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What started as an act of daring - in 1797, with Frenchman André Garnerin putting Leonardo da Vinci's concept of a parachute to the ultimate test by leaping from a hot air balloon - has developed into a legitimate and highly diversified air sport: parachuting or skydiving.
With athletes reaching speeds of 250 km/h and more on their three-dimensional field of play, skydiving is arguably the fastest non-powered sport on (and above) earth.
Skydiving: fast and intense! Two watchwords commonly associated with a sport that is growing in popularity. Add 'free' and 'fun' and you have all the ingredients of a sport that tends to reflect the way of life of those practicing it.
Skydiving can be a lifestyle sport, but at the highest level of competition, to the few aiming for true excellence, skydiving is an athletic challenge. One that depends on physical conditioning and mental training, on hard work and stern discipline, and on imagination.
All of the sport's many disciplines use one piece of equipment in common - the parachute : 'a fabric device with cords supporting a harness, allowing athletes to descend safely through the air' . In fact, two parachutes are always worn to give a truly comforting margin of safety: a main and a reserve parachute. Distinctions between the disciplines are made by determining how the main parachute is used.
In some, the athletes' ability to control the deployed parachute forms the essence of their sporting performances, while in others - in the 'skydiving' disciplines - the parachute is used merely to land safely; the sporting performance is completed prior to its deployment.
7 different parachuting and skydiving disciplines are currently recognized by the sport's governing body - the World Air Sports Federation FAI. 
In parachuting and skydiving - as in most other sports - there's continuous evolution. New events develop from existing ones whenever advances are made in techniques and training methods, and in equipment and technology. In the recent past, these advances have led to the development of spectacular variations to the original concept of descending with modern ram-air (square) parachutes that behave like wings.
Air Sports - Free Flight and Gliding
Two altogether different air sports - governed by FAI - are equally eligible for inclusion in the official sports program of The World Games, depending on whether the required infrastructure and conditions exist in and around the host city: free flight (hang gliding and paragliding) and gliding.
Winners 2001:
USA (2 Gold)
Germany (1 Gold)
Italy (1 Gold)
Federations:
Nat: www.daec.de
Int. www.fai.org
Venue:
Duisburg, Toeppersee - Nordufer
Sports flyer
Dates (without engagement)
Qualifications
