2005 Games of the Small States of Europe
Joan Enric Vives Sicília | |
Main venue | Estadi Comunal d'Andorra la Vella |
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Website | www.andorra2005.ad/ |
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The 2005 Games of the Small States of Europe, or the XIth Games of the Small States of Europe, were held in
Overview and participation
The 2005 edition of the Games of the Small States of Europe was one of the largest ever and were attended by all eligible countries. Eligible nations are European states with less than 1 million citizens. 793 total athletes from the eight eligible nations competed, the highest since 803 attended the 1993 Games in Valletta. Cyprus had 150 participants. The host nation Andorra brought 132. Iceland and Luxembourg had 120 and 118 participants respectively. San Marino brought 94 athletes, while Monaco brought 76. Malta participated with 66 athletes, and Liechtenstein brought 37.
Competitions
Competitions in the 2005 Games were held in ten disciplines; a total of 120 events were held in these ten disciplines. There was one change in disciplines since the 2003 Games; Squash was removed from competition. It was replaced in Andorra by Taekwondo.
Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of medal events contested in each sport.
- Athletics (35) ( )
- Basketball (2) ( )
- Cycling ( )
- Judo (20) ( )
- Shooting (7) ( )
- Swimming (31) ( )
- Table tennis ( )
- Taekwondo ( )
- Tennis (4) ( )
- Volleyball (2) ( )
Themes and mascots
The 2005 Games theme song was called “The Flame in the Hands.” Lyrics and music were both written by composer Pep Sala. Andorran singer Estefania Alimbau performed the theme at the games’ opening ceremonies. The intention is for “The Flame in the Hands” to become the general theme of the Games of the Small States of Europe, not just the 2005 Games.[1]
The mascot of the games was Bagaleu, a white owl with multicolored glasses. Bagaleu was designed by an Andorran student.[2] The student also composed a myth of Bagaleu's origins; in this story, he hails from the town of Llorts. Bagaleu publicly debuted in Parc Central in Andorra la Vella on October 20, 2004.
Highlights
Among the star athletes of the games was Andorran swimmer
. Haciane was the only Andorran to win a medal of any color in the pool.Another athlete with great success in the pool was Icelandic swimmer
Cyprus continued its success in relays at the athletics events. Cypriots have won every women's 4x400 m held in competition, and also won their third straight men's 4x400 m.[4] Cyprus also won the women's 4x100 m. Malta won the other relay, the men's 4x100 m, which Cyprus had won in the 2001 and 2003 Games.
Cypriot Eleni Artymata duplicated Abenzoar's feat on the women's side, winning the women's 100 m and 200 m. Artymata also duplicated the feat of countrywoman Marilia Gregoriou, who won the same double in 2003. Artymata tied Gregoriou's competition record in the women's 100 m with a time of 11.67 seconds. In the women's middle-distance events, fellow Cypriot Anna Christofidou pulled off a double of her own, winning the 800 m and 1500 m.
Several athletes defended their titles from the previous games. Among the most notable was
Liechtenstein may have won the fewest medals at the 2005 Games, but had great success in the cycling events. Marc Ruhe won gold in the mountain course, while Dimitri Jiriakov finished first in the road course. Luxembourg also had success in cycling events. Luxembourgers won gold and silver in the cycling time trial, silver and bronze in the road race, and silver in the mountain race; all five Luxembourger cycling medals were won by different riders.
Cyprus won the gold medal in men's basketball with a win over Andorra, coming back from a significant deficit and winning the game on the strength of a seventeen-point fourth quarter advantage.[5] Unlike many tournaments, though, the short duration of the Games of the Small States means that the tournament is purely in round-robin format, so Andorra did not win the silver medal. Iceland took the silver in men's basketball, and Luxembourg the bronze. Iceland also took the silver in women's basketball, while Luxembourg took the gold and Malta the bronze.
Iceland won three individual taekwondo events, and Cyprus won another three. These successes led the Icelanders to win the women's team medal and the Cypriots the men's. Also held in Escaldes-Engordany were the Judo events. Monaco had their best showing in Judo, winning three golds, a silver, and four bronzes. Iceland had similar success in Judo as in Taekwondo, and won four golds, continuing their success at the Prat Gran Pavilion.
In racquet sports, the Maltese fared well in men's table tennis. They took gold and silver in men's singles, and then the duo paired to win the doubles and lead Malta to the team medal. The Sammarinese and Luxembourgers split dominance for the women's events, each winning a gold, with San Marino taking the team title. Luxembourg made up for that, winning both women's tennis events and the men's doubles. Monaco took the men's singles gold.
Cyprus had a very successful Games and led the medal count again after leading it in Malta. Their success stretched across all disciplines, but they were especially successful in Athletics. Iceland finished second in the medal table; almost half of the Icelandic medals came in swimming events. Andorra had a large boost in successes from being the host nation and having more athletes participate; they had 11 more medals than in Malta in 2003.
Medal count
* Host nation (Andorra)
Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Cyprus (CYP) | 39 | 28 | 24 | 91 |
2 | Iceland (ISL) | 26 | 23 | 27 | 76 |
3 | Luxembourg (LUX) | 18 | 21 | 23 | 62 |
4 | Monaco (MON) | 11 | 8 | 18 | 37 |
5 | Andorra (AND)* | 8 | 14 | 9 | 31 |
6 | Malta (MLT) | 7 | 13 | 18 | 38 |
7 | San Marino (SMR) | 6 | 9 | 7 | 22 |
8 | Liechtenstein (LIE) | 5 | 5 | 3 | 13 |
Totals (8 entries) | 120 | 121 | 129 | 370 |
Venues
Fittingly, most of the events of the 2005 Games took place in Andorra la Vella itself. Swimming and volleyball were both held at the
Road cycling events took place on the streets of Andorra la Vella. Mountain cycling events took place in the skiing resort town of Pal in the province of La Massana. Also taking place in that province were tennis events. Tennis was held indoors on hard courts at L'Aldosa Sport Complex in the town of La Massana.
Some shooting events took place at the La Rabassa range in
Many of the venues used in the 2005 Games were also used in 1991, the last time Andorra hosted the event.
See also
- Games of the Small States of Europe
- Andorra 2005 (archived)
References
- ^ ” Pep Sala Composes the Song of the Games, to Be Performed by Estefania Alimbau.” News-Andorra 2005, May 12, 2005. http://www.andorra2005.ad/en/noticies/detall.aspx?IdNoticia=120 Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Bagaleu, the Mascot. News-Andorra 2005. http://www.andorra2005.ad/en/jocs05/imatgeGrafica/mascota.aspx Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Hocine Haciane: “The years of physical training in Paris have affected my results.” News-Andorra 2005, June 3, 2005. http://www.andorra2005.ad/en/# Archived 2007-10-10 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ ”Games of the Small States of Europe.” GBRAthletics. http://www.gbrathletics.com/ic/gsse.htm
- ^ “Cyprus beats Andorra and gets the gold medal in men’s basketball.” News-Andorra 2005, Jun. 4, 2005. http://www.andorra2005.ad/en/# Archived 2007-10-10 at the Wayback Machine