Sports fans will be forgiven if they get confused next year, as Birmingham 2022 will take place not once, but twice. Mike Rowbottom assesses preparations for two different events on both sides of the pond.
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ntil the COVID-19 pandemic stuck its oar in, everything was straightforward. The World Games in Birmingham, hosted in Alabama, were due to take place in July 2021, and a year later Birmingham - that is, England’s Birmingham - was scheduled to stage the 22nd Commonwealth Games.
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But then the Tokyo 2020 Olympics were postponed until 2021, and the new dates impinged on The World Games programme. The quadrennial event, first organised in 1981 and involving sports and disciplines not contested at the Olympics, was postponed until 2022. It was also decided that a rebranding would be helpful. And, thus, The World Games 2021 Birmingham became TWG2022, or The World Games 2022 Birmingham. Not entirely unlike the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, as some observers have noted… But, anyway, let’s hail Birmingham 2022! Both of them! It should be said that these sporting contests will not actually conflict with each other in real time, as The World Games are due to take place from July 7 to 17, and the Commonwealth Games from July 28 to August 8. So how are these two events - you might
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almost call them the Contiguous Games proceeding as they head towards their 2022 delivery dates? Broadly, the answer seems to be “very well, thank you”. But perhaps you are looking for a little more detail? Let’s cut straight to the mascots. Many in the international sporting community are still mentally scarred by the London 2012 mascots, Wenlock and Mandeville. Somebody once called them the “Spawn of Cyclops”. Hero the Hedgehog, the hyperactive agent provocateur of the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London’s Olympic Stadium, did much to mend England’s reputation in the mascot stakes. And Birmingham 2022 looks like maintaining that progress. In March, the mascot for next year’s Commonwealth Games, Perry, emerged to public view. Like Hero, he was designed by a child - in
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