Universiade in Kazan

Over the years the Universiadestays the main student competition, which is characterized by its remarkable atmosphere and the heat of the struggle, that symbolizes true spirit of a fair contest. By its scale and significance the Universiade is comparable to the Olympic Games. About 60% of the Universiade participants perform at the Olympic Games. The World Summer Universiade brings together more than 10,000 athletes from 150-160 countries. First Student Games were held in Turin in 1959. Once the World Summer Universiade was hosted in Moscow, USSR in 1973. XXVII World Summer Universiade 2013 in Kazan will be the first notional by its sizecompetition for modern Russia.

The Universiade 2013 is a grand celebration of youth and sport, peace and joy, a festival of cultures and traditions, which will take place in hospitable Kazan. The World Student Games will become the brightest sporting event not only for Russia, but for the whole world student sport, which will be notable for its unicity and unprecedented level.There will be distributed more than 350 sets of medals in 27 sports among the representatives from more than 170 countries.

For the first time ever we’ll also be able to witness the Cultural Universiadeconfined to the main biggest Tatar national holiday Sabantuy, international festivals and other activities in the field of culture and arts: theater, cinema, classical and contemporary music, ballet, fine arts, the national dance, songs, crafts, etc.

Kazan together with Vigo, Spain and Gwangju, South Korea competed for the right to hold the World Student Games. On May 31, 2008 in BrusselsKazan with 20 from 27 votes of the members of FISU executive committee was announced as a host of the Universiade 2013.

The Universiade 2013 cost the budget about 228 billion rubles, 15.5 billion rubles of which went for the construction of the stadium Kazan-arena, where opening and closing ceremonies will take place.

The kitten of Ak Bars named Uni was selected as a mascot of the Universiade in Kazan. Ak Bars, the winged snow leopard, is the national and historical symbol of Tatarstan depicted on the State Emblem of the Republic.

The logo of the 2013 Summer Universiade represents a tulip performed in the Olympic colors of five continents, five stars of the International University Sports Federation (FISU) and the words ‘Universiade’, ‘Kazan’, ‘Russia’, ‘2013’ written in Latin.

The motto of the Kazan 2013 Summer Universiade is ‘U are the World’ which has two meanings: ‘You are the World’ and ‘Universiade is the World’.

The Universiade Torch Relay 2013 became the largest one in the history of FISU. It started on May 20 in Paris and arrived at the opening ceremony on the night of July 6 for the lighting of the cauldron at the opening ceremony. 2,013 torchbearers over a period of 365 days had a chance to visit 54 cities around the world, 50 largest student centers and thus overcame more than 150,000 kilometers.

The opening ceremony of XXVII Summer Universiade took place in a new-built stadium "Kazan-Arena" and gathered together 45 000 spectators. Among the guests of this spectacular show were FISU President Claude-Louis Gallo, Russian President Vladimir Putin, First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Igor Shuvalov, President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, Kazan Mayor Ilsur Metshin and others. Also the ceremony was attended by the mayors of the following cities of UCLG-Eurasia: Vladivostok, Ufa, Sochi, N.Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don and others.

«The scale of the Universiade can easily compete with that of the Olympics. We have done everything possible to make the participants of the sports festival feel at home and reach peak performance, to sustain the intensity of emotions in the difficult struggle,” said Vladimir Putin welcoming the participants and guests of the Games.

The ceremony was full of colorful performances, telling about a rich culture of the peoples of Russia, its great history and achievements in science and technology, the prospects for further development. A livestream of the opening ceremony was transmitted in 105 countries around the world.

08.07.2013

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