Bhutan is registered as the provisional member of World Transplant Game Federation. The following are the introduction:
WTGF History
The History of the Games
The first competitive sporting event for transplant recipients took place in Portsmouth, England in 1978 with around 99 competitors from the UK, France, Germany, Greece and the USA.
Today we hold Summer World Transplant Games every two years and the Winter Games in the intervening years. In 1987 the World Transplant Games Federation was officially formed and now has nearly 70 member countries worldwide.
In 2009, Gold Coast, Australia hosted 39 countries with almost 1,900 participant athletes, support persons, donors and donor family members taking part and in 2007 Bangkok, Thailand were the hosts to 46 countries.
The Winter World Transplant Games include a competition called the Nicholas Cup – an event specifically designed to give transplanted children the opportunity to experience the fun and excitement of skiing for the first time under supervised conditions.
The competitors are unique in that each one of them is alive and well as a result of a successful organ transplant. Were it not for that transplant these competitors may well be dead or have to endure long hours of dialysis as in the case of patients with kidney failure.
The Games embrace all ages, anyone from 4 - 80 years old who qualifies is welcome to participate. There are over 50 events to suit all capabilities including Athletics, 10 pin Bowling, Swimming, Racquet Sports, Golf, Volleyball, Lawn Bowls and Cycling. The standards of these games can be high. The 100metres has a record of 11.18 seconds and the long jump 6.85metres!
About WTGF
The World Transplant Games Federation
Our purpose is to visibly demonstrate the benefits of successful organ transplantation, work to increase public awareness of its success and thereby increase organ donation rates, as well as promote the full rehabilitation and wellbeing of our participants.
Have we been successful? YES! We have achieved a 30% or better increase in organ donation rates in those countries which have hosted the Games.
And YES, we have helped in the full rehabilitation of people after a successful organ transplant.
Much remains to be done though - we need to do more to bridge the gap between the need for an organ transplant and the hundreds of thousands of people who die each year because one is not available. This objective can only be achieved by our continuing efforts to promote the benefits of transplantation by staging our summer and winter Games and using every opportunity to sensitize the public to the need for more organ donors.
For more details, browse www.wtgf.org
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