2023 Games of the Small States of Europe

XIX Games of the Small States of Europe

Host city	Valletta
Country	Malta
Nations	9 [1]
Athletes	835[2]
Opening	28 May 2023
Closing	3 June 2023
Website	gssemalta2023.mt

The 2023 Games of the Small States of Europe, also known as the XIX Games of the Small States of Europe or informally Malta 2023 took place in Valletta, Malta from 28 May to 3 June 2023.^[3]

Malta previously hosted the 1993 and 2003 editions of the Games.^[1] The 2023 installation was originally planned to be the XX Games rather than the XIX Games,^[4][5] but the 2021 edition in Andorra was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[6]

Bid and preparation

In February 2017, Julian Pace Bonello, the president of the Maltese Olympic Committee (MOC), announced that Malta would bid for the 2023 Games.^[7]

In June 2021, after the Games in Andorra had been cancelled, Marti Mandinco, the president of the Andorran Olympic Committee, handed over the presidency of the Games to Bonello.^[8]

In February 2022, the MOC officially launched the Games with Bonello saying he hoped the event would "make the country proud" and "serve as a catalyst to inspire young athletes".^[1] Malta hosted the Games of the Small States of Europe Assembly in June 2022, approving the final sports programme for the Games.^[9] The Maltese government committed to supporting the games and Maltese athletes with €5 million worth of funding through Sport Malta.^[10]

Logo and mascot

In December 2021, the MOC and the Ministry for Education's Centre for Physical Education and Sport launched a design competition for the Games' logo and mascot, open to children aged 10 to 18.^[2] Drawing inspiration from submissions, the logo was then designed by Concept Stadium and unveiled in June 2022 by Clifton Grima, the Minister for Education, Sports, Youth, Research and Innovation.^[11][12] The logo was said to "[merge] the famous Olympic rings with the sea, fish and a Maltese icon recognized by many – the eye symbol".^[12] The eye symbol is present in several different parts of Maltese culture, such as charms against the evil eye or as a mark of spiritual identity on the luzzu (a traditional Maltese fishing boat),^[13] or on 'Il-Gardjola' (a distinctive watchtower in Senglea) representing guardianship and observance.^[14] The logo's overlapping colours represent "Malta's values of diversity and inclusion".^[12]

Development and preparation

Venues

Sport/Event	Venues	City/Locality
Athletics	Matthew Micallef St. John Stadium	Marsa
Basketball	Ta’Qali Basketball Stadium	Ta' Qali
Judo	National Sports School	Pembroke
Rugby sevens	Hibernians Stadium	Paola
Sailing	Gillieru	St. Paul's Bay
Table Tennis	University Sports Hall	Msida
Shooting	Kirkop Sports Complex	Kirkop
Swimming	National Swimming Pool Complex Tal Qroqq	Msida
Tennis	Marsa Sports Club	Marsa
Squash	Marsa Sports Club	Marsa

Games

Participating teams

•  Andorra (details) (98)
•  Cyprus (details) (188)
•  Iceland (details) (73)
•  Liechtenstein (details) (19)
•  Luxembourg (details) (130)
•  Malta (details) (215)
•  Monaco (details) (98)
•  Montenegro (details) (61)
•  San Marino (details) (51)

Sports

The following competitions are expected to take place:^[15][16]

2023 Games of the Small States of Europe Sports Programme
Athletics (details)  Basketball (details)  Judo (details)  Rugby sevens (details)  Sailing (details)  Shooting (details)  Squash (details)  Swimming (details)  Table tennis (details)  Tennis (details)

Calendar

OC

Opening ceremony

●

Event competitions

1

Event finals

CC

Closing ceremony

May / June		29 Mon	30 Tue	31 Wed	1 Thu	2 Fri	3 Sat	Total
Ceremonies		OC					CC
Athletics			10		12		12	34
Basketball		●	●	●	2	●	2	4
Judo			11		2			13
Rugby				●		2		2
Sailing			●	●	●	●	7	7
Shooting			●	4	1	2	1	8
Squash		●	2	●	1	2	1	6
Swimming			12	10	8	10		40
Table tennis			●	2	2	●	2	6
Tennis		●	●	●	●	3	2	5
Total events			35	16	28	19	27	125
May / June		29 Mon	30 Tue	31 Wed	1 Thu	2 Fri	3 Sat	Total

