the 2001 Akita World Games, the 2005 Duisburg World Games, the 2009 Kaohsiung World Games, the 2013 Cali World Games, the 2017 Wroclaw World Games, the 2022 Birmingham World Games, and the 2025 Chengdu World Games. 

The goal of this game is to bring the rope 4 meters in one direction against the force of the opposing team's pull. There are different categories of this sport at the World Games - men, women, and mixed team. 

A team tries to pull the other team towards themselves in such a way that the marking on the rope closest to their opponent crosses the center line. The qualification round has two pulls per contest; three points are awarded to a team winning both pulls.

If the two teams win a pull, the contest is tied - each team gets one point. In the knock-outs, the contests are the best of 3, so the first team to win two pulls is declared the winner. 

Here are the medalists who won gold at the end of this event at the 2025 Chengdu: