The World Team Olympiad was a contract bridge meet organized by the World Bridge Federation every four years from 1960 to 2004. Its main events were world championships for national teams, always including one open and one restricted to women ("Open" and "Women" categories in WBF terms). A parallel event for seniors was inaugurated in 2000.
Although the Olympiad has been discontinued, its main constituent championships continue within or beside the World Mind Sports Games, first held October 2008 in Beijing, China,World Team Olympiad . World Bridge Federation. The tabular summary "World Team Olympiad to Date" is linked to dedicated websites for recent tournaments and to complete results and participants for all tournaments. and the subsequent results are listed here. In 2016, the events were run separately, as the World Bridge Games, in Wrocław, Poland.
The 1960 "Olympiad" was the first meet organized by the WBF, although the organization has adopted one older event that now confers the title World Champion, the Bermuda Bowl competition.
The Olympiad championships differed from other world-level championships for "national"
teams primarily by inviting every WBF member country to enter a team in each tournament. Other world championships, including the older Bermuda Bowl for open teams that is now contested every odd-number year, require qualification at a "zone" level. For example, about 40 national open teams from European Bridge League member countries may compete biennially for eight entries in the Bermuda Bowl tournament.
Over the twelve World Team Olympiad cycles, the fields grew from 29 open and 14 women teams in 1960 to 72 open, 43 women, and 29 seniors teams in 2004. For the first World Mind Sports Games there were 71 open and 54 women entries; the Seniors International Cup continued as a non-medal event with 32 entries. Seniors participation increased to 34 at the second WMSG in 2012 while the numbers of open and women entries dropped to 60 and 43.Registration – Participants: Open/Women/Seniors. WBF. Retrieved 2014-09-02.
Open Teams
Teams representing Italy and France won five and four of the twelve Open Team Olympiad tournaments. The Italian Blue Team won three in a row 1964 to 1972, overlapping its run of ten Bermuda Bowls (1957–1969). Another Italian team won the last two Olympiads and made it three in a row in the first rendition as part of the World Mind Sports Games, 2000 to 2008, overlapping its run of seven European championships (1995–2006).
Year, Host, Entries Medalists 1960Results & Participants, 1st World Team Olympiad, 1960. WBF. Turin, Italy
29 teams 1. France René Bacherich, Gérard Bourchtoff, Claude Delmouly, Pierre Ghestem, Pierre Jaïs, Roger Trézel 2. Great Britain Jeremy Flint, Nico Gardener, Terence Reese, Albert Rose, Boris Schapiro, Ralph Swimer 3. USA Vanderbilt 1 B. Jay Becker, John Crawford, Norman Kay, George Rapée, Sidney Silodor, Tobias Stone 1964Results & Participants, 2nd World Team Olympiad, 1964. WBF. New York City, USA
29 1. Italy Walter Avarelli, Giorgio Belladonna, Massimo D'Alelio, Pietro Forquet, Benito Garozzo, Camillo Pabis Ticci 2. USA Bob Hamman, Robert F. Jordan, Don Krauss, Victor Mitchell, Arthur Robinson, Sam Stayman 3. Great Britain Jeremy Flint, Maurice Harrison-Gray, Kenneth Konstam, Terence Reese, Boris Schapiro, Joel Tarlo 1968Results & Participants, 3rd World Team Olympiad, 1968. WBF. Deauville, France
33 1. Italy Walter Avarelli, Giorgio Belladonna, Massimo D'Alelio, Pietro Forquet, Benito Garozzo, Camillo Pabis Ticci 2. USA Robert F. Jordan, Edgar Kaplan, Norman Kay, Arthur Robinson, Bill Root, Al Roth 3. Canada Gerry Charney, Bill Crissey, C. Bruce Elliott, Sami Kehela, Eric Murray, Percy Sheardown 1972Results & Participants, 4th World Team Olympiad, 1972. WBF. Miami Beach, USA
39 1. Italy Walter Avarelli, Giorgio Belladonna, Massimo D'Alelio, Pietro Forquet, Benito Garozzo, Camillo Pabis Ticci 2. USA Bobby Goldman, Bob Hamman, Jim Jacoby, Mike Lawrence, Paul Soloway, Bobby Wolff 3. Canada Gerry Charney, Bill Crissey, Bruce Gowdy, Sami Kehela, Eric Murray, Duncan Phillips 1976Results & Participants, 5th World Team Olympiad, 1976. WBF. Monte Carlo, Monaco
45 1. Brazil Pedro Paulo Assumpção, Sérgio Barbosa, Marcelo Branco, Gabriel Chagas, Gabino Cintra, Christiano Fonseca 2. Italy Giorgio Belladonna, Pietro Forquet, Arturo Franco, Benito Garozzo, Carlo Mosca, Silvio Sbarigia 3. Great Britain Willie Coyle, Jeremy Flint, Tony Priday, Claude Rodrigue, Irving Rose, Robert Sheehan 1980Results & Participants, 6th World Team Olympiad, 1980. WBF. Valkenburg, Netherlands