Medal table

  *   Host nation (Malta)

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Malta*	38	30	29	97
2	Cyprus	30	28	29	87
3	Luxembourg	16	22	28	66
4	Monaco	13	8	12	33
5	Iceland	11	13	18	42
6	San Marino	6	9	7	22
7	Montenegro	5	6	8	19
8	Andorra	4	7	10	21
9	Liechtenstein	2	2	5	9
Totals (9 entries)		125	125	146	396

Medalists

Basketball

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's 5×5	Luxembourg Mihailo Andjelkovic Malcolm Mandela Carreira Lou Demuth Ivan Do Xavier Robert Francois Thomas Grün Philippe Gutenkauf Joe Kalmes Alex Laurent Clancy Rugg Oliver Vujakovic Derek Wilson	Malta David Bugeja Kurt Cassar Samuel Deguara Aaron Falzon Tevin Falzon Alec Felice Ian Felice Pace Jacob Formosa Nelson Kahler Joshua Tomasi Eric Washington Nathan Xuereb	Cyprus Stefanos Iliadis Aeneas Jung Michalis Koumis Christos Lozides Roberto Alexander Mantovani Kyprianos Ioannis Maragkos Panagiotis Markou Zayd Muosa Ioannis Pasiali Konstantinos Simitzis Nikolaos Stylianou Filippos Tigkas
Women's 5×5	Montenegro Maja Bigović Milena Jakšić Milica Jovanović Bojana Kovačević Marija Leković Božica Mujović Zorana Radonjić Ksenija Ščepanović Jelena Vučetić Lana Vukčević Sofija Živaljević Dragana Živković	Luxembourg Charlie Bidinger Amanda Brooke Cahill Kyra Coulon Faith Ehi Etute Mandy Geniets Liz Irthum Magaly Meynadier Jo Oly Anne Simon Esmeralda Skrijelj Julija Vujakovic Cathrin Wolff	Cyprus Veatriki Akathiotou Styliana Velinova Chenaklieva Stefania Georgiou Andriana Kasapi Rafaelia Melissa Kasini Ioanna Kyprionou Cassidy Rose Mihalko Petra Orlovic Marissa Ariella Pangalos Eleni Pilakouta Tijana Raja Sofia Stylianidi
Men's 3×3	Cyprus Andreas Chimonas Marios Georgiou Michalis Mythillos Georgios Tretiakov	Luxembourg Sam Ferreira Christophe Laures Scott Morton Victor Stein	Andorra Bruno Bartolome Josep Oriol Fernandez Sergi Marin Daniel Mofreita
Women's 3×3	Luxembourg Lisa Jablonowski Nadia Mossong Cathy Schmit Bridget Yoerger	Andorra Cristina Andres Claudia Brunet Laura Laurent Julia Marquez	Cyprus Emmelia Georgiou Katerina Kontou Panayiota Kyriakou Anthia Papadouri

