The European Games is a continental multi-sport event held every four years and organized by the European Olympic Committees [1]. The first edition of the European Games was held in 2015 in Baku, Azerbaijan and the second edition took place in 2019 in Minsk, Belarus. The third edition will be held in the Polish city of Krakow-Malopolska, from the 20th of June to 2nd of July 2023.
Krakow 2023 will be one of the biggest events ever held in Poland and one of the biggest multi-sport events organized by the European Olympic Committees since its inauguration in 1995 [2]. An official EG2023 Balloon has been designed to symbolise unity and joy that comes with hosting this major international sporting event.
Kraków-Małopolska 2023 European Games Schedule.
The European Games has its counterparts in the four other continental events; the Asian Games (since 1951), The African Games (since 1965), The Pan American Games (since 1951) and The Pacific Games (since 1963). The continental Olympic organisations are an important part of the Olympic Movement [3] and are recognized by The International Olympic Committee (IOC). The members of the continental committees are the National Olympic Committees in the nations in the concerned continent [4]. The continental organisations are following The Olympic Charter and other fundamental principles for the Olympic Movement - therefore also followed by the European Olympic Committee.
As a logical result of strengthening the continental Games the upcoming Krakow European Games offers athletes a chance to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games 2024. It was initially announced that all Olympic sports on the programme for the Krakow Games would give the athletes an opportunity to qualify for the Summer Games in Paris 2024 [8]. It means that athletes in potentially 20 of the 27 official European Games 2023 sports have the opportunity to qualify.
Sports in the Krakow 2023 European Games
The third edition of the European Games features both an official program of established sports as well as a number of side-events [5].
The official programme consists of 27 sports (using the division we have chosen for our European Games result database). Among these are a number of traditional well-known summer sports from Olympic history like Athletics, Gymnastics, Fencing, Judo, Shooting and Archery.
Among the traditional Olympic sports the event format competed in is also rather different from the classic Olympic programme. The upcoming European Games programme features Beach soccer, Beach handball, Rugby Sevens and 3x3 basketball - the last two of these already a part of the Summer Olympics. In Athletics a competition will be held for nations in three divisions of different strength. The winners will in addition to winning the European Games be crowned as winners of the European Athletics Team Championships.
Follow the development in competitions from our interactive medal table.
In addition to the traditional summer sports the official programme includes non-Olympic sports like Muaythai, Padel, Teqball and Kickboxing for the first time. The traditional winter sport of Ski Jumping also makes an appearance among the normal Summer Olympic sports. This is actually how the early Olympics mixed sports of summer and winter until 1924, when the 1st Olympic Winter Games was held in Chamonix, France.
List of all sports and events in the Kraków-Małopolska 2023 European Games programme.
The side-events in the Krakow Games are Sumo, Chess, Amputee Football, Racing and Mountain Running.
European Games in Baku 2015
The 1st edition of the European Games was held in Baku, Azerbaijan in 2015. This inaugural major event attracted almost 6,000 athletes from 50 countries, who competed across 23 different sports (using the division we have chosen for our European Games result database) [6]. The opening ceremony featured performances from local and international artists, as well as a grand firework display to celebrate the start of the competition and the European Games tradition.
Medal distribution - 2015 European Games.
A total of 257 sets of medals were awarded at the Baku Games. Russia was the best scoring nation with 79 gold medals ahead of the host nation, Azerbaijan with 21 gold medals. Russian swimmer Arina Openysheva was the best scoring athlete with 7 European Games gold medals.
European Games in Minsk 2019
The 2nd European Games took place in host city Minsk, Belarus in 2019. The event brought together more than 4,000 athletes from 50 countries and consisted of 15 sports (in our division of sports), mainly traditional disciplines such as athletics, boxing, gymnastics and wrestling. Sambo and Karate was also on the list of sports whereof only Karate is part of the European Games Kraków-Małopolska [7].
A total of 250 sets of medals were awarded at the Minsk European Games. As in the Baku Games Russia was the best scoring nation with 44 gold medals ahead of Belarus with 23 gold medals. The Russian gymnast Dina Averina was the best scoring athlete with 3 gold medals.
Medal distribution from the 2019 European Games.
In several sports in Minsk 2019 athletes had an opportunity to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Main venues for the Krakow Games
The Krakow 2023 European Games is expected to be attended by about 7,000 athletes from 48 countries. In the moment of writing Russian and Belarusian athletes will not be invited due to the war in Ukraine even tough attempts have been made to send athletes to compete in the Olympic qualifiers.
This multi-sport event will be one of the biggest sports events in Europe since the Olympic Summer Games in London 2012. The Polish government and local authorities in Poland's second largest city have been hard at work constructing stadiums and arenas needed for the various sports competitions. Furthermore, there has also been worked on improving infrastructure and services such as transport and accommodation in order to ensure that all participants and spectators can get around easily during their time in Krakow.
25 venues will be used for the Krakow 2023 Games. The opening and closing ceremonies and the rugby tournament will be held at the Henryk Reyman Stadium in Krakow with a capacity of 33.000 spectators - a location almost in the middle of the city. The competitions in athletics will take place in the city of Chorzow at Silesian Stadium with a capacity of 54.000 spectators and two of the new sports, Teqball and Padel, will be arranged at the main market square of Krakow’s Old Town.
References
- European Olympic Commitees
https://www.eurolympic.org
- European Olympic Commitees - Inauguration
https://www.eurolympic.org/history/
- International Olympic Committee - Olympic Movement
https://olympics.com/ioc/olympic-movement
- International Olympic Committee - NOCs
https://olympics.com/ioc/noc-associations
- European Games Krakow 2023 - Sports
https://www.european-games.org/sports/
- Wikipedia - 2015 European Games
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_European_Games
- Wikipedia - 2019 European Games
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_European_Games
- Inside the games - Olympic qualification
https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1113031/eoc-olympic-sports-paris-2024-euro-games
- European Games Krakow 2023 - Venues
https://www.european-games.org/venues/
Olympian Database