2009 Mediterranean Games

The 2009 Mediterranean Games, officially the XVI Mediterranean Games (Italian: XVI Giochi del Mediterraneo) and commonly known as Pescara 2009, was a multi-sport event held in Pescara, Italy, from 26 June to 5 July 2009. It was governed by the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (ICMG) (French: Comité international des Jeux méditerranéens). A total of 3,368 athletes (2,183 men and 1,185 women) from 23 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated in the Games. Montenegro participated for the first time at the Mediterranean Games, after their independence in 2006. The program included competitions in 24 different sports, including three non-Olympic sports – bocce, karate, and water skiing – and golf, which was reinstated as an official Olympic sport in 2016 Summer Olympics. Water skiing was introduced as a demonstration sport. Two disabled sports, athletics and swimming, were also contested in the Games. Italy became the first nation to host the Mediterranean Games three times, having previously hosted them in Naples (1963) and Bari (1997).

Pescara was awarded the Games on 18 October 2003 in Almeria, Spain, which was the host of 2005 Mediterranean Games, defeating bids from Rijeka and Patras. The organising committee of the Games, Comitato Organizzatore dei XVI Giochi del Mediterraneo (COJM), was created in 2006 to oversee the staging of the Games. A total of 33 venues were used to host the events, including Stadio Adriatico — main stadium of the Pescara Games, hosted both the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the athletics competition and football final. Many events took place in several different cities. The official logo of the 2009 Mediterranean Games featured simple graphical illustrations of mountains and sea of the Abruzzo region, and the Marsican brown bear was chosen as the mascot of the Games.

Athletes from 21 countries won medals, leaving two countries without a medal; 18 of them won at least one gold medal. A total of 782 medals – 243 gold, 244 silver and 295 bronze – were awarded. Competitors from the host nation, Italy, led the medal table for the eleventh time in the history of the Games, with 64 gold medals. Italian swimmer Federica Pellegrini and Spanish swimmer Aschwin Wildeboer set new world records in their respective events.

The Mediterranean Games is a multi-sport event, much like the Summer Olympics (albeit on a much smaller scale), with participation exclusively from countries around the Mediterranean Sea where Europe, Africa, and Asia meet. The Games started in 1951 and are held every four years. The idea of holding the Mediterranean Games originated with Muhammed Taher Pasha, who was the chairman of the Egyptian Olympic Committee and the vice-president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), at a meeting during the 1948 London Olympics. The Games "were designed specifically to bring together the Muslim and European countries surrounding the Mediterranean basin" to promote understanding through sporting competition.

The first edition of the Mediterranean Games was held in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in 1951, attracting 734 competitors from 10 nations. Female athletes were not allowed to compete. Italy hosted the Games for the first time in 1963 in Naples, the fourth edition of the Games. Naples was the second in Europe (following Barcelona in 1955) to host the Games. Thirty-four years later, another Italian city, Bari, hosted the Games.

Pescara was elected as the host city for the 2009 Mediterranean Games on 18 October 2003 in Almeria, Spain, defeating bids from Rijeka and Patras. The decision for the host city was made after the voting by members of the International Committee of Mediterranean Games, held in Almeria, host of the 2005 Mediterranean Games. Croatia's bidding city, Rijeka, was the first city to be eliminated, followed by Patras, Greece's bidding city. This was the third time that any Italian city hosted this multi-sport event.

Croatian delegates were outraged by the final decision, particularly as this was their third bid in recent years; Croatia made bids in 1995 and 1999 for the 1997 and 2001 Mediterranean Games, respectively. Former Prime Minister of Croatia and the president of the Croatian Olympic Committee Zlatko Mateša expressed his disappointment: "It just shows, once again, that small countries have no chance of competing with the big ones". The Croatian bid was supported by the president and CEO of Formula One Management and Formula One Administration Bernie Ecclestone, 1992 Olympic bronze medallist in tennis Goran Ivanišević and 1998 FIFA World Cup Golden Shoe Award winner Davor Šuker.

The Comitato Organizzatore dei XVI Giochi del Mediterraneo – Pescara 2009 (English: Organizing Committee of the XVI Mediterranean Games – Pescara 2009; abbreviated as COJM) was created in 2006 to oversee the staging of the Games. The committee was in charge of implementing and staging the Games, and to maintain the infrastructure and provide other services. The committee's board of directors consisted of politicians, IOC members from Italy, and presidents of the various Italian sports governing bodies. Mario Pescante was appointed as the Commissioner Extraordinary of the Games in 2008 by the Italian Government. He had held the same office during the 2006 Winter Olympic, held in Turin.