International Virtus Sports Federation

Virtus Sport (formerly INAS or INAS Sport) (International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability; originally called INAS-FMH, later INAS-FID, INAS and now as Virtus Sport) is a federation established in 1986 by Dutch athletic professionals to promote the participation of athletes with mental handicap in elite sports (intellectual impairment).

Virtus Sport (INAS)
Founded1986
TypeNot for Profit Organisation for Intellectual Disability
FocusSport, disability
Location
  • UK
Area served
Worldwide
Members
c. 500,000
Key people
President — Marc Truffaut (France)
Executive Director — Nick Parr (UK)
Websitehttps://www.virtus.sport/
Formerly called
INAS-FID, INAS-FMH
Member of International Paralympic Committee

The organisations brand name is the Virtus promoting sport worldwide for athletes with intellectual disability, autism and Down syndrome.

Names

  1. INAS-FMH :1986-1994
  2. INAS-FID - International Sports Federation for Persons with an Intellectual Disability (INAS-FID): 1994-?
  3. INAS - International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability: ? - 2019
  4. Virtus Sport: 2019-present

History

The founding meeting of the first Executive Committee took place in January 1986 and the organisation became a member of the ICC – the International Coordinating Committee – the organisation that later became the International Paralympic Committee.

INAS' original membership was just 14 nations which has steadily grown into c.80 nations today.

In 1989, the 1st World Games for Athletes with an Intellectual Disability were held in Harnosand, Sweden and in 1992, immediately after the Barcelona Paralympic Games, the first Paralympic Games for 'Persons with mental handicap' were held in Madrid.

In 1994, INAS-FMH became INAS-FID – the 'International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability' and in 1996, for the first time, a small programme of events for athletes with an intellectual disability was included in the Paralympic Games in Atlanta.

A larger programme including Athletics, Swimming and Basketball was included in the Sydney Paralympic Games in 2000, but it soon emerged that a small number of athletes had cheated the system of determining eligibility, resulting in the suspension of events — a suspension that was to remain in place until 2012.

Despite exclusion from the Paralympic Games, the Inas sport programme continued to grow considerably to incorporate more than 10 sports whilst its membership grew to cover all 5 continents.

INAS provides competition opportunities for elite athletes with an intellectual disability in Paralympic and non-Paralympic sports and is different from Special Olympics, which provides non-elite opportunities worldwide.

Eligibility and classification

Athletes with an intellectual disability are characterised by an IQ of 75 or below, significant limitations in Adaptive Behaviour and the disability must be present before the age of 18. This is based on the American Association for Intellectual and Developmental Disability definition of Intellectual Disability.


Recognized Sports

Sports:

Core Sports

  1. Athletics
  2. Basketball
  3. Cricket
  4. Cycling
  5. Equestrian
  6. Football/Futsal
  7. Judo
  8. Rowing
  9. Skiing
  10. Swimming
  11. Table Tennis
  12. Tennis

Partnerships With International Federations

  1. Golf
  2. Karate
  3. Para-Hockey
  4. Sailing
  5. Taekwondo

Current activities

Today's sport programme includes some 15 annual events, and more than 4000 athletes are registered to compete at an international level, whilst many hundreds of thousands of people with an intellectual disability have the opportunity to enjoy sport through the work of member organisations.

Following a partnership between INAS and the International Paralympic Committee to overhaul the process of determining athlete eligibility, events for athletes with an intellectual disability were re-instated to the Paralympic programme by the IPC General Assembly in November 2009, in preparation for the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

In 2019, INAS rebranded as Virtus.

Events

INAS World Championships

  • Main article : INAS World Championships
Number Event First Edition Last Edition
Main Sports
1 INAS World Athletics Championships (Outdoor, Indoor) 1989, 2001 10th (2017), 9th (2016)
2 INAS World Cross Country Championships 2002 9th (2017)
3 INAS World Half Marathon Championships 2006 8th (2018)
4 INAS World Swimming Championships 1989 6th (2017)
5 INAS World Cycling Championships 1999 10th (2018)
6 INAS World Rowing Championships (Outdoor, Indoor) 2014, 2009 2nd (2015), 4th (2015)
Team Sports
8 INAS World Basketball Championships 1994 10th (2017)
9 INAS World Cricket Championships 2011 2nd (2015)
10 INAS World Football Championships 1994 7th (2018)
11 INAS World Futsal Championships 2012 2nd (2017)
12 INAS World Handball Championships no yet no yet
13 INAS World Hockey Championships (Field Hockey) no yet no yet
Winter Sports
14 INAS World Ski Championships (Alpine, Nordic) 2009 9th (2017)
Other Sports
15 INAS World Equestrian Championships 2017 1st (2017)
16 INAS World Table Tennis Championships 1995 7th (2017)
17 INAS World Tennis Championships 2004 7th (2018)

Note : INAS do not organise events in Taekwondo but work in partnership with World Taekwondo World Para Taekwondo Championships.

INAS Global Games

In 2004 INAS launched a new multi-sport competition INAS Global Games (INAS World Games / Intellectual Disability Global Games). The first event took place in Bollnäs, Sweden and featured more than 1000 athletes. The second Global Games took place in Czech Republic in 2009. With the re-inclusion of athletes with an intellectual disability into Paralympic competition, it was decided to move the Global Games to the year preceding the Paralympics. The next Global Games therefore takes place in 2011. After a bidding procedure, Italy was chosen as the host nation. The 2015 Global Games took place in Guayaquil, Ecuador, in September. The 2019 INAS Global Games will take place in Brisbane, Queensland Australia.

