On October 18, 2019, the seventh Military World Games opened at the Wuhan Sports Centre in Hubei province, and delegations from more than 100 countries took part, which made it the largest edition of the event up to that time. The scale was large. The games are run by the International Military Sports Council and are open to serving members of armed forces. It was the first time China had hosted them.
The programme covered 27 sports, including the usual athletics and swimming along with several that are particular to the event, such as military pentathlon, orienteering, parachuting and naval pentathlon. Around 9,300 athletes were entered. The opening ceremony used light and projection effects on the stadium floor and drew a large television audience, and the games were held in venues across the city, including a new athletes village.
China topped the medal table with 133 gold medals, followed by Russia and Brazil. The competition ran for ten days and closed on October 27. The games ended. Alongside the sport, the event included a peace forum and a cultural programme, and the organisers presented it as a meeting of service members from countries that are often at odds with one another. The council awarded the next edition to Russia.
The event also left a mark on the city. The venues and the athletes village at Wuhan were reused afterwards, and one of the main swimming venues later became a public sports centre, and the city's transport links were upgraded for the games. The games themselves are held every four years, and the edition after Wuhan was postponed.