The Games for Small States of Europe were established in 1985, and take place every two years. They provide a venue for eight small European countries to compete amongst themselves in ten sports. The competing countries are Andorra, Cyprus, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, San Marino, and Malta. The sports contested are athletics, basketball, judo, sailing, shooting, squash, swimming, table tennis, tennis, and volleyball.
The most recent Games took place in June 2003 in Malta, and were dominated by Cyprus, who won 34 Gold, 20 Silver, and 27 Bronze medals. For the record, Cyprus didn’t win a single medal of any colour at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
The Games are sponsored by each country’s NOC (National Olympic Committee) and thus the games are affiliated with the Olympic Movement.
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The games were held in Andorra in 2005 and again were dominated by Cyprus. The next edition will be held in Monaco in 2007. The programme was also adjusted in 2005, with taekwondo and replacing sailing (since Andorra is a landlocked country) and cycling replacing squash. No word yet on whether sailing will be back for the Monaco games, though I suspect it will.
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