The Games are underway. Four years almost to the day after a second edition organised at the end of summer 2019 in Patras, Greece, the 2023 Mediterranean Beach Games kicked off on Saturday 9 September in Heraklion, Crete, with an opening ceremony marked by a tribute – and a minute’s silence – to the victims of the floods in Greece and last week’s earthquake in Morocco. The multi-sport event will bring together athletes from the 26 member countries of the International Mediterranean Games Committee until 16 September. France will be there in force, with a delegation of 79 athletes competing in 10 of the 13 disciplines on the programme. In the front rows of the opening ceremony on Saturday 9 September were a host of leaders from the Olympic movement, including Gunilla Lindberg of Sweden, Secretary General of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC), Spyros Capralos from Greece, President of the Association of European Olympic Committees (EOC), Klaus Schormann from Germany, President of the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM), and two IOC members from Asia, Timothy Fok from Hong Kong and Lingwei Li from China.
