Tug of war at the World Games

Tug of war was introduced as a World Games sport at the first World Games in 1981 World Games in Santa Clara. It has been played at all editions since then. Two teams, in a test of strength, pull on opposite ends of a rope. The goal is to bring the rope a certain distance in one direction against the force of the opposing team’s pull. Two teams of eight, whose total mass must not exceed a class maximum weight, align themselves at opposite ends of the rope. The teams start with the rope’s center-line directly above a line marked on the ground, and once the contest has commenced, attempt to pull the other team such that the marking on the rope closest to their opponent crosses the center-line.

Men

-640 kg

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1981 Santa Clara	England	Switzerland (SUI)	Netherlands (NED)
1985 London	Ireland (IRL)	Switzerland (SUI)	England
1989 Karlsruhe	Switzerland (SUI)	Ireland (IRL)	England
1993 The Hague	Switzerland (SUI)	Ireland (IRL)	Spain (ESP)
1997 Lahti	Spain (ESP)	Switzerland (SUI)	Ireland (IRL)
2005 Duisburg	Switzerland (SUI)	Sweden (SWE)	Germany (GER)
2009 Kaohsiung	Switzerland (SUI)	Germany (GER)	Netherlands (NED)
2013 Cali	Switzerland (SUI)	Great Britain (GBR)	Germany (GER)
2017 Wrocław	Great Britain (GBR)	Switzerland (SUI)	Germany (GER)
2022 Birmingham	Switzerland (SUI)	Great Britain (GBR)	Belgium (BEL)

-680 kg

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
2001 Akita	Netherlands (NED)	Switzerland (SUI)	Sweden (SWE)
2005 Duisburg	Netherlands (NED)	Sweden (SWE)	Ireland (IRL)
2009 Kaohsiung	Netherlands (NED)	Switzerland (SUI)	Great Britain (GBR)

-700 kg

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
2013 Cali	Netherlands (NED)	Switzerland (SUI)	Sweden (SWE)
2017 Wrocław	Switzerland (SUI)	Netherlands (NED)	Great Britain (GBR)

-720 kg

This is a discontinued event.

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1981 Santa Clara	Switzerland (SUI)	Netherlands (NED)	England
1985 London	Ireland (IRL)	England	Switzerland (SUI)
1989 Karlsruhe	England	Switzerland (SUI)	Ireland (IRL)
1993 The Hague	Switzerland (SUI)	Ireland (IRL)	Germany (GER)
1997 Lahti	Netherlands (NED)	Sweden (SWE)	Ireland (IRL)

Indoor -600 kg

This is a discontinued event.

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
2001 Akita	England	Scotland	Japan (JPN)

Women

Indoor -520 kg

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
2005 Duisburg	Chinese Taipei (TPE)	Japan (JPN)	Netherlands (NED)
2009 Kaohsiung	Chinese Taipei (TPE)	Netherlands (NED)	Great Britain (GBR)

Indoor -540 kg

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
2013 Cali	Chinese Taipei (TPE)	Netherlands (NED)	South Africa (RSA)
2017 Wrocław	Chinese Taipei (TPE)	China (CHN)	South Africa (RSA)