African Games
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The African Games, formally known as the All-Africa Games or the Pan African Games, are a continental multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the African Union (AU) with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) and the Association of African Sports Confederations (AASC).
All of the competing nations are from the African continent. The first Games were held in 1965 in Brazzaville, Congo. The International Olympic Committee granted official recognition as a continental multi-sport event, along with the Asian Games and Pan American Games. Since 1999, the Games have also included athletes with a disability.[1]
The Supreme Council for Sport in Africa (SCSA) was the organisation body for the game. On 26 July 2013, the Extraordinary Assembly of the Supreme Council for Sports held in Abidjan, Ivory Coast that was held on the sidelines of the 5th Session of the African Union Conference of Sports Ministers that started on 22 July 2013 recommended the dissolution of the Supreme Council for Sport in Africa and to also transfer all functions, assets & liabilities of SCSA to the African Union Commission.[2][3] The organization of the African Games is now managed by three parts, the AU (the owners of the game), the ANOCA (occupying the technical aspects) and the AASC (developing marketing policy, sponsorship and research resources).
After running previous 11 editions as the All-Africa Games, the games has been renamed the African Games. The decision for the name change was arrived at, during the Executive Council meeting of the African Union held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in January 2012.[4] 54 countries were participating in the most recent edition in Morocco 2019. In 2023, the 13th edition of the game was hosted in Accra, Ghana.[5][6] It was aim to use sports for national and continental development, aligning with Ghana's transformative agenda and the African Union's Agenda 2063, "Africa We Want."[7]
History
Beginning
Modern Olympics founder
Attempts were made to host the games in
The Friendship Games
In the early 1960s,
The games
In July 1965, the first games were held in Brazzaville, Congo, now called the All-Africa Games. From 30 countries, around 2,500 athletes competed. Egypt topped the medal count for the first Games.
In 1966, the SCSA was organized in
In 1977, the 3rd Games were scheduled to take place in Algeria but due to technical reasons had to be postponed for a year and were held in 1978. Continuing the pattern, the next Games were scheduled to take place in Kenya in 1983, but were pushed back to 1985 and finally took place in Nairobi in 1987.
The four-year Olympic rhythm has not missed a beat since, and the Games have been organized in Cairo, Harare, Johannesburg, and Abuja. In 2007, Algiers once again hosted, becoming the first repeat host. The 2011 edition of the All-Africa Games was held in Maputo, Mozambique in September 2011. Brazzaville hosted the 2015 edition in honor of the Games' 50th anniversary.
Participation
All 53 members affiliated to the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) are eligible to take part in the Games. In history, the 53 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) have sent competitors to the Games.
