 The first WMSG were held in Beijing October 2008, about two months after the summer Olympic Games.Thus a WBF initiative to integrate bridge with the Olympics was abandoned in favor of a long-term goal, advancing the WMSG as a "stepping stone on the path of introducing a third kind of Olympic Games (after the Summer and the Winter Olympics)".The multi-event "World Team Olympiad" was discontinued in favor of participation in the WMSG but the constituent events of the Olympiad continue—Teams championships in Open and Women categories as part of the WMSG; in Seniors and Transnational categories as non-medal side events.