A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, and featuring competition in many different sports between organized teams of athletes from (mostly) nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of international significance was the modern Olympic Games.

Many regional multi-sport events have since been founded, modeled after the Olympics. Most have the same basic structure. Games are held over the course of several days in and around a "host city," which changes for each competition. Countries send national teams to each competition, consisting of individual athletes and teams that compete in a wide variety of sports. Athletes or teams are awarded gold, silver, or bronze medals for first, second, and third place respectively. The games are generally held every four years, though some are annual competitions.

Olympics

The first modern multi-sport event organised were the Olympic Games, organised by the International Olympic Committee (est. 1894) for the first time in 1896 in Athens, Greece. After some badly organised celebrations (1900, 1904), the Olympics became very popular. The number of sports, initially only a few, is still growing.

Other events

At the beginning of the 20th century, another multi-sport event, the Nordic Games were first held. These Games were held in Scandinavia, and the sports conducted were winter sports such as cross country skiing and speed skating. The Nordic Games were last held in 1926, after which the 1924 Winter Sports Week in Chamonix was declared the first Olympic Winter Games.

In the 1920s, all kinds of other multi-sport events were set up. These were usually directed for a selected group of athletes, rather than everybody, which was - basically - the case with the Olympic Games. The Soviets organised the first Spartakiad in 1920, a communist alternative to the 'bourgeois' Olympic Games, and in 1922 the University Olympia was organised in Italy, the forerunner of the World University Games, meant for students only. Regional Games were another kind of multi-sport event that was established, such as the Far Eastern Championship Games or the Central American and Caribbean Games.

Central audiences

Since the establishment of the Olympics, most serial multi-sport events have been organized for specific audiences and participating countries or communities:

• regional, such as the East Asian Games and the South American Games
• political, such as the Spartakiad and the GANEFO
• historic or historicultural roots, such as the Commonwealth Games (for members of the Commonwealth of Nations) and the Jeux de la Francophonie (for members of La Francophonie)
• ethnocultural or ethnoreligious, such as the Pan-Armenian Games (for ethnic communities of Armenians both in Armenia and in other countries) and the Maccabiah Games (for communities of Jews of both ethnic and religious origins)
• religious, such as the Islamic Solidarity Games and the previously mentioned Maccabiah Games
• occupational, such as the Military World Games, the World Police and Fire Games and the Universiade
• physical structure, such as the Paralympics, the Deaflympics and the Special Olympics World Games
• human age, such as the World Masters Games, Commonwealth Youth Games and the Senior Olympics
• gender and sexual orientation, such as the Women's Islamic Games and the Gay Games

List of major international competitions

The Olympic Games are still the largest multi-sport event in the world in terms of worldwide interest and importance (though no longer in participation), but several others also have significance.

Worldwide events

Multi-sports events for non-Olympic sports

• World Games, held first in 1981, stage many sports (though not all) that are not Olympic sports. The World Games is therefore sometimes also unofficially called Olympics for non-Olympic sports. (They cannot be called "Olympic" games without infringing on the Olympic committees' trademarks.)
• World Mind Sports Games, first held in 2008 for games of skill (e.g. chess, go, etc.)
• The X Games and Winter X Games, which highlight extreme action sports.

By occupation

• World University Games (also called Universiade), held first in 1923, for students at universities worldwide
• Military World Games, held first in 1995, for military athletes from over 100 countries
• World Police and Fire Games, begun in 1985, for law enforcement officers and firefighters worldwide; third only to the World Masters Games and Summer Olympics in number of participants.

By organisation and language

• Commonwealth Games, held first in 1930 (although similar games in 1911) for all nations from the Commonwealth of Nations
• Commonwealth Youth Games, began in 2000.
• Francophone Games, held first in 1989, for nations that speak French
• Lusophony Games, begun in 2006, for Portuguese-speaking countries.
• Islamic Solidarity Games, first held in 2005, for all nations from the Organisation of the Islamic Conference
• Women's Islamic Games, began in 1993.

By political and historical allegiance

• Bolivarian Games, began in 1938, for countries liberated by Simón Bolívar
• Games of the Small States of Europe held first in 1985, for eight small states in Europe
• Games of the New Emerging Forces, held first in 1963 in Jakarta, Indonesia, for the so-called "emerging nations" (mainly newly independent socialist states).
• Goodwill Games, held first in 1986, held as an alternative after the boycotted Olympics of 1980 and 1984.
• Spartakiad, a defunct event involving athletes from the Soviet Union

By ethnicity

• Maccabiah Games, first held in 1932, for Jewish athletes worldwide.
• Pan Arab Games, held first in 1953, for Arabic nations.
• Pan-Armenian Games, began in 1999.

Other

• Gay Games and World OutGames held first in 1982 and 2006, for the worldwide gay community
• World Masters Games, first held in 1985, for mature athletes. Most participants of any multi-sport event, with approximately twice as many competitors as the Summer Olympics.

Regional events

• All-Africa Games, held first in 1965, for all African nations
• Pan American Games, held first in 1951, for all nations of the Americas
• Central American and Caribbean Games, held first in 1926, every 4 years for nations in the Caribean, Central America and/or borderind the Caribean sea
• South American Games, began in 1978.
• Arafura Games, held first in 1991 and hosted in the Oceania region.
• Asian Games, held first in 1951, for all Asian nations
• Southeast Asian Games, held first in 1959, for nations in Southeast Asia
• East Asian Games, for nations in East Asia
• West Asian Games, for nations in West Asia
• Central Asian Games, for nations in Central Asia
• South Asian Games, for nations in South Asia
• European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF), for youth athletes from Europe, began in 1991 (summer) and 1993 (winter).
• Mediterranean Games, held first in 1951, for all nations bordering the Mediterranean Sea
• South Pacific Games, held first in 1963 for countries around the South Pacific

Disability

Other Games are intended for handicapped or disabled athletes. The International Silent Games, held in Paris in 1924, were the first Games for deaf athletes. The Stoke Mandeville Wheelchair Games, incepted in 1948 in England, were the first Games for wheelchair athletes. In 1960, the first Paralympic Games were held, connected with the Olympic Games. The Special Olympics World Games, for athletes with intellectual disabilities, were first held in 1968.