Morocco was banned from the games from the 1987 All-Africa Games to the 2015 African Games because of a political dispute over Western Sahara. Morocco claims the territory as its "Southern Provinces" and controls 80% of it while the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which claims to be a sovereign state, controls the remaining 20% as the "Free Zone". In 2018, after the Moroccan government signed its treaty of return to the African Union, the country also pledged to return to the African Games. Rabat, Morocco hosted the 2019 African Games.[8][9][10]
Editions
Games | Year | Host[11] | Opened by | Dates | Nations | Competitors | Sports | Events | Top nation | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Men | Women | Total | |||||||||
1 | 1965 | Brazzaville | Alphonse Massemba
|
18 – 28 July | 30 | 2,500 | 10 | 54 | Egypt | ||
2 | 1973 | Lagos | Yakubu Gowon | 7 – 18 January | 36 | 12 | 92 | Egypt | |||
3 | 1978 | Algiers | Houari Boumediene
|
13 – 28 July | 38 | 3,000 | 12 | 117 | Tunisia | ||
4 | 1987 | Nairobi | Daniel Arap Moi
|
1 – 12 August | 41 | 14 | 164 | Egypt | |||
5 | 1991 | Cairo | Hosni Mubarak | 20 September – 1 October | 43 | 18 | 213 | Egypt | |||
6 | 1995 | Harare | Robert Mugabe | 13 – 23 September | 46 | 6,000 | 19 | 224 | South Africa | ||
7 | 1999 | Johannesburg | Thabo Mbeki | 10 – 19 September | 51 | 6,000 | 20 | 224 | South Africa | ||
8 | 2003 | Abuja | Olusegun Obasanjo | 5 – 17 October | 50 | 6,000 | 22 | 332 | Nigeria | ||
9 | 2007 | Algiers | Abdelaziz Bouteflika | 11 – 23 July | 52 | 4,793 | 27 | 374 | Egypt | ||
10 | 2011 | Maputo | Armando Guebuza | 3 – 18 September | 53 | 5,000 | 20 | 244 | South Africa | ||
11 | 2015 | Brazzaville | Denis Nguesso | 4 – 19 September | 54 | 15,000 | 22 | 323 | Egypt | ||
12 | 2019 | Rabat | Prince Moulay Rachid | 19 – 31 August | 54 | 4,386 | 26 | 343 | Egypt | ||
13 | 2023 | Accra | Nana Akufo-Addo | 8 – 23 March 2024 | 52 | 1,490 | 1,154 | 2,644 | 23 | 242 | Egypt |
14
|
2027 | Cairo | President of Egypt (expected) | 20 January – 7 February | Future event | ||||||
15 | 2031 | Kinshasa | President of DR Congo (expected) | TBD | Future event |
Unofficial editions
- 1925 Algiers, Algeria - Not held
- 1928 Alexandria, Egypt - Not held
- 1960 French-speaking countries of Africa
- 1961 French-speaking countries of Africa
- 1963 African Friendship Games - Senegal - Not held
African Para Games
Edition | Year | Host city[11] | Host nation | Opened by | Date | Nations | Athletes | Sports | Events | Most gold medals |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2023 | Accra | Ghana | Mustapha Ussif | 3–12 September | 18 | 400 | 3 | 7 | Morocco |
2 | 2027 | Cairo | Egypt |
Sports
35 sports, 2 demonstration sports and 6 Para sports were presented in African Games history until 2019 African Games (also 1991 Diving and 1999 Netball were demonstration).
Number | Event | 1965 | 1973 | 1978 | 1987 | 1991 | 1995 | 1999 | 2003 | 2007 | 2011 | 2015 | 2019 | 2023 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Main Sports | ||||||||||||||
1 | Athletics | |||||||||||||
2 | Cycling | |||||||||||||
3 | Gymnastics | |||||||||||||
4 | Shooting | |||||||||||||
5 | Swimming | |||||||||||||
Boat Sports | ||||||||||||||
6 | Canoeing | |||||||||||||
7 | Rowing | |||||||||||||
8 | Sailing | |||||||||||||
Combat Sports | ||||||||||||||
9 | Arm Wrestling | |||||||||||||
10 | Boxing | |||||||||||||
11 | Fencing | |||||||||||||
12 | Judo | |||||||||||||
13 | Karate | |||||||||||||
14 | Kickboxing | |||||||||||||
15 | Taekwondo | |||||||||||||
16 | Wrestling | |||||||||||||
Team Sports | ||||||||||||||
17 | Baseball | |||||||||||||
18 | Basketball | |||||||||||||
18 | Beach volleyball | |||||||||||||
19 | 3x3 basketball | |||||||||||||
20 | Cricket | |||||||||||||
