The International World Games Association (IWGA) has chosen to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the creation of the multi-sport event by organizing an online vote to designate the greatest athlete of all time to have participated in the competitions. A first list of nominees is offered to Internet users around the world. It includes 24 names of individual athletes or teams, including the Frenchman Patrice Martin, multiple gold medalist in water skiing, declared candidate for president of the national Olympic committee (CNOSF). The voting platform opens this Friday, January 8, 2021. The list of nominees will be reduced to just 10 names from January 20. Public voting will end on the evening of February 1st. The World Games were created in 1981, with the first edition held in Santa Clara, California. Since then, they have taken place every two years, in odd years, and bring together disciplines not included in the Olympic Games program. The next edition is scheduled to be held in 2022 in Birmingham, Alabama (United States).
