São Paulo – The fifth edition of the Military World Games, in Rio de Janeiro, has already begun to distribute medals to competitors from 111 countries. The nations represented in the competition include 14 Arab ones.
The Middle Eastern and North African nations have a combined total of 437 competitors, and the largest delegation among them is that of Qatar, with 81 athletes. The Yemeni delegation is the smallest one, with only two athletes competing for medals in taekwondo.
In the first three days of the competition, Egypt has been a surprise in men‘s football, with two lopsided victories. In the first round, Brazil defeated Algeria 1-0, Egypt beat Kenya 4-1 and Qatar defeated Germany 2-1. In the second round, Algeria scored 5-0 against Uruguay, Brazil beat Suriname 6-0, Egypt defeated Ecuador 5-0 and Qatar beat Cameroon 2-1. In men’s volleyball, Brazil won the match over Qatar with a score of 3 sets to 1.
As of this Monday evening (18th), China is topping the medal table. The Chinese, as well as the Brazilians, won five gold medals in swimming, but China is leading the medal count because it also won four silver and five bronze ones. Brazil earned two silver and two bronze medals, and ranks second in the medal count so far. The Arabs have won no medals yet.
The opening ceremony for the first edition of the military world games was held on September 4th, 1995, at the 50th anniversary of the end of World War 2. According to the International Military Sports Council (CISM, in the French acronym), the event’s objective is to promote peace. According to council, no peace message is more meaningful than the one sent out by the armed forces of the countries that participate in the Games.
After its first edition, in Rome, the Military Games started being held every four years. In 1999, Zagreb, in Croatia, hosted the event. In 2003, the military athletes returned to Italy, this time in Catania. Hyderabad, in India, hosted the last edition, in 2007.
The Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff, attended the opening of the current edition last Saturday at the Engenhão Stadium, in Rio. Former football player Pelé lit the Olympic torch. Brazil won the right to host the military games by defeating Turkey, and because Rio boasts the infrastructure for the 2007 Pan American Games.
The 20 modalities include traditional ones such as judo, volleyball, football, basketball and boxing. But there are also sports that can only be played by Armed Forces members, such as military pentathlon. This competition evaluates the performance of combatants in shooting, an obstacle running, obstacle swimming, grenade throwing, cross country running and relay.
Other exclusive modalities are parachuting, naval pentathlon and aeronautical pentathlon. In the latter, competitors must pass through checkpoints in aerial routes flying aircraft at 400 kilometres per hour. The modality also includes shooting, swimming, fencing, basketball, obstacle running and orienteering (in which one must pass through checkpoints in the shortest time possible). Participants in the Military Olympic Games are required to be in the military. There are cases, however, in which former athletes enlist only to compete.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