21 | Field Hockey | |||||||||||||
22 | Football | |||||||||||||
23 | Handball | |||||||||||||
24 | Netball | Dem | ||||||||||||
25 | Rugby sevens | |||||||||||||
26 | Softball | |||||||||||||
27 | Volleyball | |||||||||||||
Racquet Sports | ||||||||||||||
28 | Badminton | |||||||||||||
29 | Squash | |||||||||||||
30 | Table Tennis | |||||||||||||
31 | Tennis | |||||||||||||
Other Sports | ||||||||||||||
32 | Archery | |||||||||||||
33 | Chess | |||||||||||||
34 | Cue Sports (Snooker) | |||||||||||||
35 | Diving | Dem | ||||||||||||
36 | Equestrian | |||||||||||||
37 | Petanque | |||||||||||||
38 | Triathlon | |||||||||||||
39 | Weightlifting | |||||||||||||
Demonstration Sports | ||||||||||||||
40 | Esports | |||||||||||||
40 | Mixed martial arts | |||||||||||||
40 | Nzango | |||||||||||||
41 | Pharaoh Boxing | |||||||||||||
40 | Pickleball | |||||||||||||
40 | Scrabble | |||||||||||||
40 | Speed-ball | |||||||||||||
40 | Sambo | |||||||||||||
42 | Teqball | |||||||||||||
Para Sports ( from 2019 African Para Games ) | ||||||||||||||
43 | Para Athletics | |||||||||||||
44 | Goalball | |||||||||||||
45 | Para Powerlifting | |||||||||||||
46 | Para Swimming | |||||||||||||
47 | Para Table Tennis | |||||||||||||
48 | Wheelchair Basketball |
All time Medal Table
50 nations have won at least a single medal in the African Games, from 54 National Olympic Committees participating throughout the history of the Games. 43 NOCs have won at least a single gold medal.[12]
No. | Nation | Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Egypt (EGY) | 12 | 753 | 551 | 523 | 1827 |
2 | Nigeria (NGR) | 12 | 517 | 461 | 470 | 1448 |
3 | South Africa (RSA) | 7 | 429 | 393 | 337 | 1159 |
4 | Algeria (ALG) | 12 | 342 | 353 | 447 | 1142 |
5 | Tunisia (TUN) | 12 | 282 | 270 | 316 | 868 |
6 | Kenya (KEN) | 12 | 142 | 152 | 185 | 479 |
7 | Senegal (SEN) | 12 | 69 | 78 | 172 | 319 |
8 | Ghana (GHA) | 12 | 55 | 83 | 111 | 249 |
9 | Ethiopia (ETH) | 12 | 54 | 62 | 80 | 196 |
10 | Morocco (MAR) | 2 | 48 | 56 | 74 | 178 |
Legacy
After hearing about the
See also
- Sport in Africa
- African Youth Games
- African Para Games
- List of African Games medalists in swimming (men)
- List of African Games medalists in swimming (women)
References
- ^ 9th All African Games Underway in Algeria, International Paralympic Committee (IPC)
- ^ 27/10/2011 The All Africa Games shall henceforth be organized by ANOCA and the AASC Archived November 10, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, Confederation of African Athletics (CAA)
- ^ All Africa Games: Popoola hails SCSA dissolution, www.vanguardngr.com
- ^ "All-Africa Games now renamed "African Games"". The Guardian. NAN. September 13, 2015.
- ^ Graphic, Online (2024-03-11). "13th African Games open in Accra".
- ^ "13th African Games". www.accra2023ag.com. Retrieved 2024-03-11.
- ^ "Aims and Objectives". www.accra2023ag.com. Retrieved 2024-03-11.
- ^ Chanda, Davies M.M (April 15, 2018). "'We ain't ready to stage 2019 AAG'". Times of Zambia.
- ^ All Africa Games. FEI. Retrieved on 29 January 2018.
- ^ "Morocco To Host African Games". Around The Rings. 25 July 2018. Archived from the original on 26 July 2018. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
- ^ a b ANOCA (archived)
- ^ "BEST sports DB - All Africa Games". bestsports.com.br. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
External links
- Background from official website (archived 22 July 2013)
- Medal winners in various events (archived 27 April 2006)
- Event at Ultraviewdirectory (archived 7 October 2011)