58 teams 1. France Paul Chemla, Michel Lebel, Christian Mari, Michel Perron, (Philippe Soulet, Henri Szwarc)* 2. USA Fred Hamilton, Bob Hamman, Mike Passell, Ira Rubin, Paul Soloway, Bobby Wolff 3. Netherlands — Hans Kreijns, Anton Maas, André Mulder, Carol van Oppen, Hans Vergoed, René Zwaan Norway — Jon Aabye, Per Breck, Tor Helness, Reidar Lien, Harald Nordby, Leif-Erik Stabell After 1980 it was determined that the Pairs and Teams Olympiads in alternating even years would continue to be played in Europe and North America.... OEB "Bermuda Bowl"? ... — (that continued thru the anniversary Bermuda Bowl of 2000?) ... — 1984Results & Participants, 7th World Team Olympiad, 1984. WBF. Seattle, USA
54 1. Poland Piotr Gawryś, Krzysztof Martens, Tomasz Przybora, Jacek Romański, Piotr Tuszyński, Henryk Wolny 2. France Paul Chemla, Félix Covo, Hervé Mouiel, Fivo Paladino, Michel Perron, Henri Szwarc 3. Denmark Jens Auken, Knud-Aage Boesgaard, Johannes Hulgaard, Peter Schaltz, Steen Schou, Stig Werdelin 1988Results & Participants, 8th World Team Olympiad, 1988. WBF. Venice, Italy
56 1. USA Seymon Deutsch, Bob Hamman, Jim Jacoby, Jeff Meckstroth, Eric Rodwell, Bobby Wolff 2. Austria Heinrich Berger, Jan Fucik, Alfred Kadlec, Fritz Kubak, Wolfgang Meinl, Franz Terraneo 3. Sweden Björn Fallenius, Sven-Olov Flodqvist, Hans Göthe, Tommy Gullberg, Magnus Lindkvist, Per Olof Sundelin 1992Results & Participants, 9th World Team Olympiad, 1992. WBF. Salsomaggiore, Italy
57 1. France Paul Chemla, Alain Lévy, Hervé Mouiel, Michel Perron, (Pierre Adad, Maurice Aujaleu)* 2. USA Seymon Deutsch, Bob Hamman, Jeff Meckstroth, Eric Rodwell, Michael Rosenberg, Bobby Wolff 3. Netherlands Wubbo de Boer, Enri Leufkens, Bauke Muller, Berry Westra, (Jaap van der Neut, Marcel Nooijen)** 1996Results & Participants, 10th World Team Olympiad, 1996. WBF. Rhodes, Greece
71 1. France Marc Bompis, Alain Lévy, Christian Mari, Hervé Mouiel, Franck Multon, Henri Szwarc 2. Indonesia Franky Karwur, Henky Lasut, Eddy Manoppo, Denny Sacul, (Santje Panelewen, Giovanni Watulingas)*** 3. Denmark Morten Andersen, Jens Auken, Lars Blakset, Søren Christiansen, Dennis Koch-Palmund, Lauge Schäffer 2000Results & Participants, 11th World Team Olympiad, 2000. WBF. Maastricht, Netherlands
72 teams 1. Italy Norberto Bocchi, Giorgio Duboin, Lorenzo Lauria, Alfredo Versace, (Dano De Falco, Guido Ferraro)* 2. Poland Cezary Balicki, Krzysztof Jassem, Michał Kwiecień, Jacek Pszczoła, Piotr Tuszyński, Adam Żmudziński 3. USA David Berkowitz, Larry N. Cohen, Steve Garner, George Jacobs, Ralph Katz, Howard Weinstein 2004Results & Participants, 12th World Team Olympiad, 2004. WBF. Istanbul, Turkey
72 1. Italy Norberto Bocchi, Giorgio Duboin, Fulvio Fantoni, Lorenzo Lauria, Claudio Nunes, Alfredo Versace 2. Netherlands Sjoert Brink, Bas Drijver, Jan Jansma, Ricco van Prooijen, Maarten Schollaardt, Louk Verhees 3. Russia Alexander Dubinin, Andrey Gromov, Jouri Khokhlov, Max Khven, Georgi Matushko, Vladimir Rekunov After 2004 the Olympiad meet was discontinued by the World Bridge Federation in favor of participation in the World Mind Sports Games. This knockout tournament for Open national teams continues in the new context, with the same quadrennial cycle and conditions.2008Results & Participants (national teams), 1st World Mind Sports Games, 2008. WBF. Beijing, China
71 teams 1. Italy Giorgio Duboin, Fulvio Fantoni, Lorenzo Lauria, Claudio Nunes, Antonio Sementa, Alfredo Versace 2. England David Gold, Jason Hackett, Justin Hackett, Artur Malinowski, Nicklas Sandqvist, Tom Townsend 3. Norway Terje Aa, Glenn Grøtheim, Geir Helgemo, Tor Helness, Jørgen Molberg, Ulf Håkon Tundal 2012Results & Participants (national teams), 14th World Bridge Games, 2012. WBF. Retrieved 2014-06-02. Lille, France
60 teams 1. Sweden Krister Ahlesved, Peter Bertheau, Per-Ola Cullin, Fredrik Nyström, Jonas Petersson, Johan Upmark 2. Poland Cezary Balicki, Krzysztof Buras, Grzegorz Narkiewicz, Piotr Żak, Jerzy Zaremba, Adam Żmudziński 3. Monaco Fulvio Fantoni, Geir Helgemo, Tor Helness, Franck Multon, Claudio Nunes, Pierre Zimmermann
* Soulet–Szwarc in 1980, Adad–Aujaleu in 1992, and De Falco–Ferraro in 2000 did not play enough boards to qualify for the title of World Champion ** Van der Neut and Nooijen in 1992 did not play enough boards to qualify for third place *** Panelewen and Watulingas in 1996 did not play enough boards to qualify for second place
Women's Teams
Teams representing eight countries won the Olympiad series for Women during its twelve renditions, led by the United States with four. England won the first rendition as part of the World Mind Sports Games, beating host China by one IMP in 2008.