Judo

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's 60 kg	Petros Christodoulides  Cyprus	James Zahra  Malta	Manuel Tischhauser  Liechtenstein
Men's 66 kg	Georgios Balarjishvili  Cyprus	Emil Sinanović  Montenegro	Tristan Frei  Liechtenstein
			Tom Schmit  Luxembourg
Men's 73 kg	Kyprianos Andreou  Cyprus	Cédric Bessi  Monaco	Claudio Nunes  Luxembourg
			Panagiotis Shakos  Cyprus
Men's 81 kg	Nikola Gardasević  Montenegro	Marc-Elie Gnamien  Monaco	Odysseas Georgakis  Cyprus
			Petros Kesov  Cyprus
Men's 90 kg	Aristos Michael  Cyprus	Paolo Persoglia  San Marino	Árni Lund  Iceland
			Valerian Ogbaidze  Malta
Men's 100 kg	Georgios Kroussaniotakis  Cyprus	Danilo Pantić  Montenegro	Isaac Bezzina  Malta
			Egill Blöndal  Iceland
Men's +100 kg	Giannis Antoniou  Cyprus	Marvin Gadeau  Monaco	Nick Kunnert  Luxembourg
			Karl Stefánsson  Iceland
Women's 48 kg	Katryna Esposito  Malta	Veronika Kalaitsidou  Cyprus	Marina Kyprianou  Cyprus
Women's 52 kg	Sofia Asvesta  Cyprus	Yamina Sarah Allag  Monaco	Adamantia Christodoulidou  Cyprus
			Milana Stevanović  Montenegro
Women's 63 kg	Rania Drid  Monaco	Anetta Mosr  Luxembourg	Diana Dimitriou  Cyprus
			Tamara Gardasević  Montenegro
Women's 70 kg	Florine Soula  Monaco	Ivana Sunjević  Montenegro	Mareen Hollenstein  Liechtenstein
			Jessica Zannoni  San Marino
Men's team	Cyprus Kyprianos Andreou Giannis Antoniou Georgios Balarjishvili Petros Christodoulides Odysseas Georgakis Georgios Kroussaniotakis	Luxembourg Bilgee Bayanaa Nick Kunnert Claudio Nunes Tom Schmit	Monaco Marc-Elie Gnamien Nicolas Grinda Abdesalem Khiri Louis Lallau Benjamin Scariot Franck Vatan
			Montenegro Nikola Gardasević Danilo Pantić Emil Sinanović
Women's team	Montenegro Tamara Gardasević Milana Stevanović Ivana Sunjević	Luxembourg Monique Kedinger Anetta Mosr Lena Schmit	Cyprus Sofia Asvesta Diana Dimitriou Charis Iordanou Veronika Kalaitsidou Zanet Michaelidou
			Monaco Yamina Sarah Allag Rania Drid Margaux Gonella Florine Soula

Rugby sevens

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men	Luxembourg Hugo Bertani Liam Carroll Matteo Franzina Fintan Lawlor Jr Adrian Mendez Elola Louis Mousel Christian Olsen Gael Pujadas Chobe Sweetnam Gabriel Vai Rhys Williams Luca Zanette	Malta Michael Banks Mariano Cutajar Brendan Dalton Jeremy Debattista Christopher Dudman Joel Farquharson Zarrin Galea Josh Gatt Robert Holloway Thomas Holloway Jon Micallef Jean Scholey Jethro Zammit	Andorra Josep Arasanz Adria Bonell Galdric Calvet Adria Calvo Marti Casals Storm Fachaux Samuel Franekn Pau Gallardo Leon Laguerre Aymar Ponsolle Nil Tome Thibaut Trape
Women	Andorra Mariona Barcons Chiara Cerqueda Anna Fornsubira Mireia Galiano Carla Micas Cristina Modesto Lea Mora Nadia Olm Celia Palumbo Noelia Pauls Noa Sanchez Zoe Sanchez	Malta Marion Azzopardi Myra Bonello Rodianne Bugeja Denise Camilleri Sairita Cassar Caroline Gafa' Christina Galea Jacqueline Richard Penelope Saverton Francesca Schembri Donevellon Sladden Maria Spiteri Tessabelle Sultana	Montenegro Anđela Andrić Maja Baosic Ivana Čađenović Zorica Kostić Dragica Kovačević Aleksandra Lukačević Katarina Martinović Olivera Mišković Auset Nehesi Mitchell Marija Rašović Saba Sekulović Amina Tukić

Sailing

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's optimist senior	Timmy Vassallo  Malta	Jonas Micallef  Malta	Matthias Spiteri  Malta
Men's ILCA 4	Noah Garcia  Monaco	Jake Mallia  Malta	Benjamin Vassallo  Malta
Men's ILCA 6	Emilios Max Boeros  Cyprus	Charis Nikolaou  Cyprus	Georgios Yiasemides  Cyprus
Men's ILCA 7	Milivoj Dukić  Montenegro	Ilija Marković  Montenegro	Alexander Denisiuc  Malta
Women's optimist senior	Emily Fenech  Malta	Aleksandra Nagrudnaya  Malta	Katrina Briffa  Malta
Women's ILCA 4	Katrina Micallef  Malta	Andriani Georgiu  Cyprus	Mia Busuttil  Malta
Women's ILCA 6	Marilena Makri  Cyprus	Lacey Aquilina  Malta	Michela Mifsud  Malta

