Universiade

The flag of the International University Sports Federation.

In 2011.

In 1989.

The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a combination of the words "University" and "olympiad". The Universiade is often referred to in English as the World University Games or World Student Games; however, this latter term can also refer to competitions for sub-University grades students, as well. The Universiade is the 2nd largest multi-sporting event in the world, second only to the Olympic Games.^[1] The most recent Winter and Summer Universiade were held in Granada,Spain-Štrbské Pleso & Osrblie, Slovakia and Gwangju, Korea, respectively, in 2015.

Precursors

The idea of a global international sports competition between student-athletes pre-dates the 1949 formation of the International University Sports Federation (FISU), which now hosts the Universiade. English peace campaigner Hodgson Pratt was an early advocate of such an event, proposing (and passing) a motion at the 1891 Universal Peace Congress in Rome to create a series of international student conferences in rotating host capital cities, with activities including art and sport. This did not come to pass, but a similar event was created in Germany in 1909 in the form of the Academic Olympia. Five editions were held from 1909 to 1913, all of which were hosted in Germany following the cancellation of an Italy-based event.^[2]

Soviet student-athletes at the 3rd World Festival of Youth and Students

At the start of the 20th century, Jean Petitjean of France began to attempt to organise a "University Olympic Games". After discussion with Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games, Petitjean was convinced not to use the word "Olympic" in the tournament's name.^[2] Petitjean, and later the Confederation Internationale des Etudiants (CIE), was the first to build a series of international events, beginning with the 1923 International Universities Championships. This was followed by the renamed 1924 Summer Student World Championships a year later and two further editions were held in 1927 and 1928. Another name change resulted in the 1930 International University Games. The CIE's International University Games was held four more times in the 1930s before having its final edition in 1947.^[3][4]

A student football match held at the 3rd World Festival of Youth and Students

A separate group organised an alternative university games in 1939 in Vienna, in post-Anschluss Germany.^[3] The onset of World War II ceased all major international student sport activities and the aftermath also led to division among the movement, as the CIE was disbanded and rival organisations emerged. The Union Internationale des Étudiants (UIE) incorporated a university sports games into the World Festival of Youth and Students from 1947–1962, including one separate, unofficial games in 1954. This event principally catered for Eastern European countries.^[5]

After the closure of the CIE and the creation of the first UIE-organised games, FISU came into being in 1949 and held its own first major student sport event the same year in the form of the 1949 Summer International University Sports Week. The Sports Week was held biennially until 1955. Like the CIE's games before it, the FISU events were initially Western-led sports competitions.^[3]

Division between the largely Western European FISU and Eastern European UIE eventually began to dissipate among broadened participation at the 1957 World University Games. This event was not directly organised by either group, instead being organised by Jean Petitjean in France (which remained neutral to the split), but all respective nations from the groups took part. The FISU-organised Universiade became the direct successor to this competition, maintaining the biennial format into the inaugural 1959 Universiade. It was not until the 1957 World University Games that the Soviet Union began to compete in FISU events. That same year, what had previously been a European competition became a truly global one, with the inclusion of Brazil, Japan and the United States among the competing nations. The increased participation ultimately led to the establishment of the Universiade as the primary global student sport championship.^[2][3]

Universiade hosts

The table below gives an overview of all host cities of both the Summer and Winter Universiades. Only actual host cities are listed.

¹ Due to financial problems, Maribor, Slovenia, withdrew as a host.

² Due to financial problems, Brasília, Brazil, withdrew as a host.

Summer Universiade Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	474	404	371	1249
2	China	414	281	244	939
3	Soviet Union	409	329	253	991
4	Russia	391	315	343	1049
5	Japan	284	288	370	942
6	South Korea	197	172	188	548
7	Italy	171	190	226	587
8	Ukraine	160	170	156	470
9	Romania	145	125	140	410
10	Germany	109	145	197	451

Winter Universiade Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Russia	137	122	132	392
2	Soviet Union	95	85	62	242
3	South Korea	92	69	60	221
4	Japan	77	82	80	239
5	China	68	57	72	197
6	Czechoslovakia	53	59	23	135
7	Italy	49	58	65	172
8	France	48	43	44	135
9	Austria	46	47	50	143
10	Poland	45	54	53	152

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Universiade.

• Official website of the International University Sports Federation (FISU)
• Official website of the German University Sports Federation
• Official report of the Winter Universiade Innsbruck / Seefeld 2005

Universiade Summer Universiade Turin 1959 Sofia 1961 Porto Alegre 1963 Budapest 1965 Tokyo 1967 Turin 1970 Moscow 1973 Rome 1975 Sofia 1977 Mexico City 1979 Bucharest 1981 Edmonton 1983 Kobe 1985 Zagreb 1987 Duisburg 1989 Sheffield 1991 Buffalo 1993 Fukuoka 1995 Sicily 1997 Palma de Mallorca 1999 Beijing 2001 Daegu 2003 İzmir 2005 Bangkok 2007 Belgrade 2009 Shenzhen 2011 Kazan 2013 Gwangju 2015 Taipei 2017 TBD 2019 TBD 2021 Winter Universiade Chamonix 1960 Villars 1962 Špindlerův Mlýn 1964 Sestriere 1966 Innsbruck 1968 Rovaniemi 1970 Lake Placid 1972 Livigno 1975 Špindlerův Mlýn 1978 Jaca 1981 Sofia 1983 Belluno 1985 Štrbské Pleso 1987 Sofia 1989 Sapporo 1991 Zakopane 1993 Jaca 1995 Muju/Jeonju 1997 Poprad/Tatry 1999 Zakopane 2001 Tarvisio 2003 Innsbruck 2005 Turin 2007 Harbin 2009 Erzurum 2011 Trentino 2013 Granada/Štrbské Pleso 2015 Almaty 2017 Krasnoyarsk 2019 TBD 2021 FISU Sports at the Universiade All-time Universiade medal table