The Gymnasiade, or World Gymnasiade, or World School Sport Games, or ISF World School Sport Games is an international
multi-sport event
A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organized teams of athletes from (mostly) nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of intern ...
which is organised by the
International School Sport Federation
The International School Sport Federation (ISF) is an international sports governing body for school sport. Founded in 1972 with 21 European signatory nations, the federation has been organising international competitions to encourage education t ...
(ISF). It is the largest event among many other sport events held by the ISF. Aligned with the philosophy of the organisation, only individuals between the ages of 13 and 18 are eligible to compete.
The current regulations estipulate that the program of Gymnasiade is composed of twelve mandatory individual sports with five optional sports (three optional sports, along with two additional, chosen by the organizing committee). The current obligatory sports are:
archery
Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...
,
athletics
Athletics may refer to:
Sports
* Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking
** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport
* Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...
,
boxing
Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...
,
chess
Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...
,
fencing
Fencing is a combat sport that features sword fighting. It consists of three primary disciplines: Foil (fencing), foil, épée, and Sabre (fencing), sabre (also spelled ''saber''), each with its own blade and set of rules. Most competitive fe ...
,
gymnastics
Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...
,
judo
is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...
,
karate
(; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...
,
swimming
Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...
,
taekwondo
Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...
,
tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
, and
wrestling
Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...
. At the edition held in 2018, the organizing committee chose as optional sports:
petanque,
road cycling
Road cycling is the most widespread form of cycling in which cyclists ride on paved roadways. It includes recreational, racing, commuting, and utility cycling. As users of the road, road cyclists are generally expected to obey the same laws a ...
,
surfing
Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suita ...
, and
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...
.
The first edition of the Gymnasiade was held in 1974 in
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...
, Germany and it featured solely gymnastics, athletics and swimming competitions. Since then, numerous editions of Gymnasiade had been held. In 2018,
Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
staged the event, receiving more than 3000 young athletes representing 58 countries. It was the biggest edition so far and the first ever International Multisport event for youth held in Africa. The 2022 edition took place in May 2022 and was hosted in
Normandy
Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy.
Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...
,
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
.
Editions
Source:
ISF World School Summer Games U18
First held in 1974 the ISF World Gymnasiade is a multi-sport games organised by the International School Sport Federation for athletes in the under 18 age group. The 1974 athletics competition was not included as part of the main event held in Wiesbaden (FRG). The event was originally held every 2 years but after 1990 was only held every 4 years. From 1974 to 2009 only three compulsory sports made part of the event program:
gymnastics
Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...
,
athletics
Athletics may refer to:
Sports
* Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking
** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport
* Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...
,
swimming
Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...
.
The 2020 Gymnasiade was scheduled to host in
Jinjiang, China during 17–24 October, but after several postponements due to COVID-19 pandemic, ISF decided to cancel this event.
* 2013:
* 2016:
* 2018:
* 2022:
* 2024:
ISF World School Summer Games U15
ISF World School Winter Games
Ages: TBD
Source:
The 2023 Winter Gymnasiade was scheduled to host in
Erzurum
Erzurum (; ) is a List of cities in Turkey, city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. It is the site of an ...
, Turkey during 11–18 February, but after the
earthquake
An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...
near the
Syria–Turkey border
The border between the Syrian Arab Republic and the Republic of Turkey (; ) is long, and runs from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the tripoint with Iraq in the east. It runs across Upper Mesopotamia for some , crossing the Euphrates and ...
regions, ISF decided to cancel the event.
*
*
*
* 2018 Trial Edition: 2018 Winter Games was held in 5 to 10 February the city of Grenoble in France. During five days, 500 young athletes coming from 19 countries participated in this multi winter sports event.
Countries: Germany, England, Argentina, France, Hungary, Russia, Republic of Belarus, Austria, Belgium, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Scotland, Chile, Turkey, Spain, Estonia and Ukraine.
Sports: alpine ski, freestyle ski, snowboard cross and freestyle, biathlon, cross country ski, ski jumping (all mentioned events were supported by FIS), curling, speed skating and hockey.