Squash

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's singles	David Maier  Liechtenstein	Luca Wilhelmi  Liechtenstein	Kijan Sultana  Malta
Women's singles	Colette Sultana  Malta	Lijana Sultana  Malta	Sandra Denis  Luxembourg
Men's doubles	Malta Bradley Hindle Kijan Sultana	Malta Niall Engerer Daniel Zammit-Lewis	Luxembourg Mark Radley Amir Samimi
Women's doubles	Malta Colette Sultana Lijana Sultana	Malta Johanna Rizzo Amke Fischer	Luxembourg Sandra Denis Michele Meyer
Mixed doubles	Malta Niall Engerer Colette Sultana	Malta Kijan Sultana Lijana Sultana	Luxembourg Miguel Duarte Sandra Denis
Men's team	Malta Niall Engerer Dean Gera Bradley Hindle Kresten Hougaard Julian Scerri Duncan Stahl Kijan Sultana Daniel Zammit-Lewis	Liechtenstein David Maier Patrick Maier Peter Maier Marcel Rothmund Alois Widmann Luca Wilhelmi	Luxembourg Miguel Duarte Kyllian Hebbelinck Daniel Hutchines Guillaume Plancke Mark Radley Amir Samimi

Swimming

Men

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
50 m freestyle	Kyle Micallef  Malta	Rémi Fabiani  Luxembourg	Issei Kim  Monaco
100 m freestyle	Nikolas Antoniou  Cyprus	Rémi Fabiani  Luxembourg	Ralph Daleiden-Ciuferri  Luxembourg
200 m freestyle	Pit Brandenburger  Luxembourg	Max Mannes  Luxembourg	Loris Bianchi  San Marino
400 m freestyle	Loris Bianchi  San Marino	Pit Brandenburger  Luxembourg	Dylan Cachia  Malta
800 m freestyle	Théo Druenne  Monaco	Loris Bianchi  San Marino	Dylan Cachia  Malta
1500 m freestyle	Théo Druenne  Monaco	Loris Bianchi  San Marino	Dylan Cachia  Malta
50 m backstroke	Rémi Fabiani  Luxembourg	Filippos Iakovidis  Cyprus	Max Mannes  Luxembourg
100 m backstroke	Rémi Fabiani  Luxembourg	Filippos Iakovidis  Cyprus	Max Mannes  Luxembourg
200 m backstroke	Max Mannes  Luxembourg	Antonio Nikolaou  Cyprus	Thomas Wareing  Malta
50 m breaststroke	Panayiotis Panaretos  Cyprus	Snorri Einarsson  Iceland	Daði Björnsson  Iceland
100 m breaststroke	Anton McKee  Iceland	Panayiotis Panaretos  Cyprus	Joao Reisen  Luxembourg
200 m breaststroke	Anton McKee  Iceland	Giacomo Casadei  San Marino	Panayiotis Panaretos  Cyprus
50 m butterfly	Julien Henx  Luxembourg	Issei Kim  Monaco	Bernat Lomero  Andorra
			Tomas Lomero  Andorra
			Loukas Marinos  Cyprus
100 m butterfly	Loukas Marinos  Cyprus	Simon Statkevičius  Iceland	Ralph Daleiden-Ciuferri  Luxembourg
200 m butterfly	Florian Frippiat  Luxembourg	Alessandro Rebosio  San Marino	João Reisen  Luxembourg
200 m individual medley	Birnir Hálfdánarson  Iceland	João Reisen  Luxembourg	Florian Frippiat  Luxembourg
400 m individual medley	Anton McKee  Iceland	Thomas Wareing  Malta	João Reisen  Luxembourg
4 × 100 m freestyle relay	Malta Matthew Galea Kyle Micallef Rudi Spiteri Raoul Stafrace	Iceland Birnir Hálfdánarson Guðmundur Rafnsson Ymir Solvason Simon Statkevičius	Andorra Bernat Lomero Tomas Lomero Patrick Pelegrina Kevin Teixeira
4 × 200 m freestyle relay	Luxembourg Pit Brandenburger Ralph Daleiden-Ciuferri Florian Frippiat Max Mannes	Cyprus Nikolas Antoniou Christos Manoli Loukas Marinos Stavros Tzirtzipis	Iceland Birnir Hálfdánarson Anton McKee Veigar Sigþórsson Ymir Solvason
4 × 100 m medley relay	Luxembourg Ralph Daleiden-Ciuferri Rémi Fabiani Julien Henx João Reisen	Cyprus Nikolas Antoniou Filippos Iakovidis Loukas Marinos Panayiotis Panaretos	Iceland Anton McKee Guðmundur Rafnsson Ymir Solvason Simon Statkevičius

