Transplant Athletics

The U.S. Transplant Games were first held in Texas in 1982 and attracted only a small number of participants. They were held several times throughout the 1980's, but the event was mainly regional in scope and participation dwindled. In 1990, the National Kidney Foundation, in partnership with Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, took on the task of organizing the Games inIndianapolis, Indiana. Participation grew to 400 athletes and 600 supporters. The success of the Games and the message they engender began to spread to the entire transplant community.

The 1994 U.S. Transplant Games was held on the campus of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and drew more than 1,000 athletes, who participated as part of 52 teams. Special programs for children and educational symposia for recipients, families and friends were also held. In addition, a special tribute was paid to the over 4,000 families who donate their loved ones organs each year.

The 1996 Games were held on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and again were the largest gathering of transplant recipients in one place ever. In addition to the already established events of the Games, additional emphasis was placed on the team aspect of the Games--team golf and team bowling were added.

The 1998 Games, set for August 5-8 on the campus of Ohio State University in Columbus, continues to build on this event's rich history. The 1998 Games will also feature the 1998 National Donor Recognition Ceremony, a program for donor families, procurement professionals and living donors, as part of an expanded Opening Ceremonies. Competition in team volleyball and the 200 meter event in track and field will also be added.

The 2000 U.S. Transplant Games, held June 21-24 at Disney's Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista, Florida was the largest Games to date with a total of 6,500 participants. Over 1700 athletes competed in 12 sports in conjunction with the 514 Donor Families who attended the Giving, Grieving, Growing Program.

World Transplant Games

The World Transplant Games is an international sporting event held every two years under the auspices of the World Transplant Games Federation and is open to recipients of a currently functioning life-saving solid organ or tissue transplant. The mission of the World Transplant Games is to promote the importance of organ donation and the success of transplantation through the demonstration of athletic excellence in the area of sport and competition.

The first "Transplant Olympics," organized by British transplant surgeon Maurice Slapak, was held in Portsmouth, England in 1978. Approximately 100 kidney transplant recipients, representing over a dozen countries, gathered in Olympic fashion. In subsequent years, the Transplant Olympics were renamed the World Transplant Games and held in New York, Athens, Amsterdam, Singapore, Budapest, Vancouver and Manchester, each time increasing in size and visibility

The success of the World Games has served as the catalyst for the development of national games all over the world, including successful programs in Great Britain, Australia and France.

Team USA

The United States has been participating in the World Games since their inception in 1978 and has been organized by the National Kidney Foundation since 1992.

Team USA made its debut at the 1993 World Games in Vancouver with the largest team ever to compete. For the first time, Team USA won the most gold medals, overturning the British tradition of winning the medal count. The British won the title back at the X World Games in 1995 held in Manchester, England, with Team USA finishing a close second. The XI Games in 1997 held in Sydney, Australia, were the largest World Games ever held. Team USA sent the largest allowable team--150 competitors--to compete at many of the venues being readied for the upcoming 2000 Olympics.

September 4-13, 1999 saw fifty-seven transplant athletes from across the United States joined together as part of Team USA to compete in the XII World Transplant Games held in Budapest, Hungary. More than 1,000 transplant athletes hailing from 40 different countries competed in the Games' events, which included cycling, volleyball, swimming and track and field events.

Plans are already being made for the 13th World Transplant Games to take place in Kobe, Japan from August 26th to September 1st, 2001.

Winter Games

In 1994, the French transplant athletics organization, TRANS-FORME, organized the first Transplant Games for winter sports in Tignes. Over 100 recipients from eighteen countries participated in cross country and downhill events.

The success of that event spawned the first U.S. Winter Transplant Games and Carnival in Aspen, Colorado in February of 1995. Fifty skiers from all across the nation participated in all levels of nordic and alpine events. Two years later, the second U.S. Winter Transplant Games were held at Mammoth Mountain, in Mammoth Lakes, California.

To see the 2000 Transplant Games Site, please click here

All photos courtesy of the National Kidney Foundation and Jay LaPrete.
© 2002 National Kidney Foundation
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