Transplant Athletes
Thank you for your interest in the National Kidney Foundation's U.S. Transplant Games programs--the official home for transplant athletes. Our goals are to increase public awareness of the critical need for organ donation, to demonstrate the success of transplantation and to increase awareness in the transplant community on the benefits of fitness and well-being through transplant athletic programs.
The success of transplant athletics--specifically, the U.S. Transplant Games--has created new opportunities to demonstrate the success of transplantation and the critical need for additional donors. The transplant community has joined efforts to initiate successful programs that celebrate the rehabilitation of formerly chronically ill individuals who, through the lifesaving therapy of transplantation, are able to live full and productive lives. The Transplant Games allow recipients to test the challenges of human potential through the arena of athletic competition. The enthusiasm of the athletes has led to the emergence of local, state and regional activities, all of which publicize the fact that transplantation works.
The U.S. Transplant Games
The U.S. Transplant Games is a four-day athletic competition for recipients of organ transplants. Competition in the U.S. Transplant Games is open to anyone whose most recent lifesaving solid organ transplant— heart, liver, kidney, lung, pancreas and/or heterologous bone marrow— has been functioning for at least 6 months. As much as the Games is an athletic event that calls attention to the success of organ and tissue transplantation, it is also a celebration of life among recipients, their families, and friends.
2008 U.S. Transplant Games - Team Kentucky
The purposes of the U.S. Transplant Games are:
- To demonstrate to the public the collective and individual successes of the life-restoring therapy of organ transplantation
- To use the mass media to promote the success of organ donation and transplantation and to call attention to the need for organ donation through events and support activity before, during, and after the event
- To contribute to the successful rehabilitation of the nation's transplant patient community
- To involve the entire transplant community including physicians, allied professionals, patients, donor families and related organizations in a collaborative effort for the benefit of organ donation
- To provide an opportunity for these goals to be achieved locally by NKF Affiliates and other participating organizations.
For More Information: Call 502-585-5433 or Contact Us
U.S. Transplant Games History
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 was approached by Sandoz Pharmaceuticals (Novartis) and asked to take on the task of organizing and rejuvenating the Games in an effort to give something back to the transplant community. The Games were held on the campus of Indiana University/Purdue University in Indianapolis and participation grew from a dwindling dozen to more than 400 athletes and 600 supporters. The success of the Games and the message they engender began to spread to the entire transplant community.
Team USA
The United States has been participating in the World Games since their inception in 1978. Team USA 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 Sydney, Australia, in 1997 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.
For more information visit www.transplantgames.org
World Transplant Games
The World Transplant Games is a five-day, multi-sport event held biannually in the odd-numbered years. Organized by the World Transplant Games Federation, the event attracts transplant athletes from around the world.
The first “Transplant Olympics,” organized by British transplant surgeon Maurice Slapak, were 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. In September 2000, the event was given support by the International Olympic Committee President, Juan Antonio Samaranch.
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.
For more information visit the World Transplant Games Federation’s websit at: www.wtgf.org
