The 1981 World Games were held in Santa Clara, United States, from July 24 to August 2, 1981.^[1]

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's singles	Chen Changjie  China	Morten Frost  Denmark	Prakash Padukone  Thailand Liem Swie King  Indonesia
Men's doubles	Sun Zhian Yao Ximing  China	Thomas Kihlström Stefan Karlsson  Sweden	Billy Gilliland Dan Travers  Scotland Hariamanto Kartono Rudy Heryanto  Indonesia
Women's singles	Zhang Ailing  China	Hwang Sun-ai  South Korea	Lene Køppen  Denmark Fumiko Tohkairin  Japan
Women's doubles	Zhang Ailing Liu Xia  China	Nora Perry Jane Webster  England	Fumiko Tohkairin Sonoe Otsuka  Japan Hwang Sun-ai Kim Yun-ja  South Korea
Mixed doubles	Gillian Gilks  England Thomas Kihlström  Sweden	Nora Perry Mike Tredgett  England	Lene Køppen Steen Skovgaard  Denmark Imelda Wiguna Christian Hadinata  Indonesia

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's	United States	South Korea	Australia

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's -65 kg	Renato Bertagna  Italy	Esmal Abdullah Sadek  Egypt	Joseph Disinti  United States
Men's -70 kg	James Youngblood  United States	Billy Knight  Australia	Erwin Note  Belgium
Men's -80 kg	Jacques Neuville  France	Jesse Gautreaux  United States	Keijo Reiman  Finland
Men's +80 kg	John Kemper  United States	Wayne Robins  Canada	Ahmed el-Sayed Ibrahim  Egypt
Women's -52 kg	Pam Brooks  United States	Josée Baumgartner  France	Christine Reed  United States
Women's +52 kg	Kike Elomaa  Finland	Gail Schroeter  United States	Deborah Diana  United States

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's tenpin all-events	Arne Strøm  Norway	Ernst Berndt  Austria	Chris Batson  Australia
Women's tenpin all-events	Liliane Gregori  France	Porntip Singha  Thailand	Mary-Lou Vining  United States
Mixed tenpin pairs	Ruth Guerster Chris Batson  Australia	Ari Leppala Mikko Kaartinen  Finland	Hilde Reitermaier Ernst Berndt  Austria

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's fly accuracy	Harald Mæhle  Norway	Chris Korich  United States	Erwin Meindl  Austria
Men's fly distance single handed	Steve Rajeff  United States	Martin Hayes  Australia	Øyvind Førland  Norway
Men's fly distance double handed	Steve Rajeff  United States	Chris Korich  United States	Øyvind Førland  Norway
Men's spinning accuracy arenberg target	Guido Vinck  Belgium	Harald Mæhle  Norway	Steve Rajeff  United States
Men's spinning accuracy	Øyvind Førland  Norway	Tom Martens  Netherlands	Helmut Hockwartner  Austria
Men's spinning distance single handed	Ernst Rohatsch  Austria	Markus Kläusler  Switzerland	Steve Rajeff  United States
Men's spinning distance double handed	Chris Korich  United States	Helmut Hockwartner  Austria	Kevin Carriero  United States
Men's multiplier accuracy	Øyvind Førland  Norway	Chris Korich  United States	Zack Wilson  United States
Men's multiplier distance single handed	Steve Rajeff  United States	Chris Korich  United States	Zack Wilson  United States
Men's multiplier distance double handed	Chris Korich  United States	Bruce Walker  Canada	Keith Pryor  United States
Men's allround	Steve Rajeff  United States	Tim Rajeff  United States	Øyvind Førland  Norway

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's 100 m	Jürgen Kolenda  West Germany	Sandro Sola  Italy	Giuseppe Galantucci  Italy
Men's 200 m	Jürgen Kolenda  West Germany	Valter Olander  Sweden	Sandro Sola  Italy
Men's 400 m	Giuseppe Galantucci  Italy	Valter Olander  Sweden	Paolo Vandini  Italy
Men's 1500 m	Paolo Vandini  Italy	Giuseppe Galantucci  Italy	Valter Olander  Sweden
Men's 50 m apnea	Jürgen Kolenda  West Germany	Sandro Sola  Italy	Dario Broglia  Italy
Men's 100 m immersion	Jürgen Kolenda  West Germany	Dario Broglia  Italy	Thierry Lasbleye  France
Women's 100 m	Anne Menguy  France	Cristina Covoni  Italy	Anne-Marie Rouchon  France
Women's 200 m	Anne-Marie Rouchon  France	Anne Menguy  France	Marion Collot  France
Women's 400 m	Anne-Marie Rouchon  France	Monica Crovetti  France	Marina Beck  West Germany
Women's 800 m	Anne-Marie Rouchon  France	Marion Collot  France	Monica Crovetti  Italy
Women's 50 m apnea	Cristina Covoni  Italy	Monica Crovetti  Italy	Anne Menguy  France
Women's 100 m immersion	Cristina Covoni  Italy	Anne Menguy  France	Marina Beck  West Germany

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's track 10000 m	Tom Peterson  United States	Hermes Fossi  Italy	Moreno Bagnolini  Italy
Men's track 20000 m	Scott Constantine  New Zealand	Giuseppe Cruciani  Italy	Moreno Bagnolini  Italy
Men's Marathon	Tom Peterson  United States	Hermes Fossi  Italy	Danny van Deperre  Belgium
Women's track 5000 m	Monica Lucchese  Italy	Paola Sometti  Italy	Annie Lambrechts  Belgium
Women's track 10000 m	Paola Cristofori  Italy	Darlene Kessenger  United States	Annie Lambrechts  Belgium

