The site for the 1998 National Transplant Games has been chosen, but the games won’t be held in Ames as many had hoped.

Columbus, Ohio, beat out Ames in the contest to become the host city. However, don’t count out seeing the games in Ames just yet.

“Ames would have been an excellent site for our games, for in planning them, we need a setup that revolves around a major university. This is because of the unique facilities a university can offer,” said Jodi Enger, executive director of the Kidney Foundation of Iowa.

Next week a committee will discuss plans for the games in the year 2000. The Ames community is once again a strong contender, Enger said. The reasons behind not choosing Ames for the 1998 games were very minor, and the decision could have gone either way, Enger said.

The participation shown by the Ames community was great, Enger said. The community went so far as to send a committee member to Salt Lake City and participate in the activities surrounding the games, Enger said.

“The games are set up and designed to increase awareness. Although our branch is generally focused on kidney transplants, the national games are centralized around increasing all kinds of transplants,” Enger said.

The games, which now take place twice a year, began in 1990 as a five day multi-event competition.

Enger said the games have evolved and grown, and are now held in both the summer and winter.

She said the interest in the games has also spread throughout the world. With the recent growth, officials have also set up international competition and international games.

This past summer in Salt Lake City, there were more than 1,500 athletes competing. These competitors brought with them more than 5,000 fans to cheer them though the intense competition, Enger said.

Nearly 25 Iowa residents competed in last year’s summer games.

Iowa transplant recipients received a lot of press coverage last year because the kidney foundation joined up with the Mickey Mantle Organization to award one competitor a courage award. Last year one of Iowa’s own, Lisa Arment from Marshalltown, received the honor. Enger said Arment was a kidney and pancreas recipient.

If Ames were to host the games in the year 2000, the preparation the community would face would be similar to that for the Iowa Games, Enger said.