No. Year Dates City and host country Champion Sports Events Countries
1 2004 July International Virtus Sports Federation  Bollnäs, Sweden International Virtus Sports Federation  Poland 6 40
2 2009 7 - 11 June International Virtus Sports Federation  Liberec, Czech Republic International Virtus Sports Federation  Australia 9 34
3 2011 26 September - 4 October International Virtus Sports Federation  Loano, Italy International Virtus Sports Federation  Australia 9 30
4 2015 20 - 27 September International Virtus Sports Federation  Quito, Ecuador International Virtus Sports Federation  Australia 8 35
5 2019 12–19 October International Virtus Sports Federation  Brisbane, Australia International Virtus Sports Federation  Australia 11

Results : http://www.inas.org/events/results Archived 24 July 2017 at the Wayback Machine

2023: https://www.virtus.sport/2023-vichy-france

900 athletes from 47 nations

Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Peru, and the Solomon Islands = debut

13 sports

athletics, basketball, cycling, equestrian, futsal, handball, judo, karate, rowing, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, and tennis.

Karate, judo, and equestrian = debut at GG2023

France 189 medals (88 gold, 56 silver and 45 bronze)

Australia with 125 medals (42 gold, 41 silver and 42 bronze)

Italy with 87 medals (30 gold, 27 silver and 30 bronze)

Results 2023: https://c3k8ff.n3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Results-GG2023.pdf

Regional Games

Source:

European Championships

Source:

Members (28 nations in 2019):

Sports:

Euro Web:

  1. Athletics:
  2. Swimming:
  3. Futsal/Football :
  4. Basketball:
  5. Handball:
  6. Table Tennis:
  7. Other Sports (Cycling,Rowing,Judo,Skiing,Tennis,Equestrian):

INAS European Games

  • Main article : INAS European Games
No. Year Dates City and host country Champion Sports Events Countries
1 2018 14 - 22 July International Virtus Sports Federation  Paris, France 7 + 2 TBD
2 2022 International Virtus Sports Federation  CRACOW, TBD

Results: http://www.inas.org/event/2018-inas-european-games?instance_id=76 Archived 28 July 2017 at the Wayback Machine

https://web.archive.org/web/20191221125831/http://www.inaseurope.org/index.html

1st Virtus European Winter Games, Zakopane 2024 (2020 was cancelled)

http://www.virtuseurope.eu/other-sports.html

http://www.virtuseurope.eu/synthesis.html

http://www.virtuseurope.eu/athletics.html

http://www.virtuseurope.eu/swimming.html

http://www.virtuseurope.eu/index.html

1st European Winter Games (skiing, rowing, futsal, basketball 3x3) 2 March - 8 March 2024 Zakopane (Poland)

INAS Asia-Pacific Games

1st Virtus Oceania Asia Games 2022, 5-11 November (OA Games) - Australia

Inaugural Virtus Oceania Asia Games:

Sports:

  1. Athletics - Paralympic Pathway
  2. Badminton - Demonstration Sport
  3. Basketball
  4. Cycling - Track & Road Cycling
  5. Judo
  6. Rowing - On-Water & Indoor Rowing
  7. Sailing - Para Sailing International Championship
  8. Swimming - Paralympic Pathway
  9. Table Tennis - Paralympic Pathway
  10. Taekwondo
  11. Triathlon - Demonstration Sport

Nations:

20 countries:

   Australia    Brazil    Colombia    Ecuador    Fiji    France (including Wallis & Futuna, New Caledonia)    Hong Kong    India    Indonesia    Islamic Republic of Iran    Japan    Macau    Malaysia    Maldives    New Zealand    Republic of Palau    Papua New Guinea    Philippines    Republic of Korea    Singapore    Chinese Taipei    Thailand    Great Britain    United States of America 

Events:

Medals:

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1International Virtus Sports Federation  Australia948343220
2International Virtus Sports Federation  Japan25131553
3International Virtus Sports Federation  Hong Kong917733
4International Virtus Sports Federation  Iran4228
5International Virtus Sports Federation  India4037
6International Virtus Sports Federation  South Korea3036
7International Virtus Sports Federation  Malaysia2237
8International Virtus Sports Federation  Chinese Taipei15511
9International Virtus Sports Federation  Singapore1304
10International Virtus Sports Federation  Indonesia12811
11International Virtus Sports Federation  New Zealand12710
12International Virtus Sports Federation  Philippines1203
13International Virtus Sports Federation  Fiji0123
14International Virtus Sports Federation  Macau0011
International Virtus Sports Federation  Thailand0011
Totals (15 entries)146132100378

Solomon Islands = one silver

Republic of Palau = no medal

INAS African Games

No Yet.

INAS Pan American Games

2026 in Peru , Inaugural 2026 Virtus Americas Regional Games

See also

References

Tags:

International Virtus Sports Federation NamesInternational Virtus Sports Federation HistoryInternational Virtus Sports Federation Eligibility and classificationInternational Virtus Sports Federation Recognized SportsInternational Virtus Sports Federation Current activitiesInternational Virtus Sports Federation EventsInternational Virtus Sports Federation Regional GamesInternational Virtus Sports Federation

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