USA WrestlingInternationalWomenBeachUSAW

Beach Wrestling named a core discipline for 2023 & 2025 ANOC World Beach Games

by Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling, and ANOC

Shauna Kemp, a 2019 ANOC World Beach Games medalist. Photo by Tony Rotundo, Wrestlers Are Warriors.


The Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) has named wrestling as one of nine sports to its core program for both the 2023 and 2025 ANOC World Beach Games. The discipline that will be contested at these Games will be Beach Wrestling.


This is a major development to be included as a core sport at the ANOC World Beach Games. ANOC is an important organization with ties to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the various international federations of Olympic sports (IF), in addition to serving the National Olympic Committees.


Beach wrestling was included in the first ANOC World Beach World Games, held in Qatar in 2019. The United States qualified a team of five athletes, four women and one man. Shauna Kemp won a bronze medal at 60 kg in women's Beach Wrestling for the USA in Doha. The other ANOC World Beach Games participants were Kristal betanzo (50 kg women), Ashley Sword (70 kg women), Donnel Bradley (Over 70 kg women), and Diante Cooper (Over 90 kg).


The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee organized the U.S. team in all sports and funded the participation of the wrestlers and other athletes at the 2019 ANOC Beach World Games.

INSIDE THE GAMES: Core programme of 10 disciplines announced for 2023 and 2025 ANOC World Beach Games

ANOC press release


ANOC today announced the 9 sports and 10 disciplines that will form the core programme for the 2023 and 2025 editions of the ANOC World Beach Games. The announcement comes ahead of the opening of the bid process for the host cities of the 2023 and 2025 Games tomorrow (17 August.)


Following the great success of the ANOC World Beach Games Qatar 2019, ANOC decided to focus the core programme exclusively on beach and water sports that could be delivered sustainably and in line with the Games’ commitment to youth and inclusion. The nine sports on the core programme are:


· Aquatics – Open Water Swimming 5km & Beach Water Polo

· Football – Beach Soccer

· Handball – Beach Handball

· Karate – Individual Kata

· Sailing – Kite Foil

· Tennis – Beach Tennis

· Triathlon – Aquathlon

· Volleyball – Beach Volleyball 4×4

· Wrestling – Beach Wrestling


In addition to the nine core sports, at each edition of the Games there will be the option to add additional sports in agreement between ANOC and the respective Organising Committee. This will allow the programme to be tailored to the trends and cultures of each host county ensuring a unique feel for each Games.


The bidding process for the 2023 and 2025 editions of the Games gets underway tomorrow with an invitation sent to all 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs). The candidate cities will be announced at the ANOC General Assembly in Greece in October 2021. The bid process will conclude before the end of the year with hosts for both Games set to be announced on 17 December 2021.


ANOC Secretary General Gunilla Lindberg said:


“We are delighted to announce the core sports for the next two editions of the ANOC World Beach Games. We have a dynamic and diverse mix of youth-centred beach and water sports which will ensure the ANOC World Beach Games continues to allow NOCs to engage new athletes and a new generation of sports fans. By confirming the core programme now, we are also giving NOCs and International Federations (IFs) greater certainty and time to plan for the Games.


“After the success of Qatar 2019, we have enjoyed very positive collaboration with all the IFs that participated in the Games and we look forward to working closely with them to deliver fantastic competitions for our athletes and fans. With the bid process for the next two editions of the Games opening tomorrow we are also confident we will have two excellent hosts to showcase the best of our beach and water sports.”


ANOC has signed agreements with all nine IFs on the core programme and met with them during the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 to discuss plans for the ANOC World Beach Games.