;Main sports
*Alpine Skiing
*Biathlon
*Cross Country
*Snowboard
;Demonstration Sports
*Speed Skating
*Ski Jumping
*Ice Hockey
Recognized Sports
21 sports in 2015
and 31 in 2017
and 45 sports in 2025.
Source:
;Team Sports
;Individual Sports
‡ No event but recognized in 2017
Not Recognized: Cycling and Petanque in 2018 Games.
Past Sports: Floorball, Baseball, Cricket, Triathlon
Results
2024 U18
Source:
2025 U15
Source:
Sports
Summer sports
Winter sports
Events Games
Source:
ISF Combat Games
* 2017 ISF Combat Games consisted of four combat sports: Judo, Karate, Taekwondo and Wrestling.
* In 2017, 300 athletes from 6 countries (India, China, Russia, Brazil, UAE and France) attended the ISF Combat Games.
ISF Combat Games consist of the following sport disciplines:
*
Judo
is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...
*
Karate
(; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...
*
Taekwondo
Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...
*
Wrestling
Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...
From August 22–26, 2018, the first ever World Schools Championships in
sambo took place in Oryol,
Russian Federation
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
.
Exclude Sambo and Boxing.
Source :
ISF Inclusive Games
First games in 2019.
* 2019 Póvoa de Varzim Portugal
ISF Educational Games
* 1st 2014 in Greece
* 2nd 2015 in Greece
* 3rd 2016 in Greece
* 4th 2017 in Greece
* 5th 2018 in Greece
* 6th 2019 in Greece
* 7th 2020 in Greece
ISF E-Sport Games
First games in 2019.
* 2019 Kiev Ukraine
* 2020 Kiev Ukraine
* 2021 Kiev Ukraine
* 2022 Kiev Ukraine
ISF World Cool Games
First games in 2019.
* 2019 Kiev Ukraine
* 2020 Kiev Ukraine
* 2021 Kiev Ukraine
ISF Universal Teacher Games
First games in 2021.
World Teacher Games 2025. May 05 - May 10. France.
ISF Beach Games
2020 Cancelled , 2022 Argentina.
ISF She Runs
ISF Active Girls' Lead
1st - 2019 Paris France
2nd - 2021 Brussels Belgium
Regional
Pan American
3rd
Pan American Schools Games - Aracaju - Brazil 2017
European
First
European Schools Games Caen, France 2–8 July 1992.
Quadrennial event introduced in 1992 to fill the void created by the reduction in frequency of the ISF World Gymnasiade from every 2 to every 4 years.
Both the 1996 and 2000 events are believed to have been cancelled.
Venues: 1992 Caen (FRA), 2004 Milan (ITA)
World School Championship
ISF International School Sport Federation World School Championship.
See also
*
FINA Youth World Swimming Championships
The World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships (commonly referred to as 'Junior World Championships' or 'Junior Worlds') is an international swimming championship event organized biennially by World Aquatics for swimmers aged 14–18 years as of ...
*
Junior World Gymnastics Championships
Junior World Gymnastics Championships refers to a number of different World Championships in four disciplines recognized by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) in competitive gymnastics: acrobatic gymnastics, men's and women's artistic gy ...
*
SELL Student Games
SELL Student Games is a multi-sport event that is open for all university and college students all over the world. The name of the games is according to the first letters of the hosting countries who all in the Baltic Sea precinct – Finland, Est ...
*
Universiade
The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a Blend word, portmanteau of the wor ...
*
Youth Olympic Games
Youth Olympic Games is an international multi-sport event for athletes aged 15 to 18 years old. Organized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Games are held every four years in staggered summer and winter events consistent with ...
*
World Youth Championships in Athletics
The IAAF U18 Championships in Athletics (until 2015 known as IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics) was a global athletics event comprising track and field events for competitors who were 17 or younger (youth = Under-18). The event was orga ...
References
External links
{{International multi-sport events
Youth multi-sport events
Children's sport
Recurring sporting events established in 1974
World youth sports competitions