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's kata	Keji Okada  Japan	Masashi Koyama  Japan	Domingo Llanos  United States
Men's kumite -60 kg	Masayuki Naito  Japan	Fernando Roseuero  Spain	Joe Tierney  Great Britain Giuseppe Tinnirello  Italy
Men's kumite -65 kg	Yoshikazu Ono  Japan	Toshiaki Maeda  Japan	Robert De Luca  Italy Kesayoshi Yokouchi  Japan
Men's kumite -70 kg	Cecil Hackett  Great Britain	Bernard Bilicki  France	Yukiyoshi Marutani  Japan Seiji Nishimura  Japan
Men's kumite -75 kg	Lin Chi-min  Chinese Taipei	Fred Royers  Netherlands	Christian Gouze  France Ángel López  Spain
Men's kumite -80 kg	Osamu Kamikodo  Japan	Hisao Murase  Japan	Tokey Hill  United States Otti Roethof  Netherlands
Men's kumite +80 kg	Ludwig Kotzebue  Netherlands	Chen Chien  Chinese Taipei	Claudio Guazzaroni  Italy Francisco Torres  Spain
Men's kumite open	Vic Charles  Great Britain	Marc Pyrée  France	Billy Blanks  United States Claude Petinella  France
Women's kata	Susuko Okamura  Japan	Mie Nakayama  Japan	María Moreno  Spain

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's freeskating	Mike Glatz  United States	Rick Elsworth  United States	Michele Biserni  Italy
Women's freeskating	Anna Conklin  United States	Elena Bonati  Italy	Tina Kneisley  United States
Pairs	Tina Kneisley Paul Price  United States	Ann Green Rick Elsworth  United States	Sylvia Gingras Guy Aubin  Canada
Dance	Holly Valente William Richardson  United States	Cindy Smith Mark Howard  United States	Kim Geoghegan Eamon Geoghegan  Great Britain

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's	Portugal	United States	Argentina

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's	United States	United States II	Canada
Women's	United States	Canada	Bahamas

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's –48 kg	Kwon Ki-Moon  South Korea	Dae-Sung Lee  United States	Aldo Codazzo  Canada Reinhard Langer  West Germany
Men's –52 kg	Yang Ki-Mo  South Korea	Franco Banito  Spain	Fernando Celada  Mexico Domenico Maelionico  Italy
Men's –56 kg	Chung Bum-Soo  South Korea	Ooscar Aguilar  Mexico	DiConstanzo Geremia  Italy Serge Langlois  Canada
Men's –60 kg	Lee Jun-Kul  South Korea	Jorge García  Spain	Juan Mangoni  Argentina Rafaele Marchione  Italy
Men's –64 kg	Kim Yung-Kuk  South Korea	Alphonse Qahhaar  United States	Luigi Signore  Italy Kone Sowleymane  Ivory Coast
Men's –68 kg	Kim Jeong-Kuk  South Korea	Paul Rusca  Argentina	Antonio Herande  Mexico Ruben Rhijs  Netherlands
Men's –73 kg	Oh Il-Nam  South Korea	Chul-Hoe Kim  United States	Helmut Gartner  West Germany Patrice Remarek  Ivory Coast
Men's –78 kg	Lee Dong-Jun  South Korea	Jersey Long  Canada	Luigi d'Oriano  Italy Andreas Scheffler  West Germany
Men's –84 kg	Jung Chan  South Korea	Cissé Abouaye  Ivory Coast	Tom Federle  United States Sun Hsinnien  Chinese Taipei
Men's +84 kg	Darrell Hannegan  Canada	Park Chong-Man  South Korea	Miguel Esquivel  Mexico Harry Prijs  Netherlands

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's individual	Yves Milord  Canada	Steve Elliott  United States	Rand Wilson  United States
Men's mini individual	Brett Brown  Canada	Carl Heger  United States	Tim Cleave  Canada
Men's synchro	Carl Heger Steve Elliott  United States	Paul Rugheimer Carlos Villarreal  United States	Brett Brown Alan Gouthier  Canada
Men's individual tumbling	Steve Elliott  United States	Randy Wickstrom  United States	Steve Cooper  United States
Women's individual	Bethany Fairchild  United States	Barbara Letho  United States	Christine Tough  Canada
Women's mini individual	Christine Tough  Canada	Bethany Fairchild  United States	Norma Letho  United States
Women's synchro	Norma Letho Barbara Letho  United States	Bethany Fairchild Mary Borkowski  United States	—

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's –640 kg	England	Switzerland	Netherlands
Men's –720 kg	Switzerland	Netherlands	England

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's slalom	Bob LaPoint  United States	Andy Mapple  Great Britain	Mike Neville  Australia
Men's tricks	Patrice Martin  France	Carl Roberge  United States	Sammy Duvall  United States
Men's jump	Sammy Duvall  United States	Mike Hazelwood  Great Britain	Glen Thurlow  Australia
Men's three event	Sammy Duvall  United States	Carl Roberge  United States	Mike Neville  Australia
Women's slalom	Cindy Benzel  United States	Sue Fieldhouse  Australia	Cindy Todd  United States
Women's tricks	Ana María Carrasco  Venezuela	Karin Roberge  United States	Anita Carlman  Sweden
Women's jump	Marlon van Dijk  Netherlands	Sue Lipplegoes  Australia	Cindy Todd  United States
Women's three event	Ana María Carrasco  Venezuela	Anita Carlman  Sweden	Karin Roberge  United States

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• Results of The World Games
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