Women

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
50 m freestyle	Kalia Antoniou  Cyprus	Johanna Guðmundsdóttir  Iceland	Anna Hadjiloizou  Cyprus
100 m freestyle	Kalia Antoniou  Cyprus	Snæfríður Jórunnardóttir  Iceland	Anna Hadjiloizou  Cyprus
200 m freestyle	Snæfríður Jórunnardóttir  Iceland	Kalia Antoniou  Cyprus	Giulia Viacava  Monaco
400 m freestyle	Snæfríður Jórunnardóttir  Iceland	Arianna Valloni  San Marino	Sasha Gatt  Malta
800 m freestyle	Arianna Valloni  San Marino	Sasha Gatt  Malta	Freyja Birkisdóttir  Iceland
1500 m freestyle	Arianna Valloni  San Marino	Sasha Gatt  Malta	Freyja Birkisdóttir  Iceland
50 m backstroke	Kalia Antoniou  Cyprus	Steingerður Hauksdóttir  Iceland	Giulia Viacava  Monaco
100 m backstroke	Georgia Bohl  Malta	Maria Erokhina  Cyprus	Birgitta Ingólfsdóttir  Iceland
200 m backstroke	Giulia Viacava  Monaco	Ylfa Kristmannsdóttir  Iceland	Victoria Balderacchi  Malta
50 m breaststroke	Georgia Bohl  Malta	Maria Erokhina  Cyprus	Birgitta Ingólfsdóttir  Iceland
100 m breaststroke	Georgia Bohl  Malta	Maria Erokhina  Cyprus	Birgitta Ingólfsdóttir  Iceland
200 m breaststroke	Maria Erokhina  Cyprus	Georgia Bohl  Malta	Nadia Tudo  Andorra
50 m butterfly	Snæfríður Jórunnardóttir  Iceland	Kalia Antoniou  Cyprus	Johanna Guðmundsdóttir  Iceland
100 m butterfly	Anna Hadjiloizou  Cyprus	Vala Cicero  Iceland	Anaïs Arlandis  Monaco
200 m butterfly	Agathi Manoli  Cyprus	Sarah Demicoli  Malta	Kristin Hákonardóttir  Iceland
200 m individual medley	Eva Falsdóttir  Iceland	Nadia Tudo  Andorra	Giulia Viacava  Monaco
400 m individual medley	Giulia Viacava  Monaco	Eva Falsdóttir  Iceland	Vala Cicero  Iceland
4 × 100 m freestyle relay	Iceland Vala Cicero Johanna Guðmundsdóttir Kristin Hákonardóttir Snæfríður Jórunnardóttir	Cyprus Christina Agiomamitou Kalia Antoniou Anna Hadjiloizou Chrysoula Karamanou	Monaco Anaïs Arlandis Tiffany Pou Giulia Viacava Pauline Viste
4 × 200 m freestyle relay	Iceland Freyja Birkisdóttir Vala Cicero Kristin Hákonardóttir Snæfríður Jórunnardóttir	Malta Mya Azzopardi Sarah Demicoli Francesca Falzon Young Sasha Gatt	Luxembourg Jacqueline Banky Lou Jominet Leeloo Reinesch Sarah Rolko
4 × 100 m medley relay	Cyprus Kalia Antoniou Maria Erokhina Anna Hadjiloizou Maria Panaretou	Iceland Vala Cicero Birgitta Ingólfsdóttir Snæfríður Jórunnardóttir Ylfa Kristmannsdóttir	Malta Mya Azzopardi Victoria Balderacchi Georgia Bohl Nirvana Micallef

