History
The Titan Games were established in 2003 by the U. S. Olympic Committee (USOC), in partnership with the affiliated National Governing Bodies. A mixture of Olympic strength events and martial sports, the games were billed by the IOC as the "USA versus the World."
In each sport, the top three-ranked countries in the world were invited to compete against U. S. teams, although they didn't all accept. The original Titan Games were held in the 5,000-seat San Jose, California, Event Center.
The three-day event was designed primarily to win exposure for Olympic sports that don't ordinarily get much publicity, and it succeeded very well in that respect. The USOC did an excellent job of promotion, especially to younger fans. The Titan Games had "Battlezones" rather than venues and "Combat Guides" instead of programs.
The success of the first edition led the USOC to sign a three-year agreement with the Atlanta Sports Council, which hosted the second edition of the Games in 2004 at the larger Philips Arena, home of the NBA's Atlanta Hawks and NHL's Atlanta Thrashers. A total of 180 athletes from 12 countries competed for $100,000 in prizes.
Competition included one track and field event, the shotput, along with boxing, fencing, judo, taekwondo, weightlifting, and wrestling.
The competition followed a team format, with no individual medals awarded and no country-by-country medal tally. However, organizers and coaches do vote on "Ultimate Titan" awards, presented to the outstanding male and female performers.
In 2005, the USOC decided to stage a Pacific Rim Sports Summit, with competition in archery, athletics, basketball, cycling, diving, gymnastics, softball, synchronized swimming and volleyball, and the Titan Games were abandoned, though they been tentatively scheduled to resume in 2006.