Mapping Universiades from The Past
The Universiade is one of the best multi-sport events that is held every 2 years. The word Universiade is a combination of two words, namely University and Olympiad. In English the event is usually referred to as the World University Games. The event is considered as the largest multi-sport event of the world. The last event was held in 2015. Through this article, we plan to share the history of Universiade with you. We will briefly see the events that have been conducted so far till today.
The first Universiade was held in the year 1923 and was called the International Universities Championships. The organization of the event was by the Union Nationale des Étudiants de France. The 1923 Universiade was held in France and athletes from 10 different nations of the world participated in it.
The second Universiade was held in Poland. The organization was done by Confederation Internationale des Etudiants. The participants of the program were only men, and seven nations were involved in the event. These nations were Poland, England, France, Estonia, New Zealand, Italy and USA.
The Universiade of 1927 was held under the name of Summer Student World Championships. The event was organized by CIE. The host nation was Italy. The event was conducted in the city of Rome. This time 15 nations participated, and the number of athletes were 269. For the first time women were also allowed to participate in the games.
The 1928 Universiade was also organized by CIE and the name of the tournament was Summer Student World Championships. The host nation was France, and this time Paris had the opportunity to be the venue for the event. Students from 200 nations participated in the events, with the number of athletes reaching 300. Sports included were swimming, tennis, athletics and fencing.
The 1930 event was a success and just like its predecessor, this event was also organized by CIE. The host nation was Germany with 31 nations participating this time. Eight different sports were included in the event. However, women were only allowed to participate in swimming and athletics.
The Universiade of 1933 was held in Italy, however the host city was Turin this time. 27 nations had the opportunity to participate in the events. The event involved nine different sports. The event stands out in history books, as this was the first Universiade in which African Athletes were allowed to compete.
The Universiade was again held in 1935, and this time the host country was Hungary. The event involved 774 athletes belonging to 26 different nations of the world. The event was the first in which gymnastics was introduced.
The event was held by the name of International University Games. The organizational responsibilities of the event were undertaken by CIE. The event was conducted in Paris, France. The 1947 Universiade also involved some cycling contests as well.
The Universiade of 1949 was held in Budapest. The event was very successfully, especially since the host city was applauded for its arrangements, despite the fact that it was recovering from the Second World War.
The Universiade of 1951 was advertised by the name of World Festival of Youth and Students. The host country was East Germany. The organizational responsibilities were taken by World Federation of Democratic Youth.
The event was organized by International University Sports Federation which is abbreviated as FISU. The tournament was conducted in Spain. Various athletic events were contested during the event.
The Universiade of 2017 has been scheduled to be held in Taipei. The duration of the event is from 19 August to 30 August 2017. To know more about the Universiade 2017, check out this article by Wikipedia.
Summary
There is a huge list of subsequent events that were held under the banner of Universiade till 2017. Each of these events was successful, and during their time the events were covered by the media as well. Today Universiade is one of the most frequently watched events of the world, which is participated in by more than 170 different countries. The last Universiade was held in 2015. The event was very successful.
Gwangju 2015
Opening Ceremony
Medal Table
Rank | Country | Gold |
---|---|---|
1 | South Korea(KOR)* | 47 |
2 | Russia (RUS) | 34 |
3 | China(CHN) | 34 |
4 | Japan (JPN) | 25 |
5 | United States(USA) | 20 |
6 | France(FRA) | 13 |
7 | Italy (ITA) | 11 |
8 | Ukraine(UKR) | 8 |
9 | Iran (IRI) | 7 |
10 | Chinese Taipei (TPE) | 6 |