Table tennis

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's singles	Felix Wetzel  Malta	Eric Glod  Luxembourg	Luka Mladenovic  Luxembourg
			Filip Radović  Montenegro
Women's singles	Xiaoxin Yang  Monaco	Camella Iacob  Malta	Renáta Štrbíková  Malta
			Ariel Barbosa  Luxembourg
Men's doubles	Luxembourg Luka Mladenovic Eric Glod	Malta Felix Wetzel Dimitrij Prokopcov	San Marino Mattias Mongiusti Lorenzo Ragni
			Montenegro Filip Radović Filip Radulović
Women's doubles	Malta Camella Iacob Renáta Štrbíková	Luxembourg Ariel Barbosa Tessy Gonderinger	Monaco Sannah Lagsir Xiaoxin Yang
			Montenegro Simona Perović Ivona Petrić
Men's team	Malta Daniel Bajada Gabriel Grixti Dimitrij Prokopcov Felix Wetzel	Luxembourg Eric Glod Luka Mladenovic Eric Thillen Xia Cheng	Cyprus Sharpel Elia Hristo Hristonov Christos Savva Marios Yiangou
			San Marino Federico Giardi Mattias Mongiusti Lorenzo Ragni
Women's team	Malta Anthea Cutajar Camella Iacob Viktoria Lucenkova Renáta Štrbíková	Monaco Sannah Lagsir Anne Ulrika Qvist Xiaoxin Yang	Cyprus Georgia Avraam Foteini Meletie Konstantina Meletie
			Luxembourg Ariel Barbosa Tessy Gonderinger Ni Xiaojing Julie Poncin

References

1. Patrick Burke (20 February 2022). "Maltese Olympic Committee launches 2023 Games of the Small States of Europe". Inside the Games. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
2. Gozo News (December 2021). "Maltese E-Newsletter 402" (PDF). Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs. p. 9. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
3. "Next edition: 2023 Malta". Games of the Small States of Europe. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
4. "Malta to host 2023 Small Nations Games". Badminton Malta. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
5. "Malta to host Games of the Small States of Europe in 2023". The Malta Independent. 27 May 2018. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
6. "EOC Newsletter No. 208" (PDF). European Olympic Committees. December 2020. p. 3. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
7. "Government to hand €2.5m over 4 years to MOC for athletes' preparation - MOC planning bid to stage 2023 Games for European Small States". The Malta Independent on Sunday. 12 February 2017. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
8. "Julian Pace Bonello declared president of 2023 Malta GSSE". Times of Malta. 11 June 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
9. Valhmor Camilleri (3 June 2022). "Games of the Small States of Europe Assembly hosted in Malta". Sports Desk. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
10. "€5 million for Sport Malta to prepare athletes for Small Nations Games 2023". Malta Daily. 15 June 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
11. Kurt Aquilina (13 June 2022). "Watch: Maltese Olympic Committee launch official logo for 2023 Games of the Small States of Europe". Sports Desk. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
12. "Official Logo for the 2023 Games of the Small States of Europe Launched". Maltese Olympic Committee. 13 June 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
13. Efthymia Akrivopoulou; Irene Munoz (2021). "Artistic and symbolic elements of the Maltese luzzu". Archaeonautica. 21: 337–339. doi:10.4000/archaeonautica.2832. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
14. "Gardjola Gardens". malta.com. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
15. Official website
16. "Malta hosts Small States games in 2023 in hope for medals glory". Malta Today. 1 February 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2022.

External links

• Official website