The southern city of Kaohsiung is making final preparations for hosting the largest sporting event ever held in Taiwan: the World Games 2009, an 11-day competition involving more than 30 different sports. It will bring about 5,000 athletes, referees, and support staff to Kaohsiung in the second half of July.

In preparation for the games, Kaohsiung has built a World Games Stadium, a sparkling new outdoor track and field venue. Nicknamed the “solar stadium,” it is the first sports facility in the world to generate all of its own energy needs. More than 100,000 solar panels power the stadium, and surplus electricity will be delivered to the city. Fortunately, Kaohsiung is one of the sunniest cities in Taiwan, receiving an average of almost six hours of bright sunshine per day.

Designed by Japanese architect Toyo Ito, the 45,000-seat sports stadium features an attractive horseshoe-shaped layout. The open end of the horseshoe embraces a spacious plaza that features a large fountain, where visitors can gather before and after the events; the rest of the stadium is surrounded by grass, as well as by dense trees meant to resemble a tropical forest.

A second venue, the downtown Kaohsiung Arena, will host some of the indoor sports. The US$250 million arena, which is also already completed, can hold 15,000 spectators. Alongside the sports facilities, it houses a collection of restaurants, a department store, and other amenities. During the World Games, the Kaohsiung Arena will host dance sports, trampoline competitions, acrobatics, some martial arts, and tumbling.

The city has also unveiled some other state-of-the-art sports facilities, including a new spectator-friendly bowling alley. Aside from the purpose-built venues, the World Games will utilize more than 20 locations across the city, including Kaohsiung Metropolitan Park, Chengqing Lake, Lotus Lake, and many other places.

Aside from the new sports venues, Kaohsiung is making an impressive city-wide effort to provide the best experience possible for players and spectators alike. To improve the air quality, some industrial plants near Kaohsiung, including Southeast Cement Corp., will shut down during the games, while China Steel will restrict operations and replace some coal-fired furnaces with natural gas. The Taiwan Power Co., for its part, will use natural gas to generate electricity in Kaohsiung during the games. The city has drained and dredged Lotus Lake and refilled it with clean water, as it prepares the lake for water skiing, canoe polo, and other water sports events.

The games-related improvements and new venues are only the latest visitor-friendly developments in Kao-hsiung. A number of new projects have spruced up the southern city in the past few years. The Taiwan High Speed Rail, for example, delivers visitors to Zuoying, on the doorstep of Kaohsiung, while a new subway line carries visitors beneath the spread-out city, with more lines under construction. The Love River has received a makeover and now serves as the city’s pedestrian epicenter, while Kaohsiung’s other tourist attractions, which include a pretty harbor, good beaches, and excellent hillside parks, have been similarly polished up for visitors.

For an event like the World Games, the on-the-ground improvements are likely to be very noticeable. Unlike the Olympics, many World Games events are played in parks, on lakes, and at small venues that allow spectators to get close to the action. For example, the Jiu-jitsu and Karate martial arts events will be held at the intimate National Sun Yat-sen University gymnasium, while Boules, a close cousin to bowling that is played on grass, will take place in Jenai Park. Likewise Sumo, Roller Sports, Parachuting, Orienteering, Beach Handball, and other games will be contested in intimate settings that allow visitors to get good views of the action.

The World Games are a unique international competition, held under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee to feature only sports that are not played in the Olympics. As a result, many of the sports that will be showcased at the World Games in Kaohsiung are not well known; among the 30-plus events are Aikido, Archery, Billiards, Bowling, Climbing, In-line Skating, Squash, Sumo, Tug of War, and Water Skiing.

Host cities are also able to add some invitational events of their own choosing, and Kaohsiung is holding competitions in Dragon Boat Racing and Wushu, a Chinese martial art. Besides those two special categories, Taiwanese athletes are expected to excel at Billiards, Power Lifting, and Tug of War.

The World Games take place every four years, in the years following the Summer Olympics. Like the Olympics, they have opening and closing ceremonies, but to hold down costs the host cities are not expected to build new facilities or renovate existing ones to accommodate all the sports. In this regard, Kaohsiung is an exception, since its two main venues are newly built – but they were planned and designed before the city knew that the World Games would be coming. In keeping with the World Games spirit, which also does not require the construction of a vast Olympic Village, the athletes will stay in hotels in Kaohsiung.

The World Games are expected to provide a long-lasting benefit for Kao-hsiung, and also for residents elsewhere in Taiwan, as many of the projects have general tourism and travel advantages for visitors to the city. For example, the Kaohsiung government has worked to make all public signs, road signs, and government websites bilingual, and during the games all taxi companies will employ English-speaking radio dispatchers who will be able to help visitors find their destinations. At the same time, businesses will advertise their English proficiency through a star rating system that will further help foreign visitors. These initiatives, combined with the city’s natural attractions and fine new sports facilities, will further improve the Kaohsiung visitor experience, while the games supply the perfect reason to visit the city in late July.

World Games 2009 will be held from July 16 to 26. More details and information can be found on the official Games website at www.worldgames2009.tw .