Year, Host, Entries Medalists 1960 Turin, Italy
14 teams 1. UARHelen Camara, Aida Choucry, Samika Fathy, Loula Gordon, Josephine Morcos, Suzanne Naguib 2. FranceNadine Alexandre, Annie Chanfray, — Gary, Geneviève Morénas, Esmerian Pouldjian, — Rouvière 3. DenmarkOtti Damm, Annelise Faber, Rigmor Fraenckel, Lizzie Schaltz, Gulle Skotte 1964 New York City, USA
15 1. Great BritainDimmie Fleming, Fritzi Gordon, Jane Juan, Rixi Markus, Mary Moss, Dorothy Shanahan 2. USAAgnes Gordon, Muriel Kaplan, Alicia Kempner, Helen Portugal, Stella Rebner, Jan Stone 3. FranceSuzanne Baldon, Annie Chanfray, Marguerite de Gailhard, Geneviève Morénas, Marianne Serf 1968 Deauville, France
19 1. SwedenBritt Blom, Karin Eriksson, Eva Mårtensson, Rut Segander, Gunborg Silborn, Britta Werner 2. South AfricaThelma Beron, Gerda Goslar, Rita Jacobson, Petra Mansell, Elfreda Sender, Alma Shnieder 3. USAHermine Baron, Nancy Gruver, Emma Jean Hawes, Dorothy Hayden, Sue Sachs, Rhoda Walsh 1972 Miami Beach, USA
18 1. ItalyMarisa Bianchi, Luciana Canessa, Rina Jabès, Maria Antonietta Robaudo, Anna Valenti, Maria Vittoria Venturini 2. South AfricaThelma Beron, Janie Disler, Gerda Goslar, Rita Jacobson, Petra Mansell, Alma Shnieder 3. USAMary Jane Farell, Emma Jean Hawes, Marilyn Johnson, Jacqui Mitchell, Peggy Solomon, Dorothy Hayden Truscott 1976 Monte Carlo, Monaco
21 1. ItalyMarisa Bianchi, Luciana Capodanno, Marisa D'Andrea, Rina Jabès, Maria Antonietta Robaudo, Anna Valenti 2. Great BritainCharley Esterson, Nicola Gardener, Fritzi Gordon, Sandra Landy, Rixi Markus, Rita Oldroyd 3. USAMary Jane Farell, Emma Jean Hawes, Marilyn Johnson, Jacqui Mitchell, Gail Moss, Dorothy Hayden Truscott 1980 Valkenburg, Netherlands
29 teams 1. USAMary Jane Farell, Emma Jean Hawes, Marilyn Johnson, Jacqui Mitchell, Gail Moss, Dorothy Hayden Truscott 2. ItalyMarisa Bianchi, Luciana Capodanno, Marisa D'Andrea, Enrichetta Gut, Andreina Morini, Anna Valenti 3. Great BritainNicola Gardener, Sandra Landy, Rita Oldroyd, Sally Sowter, (Michelle Brunner, Pat Davies)* After 1980 it was determined that the Pairs and Teams Olympiads in alternating even years would continue to be played in Europe and North America. 1984 Seattle, USA
23 1. USABetty Ann Kennedy, Jacqui Mitchell, Gail Moss, Judi Radin, Carol Sanders, Kathie Wei 2. Great BritainPat Davies, Sally Horton, Sandra Landy, Nicola Smith, (Sarah Scarborough, Gillian Scott-Jones)** 3. NetherlandsMarijke Erich, Petra Kaas, Laura Lor, Marijke van der Pas, Elly Schippers, Bep Vriend 1988 Venice, Italy
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