2017 Winter Universiade

XXVIII Winter Universiade
XXVIII Қысқы Универсиада
XXVIII Зимняя Универсиада
XXVIII Universiade d'hiver

28th Winter Universiade logo
Host city	Almaty, Kazakhstan
Nations participating	56
Athletes participating	1,604
Events	85
Opening ceremony	29 January 2017
Closing ceremony	8 February 2017
Officially opened by	Nursultan Nazarbayev
Athlete's Oath	Aiza Mambekova
Judge's Oath	Askar Valiyev
Torch lighter	16 well known Kazakh athletes
Main venue	Almaty Ice Palace

Winter Universiade 2017, the XXVIII Winter Universiade, is a multi-sport winter event which took place in Almaty, Kazakhstan in January and February 2017. On 29 November 2011, FISU announced that Winter Universiade 2017 would be hosted in Almaty.^[1]

Student-athletes from all over the world between the ages of 17 and 28 arrived in Almaty to take part in Winter Universiade organized by FISU.^[2]

Host selection

There were two candidates to host the event.

• Almaty. This is the third time that a former soviet country has hosted the Winter Universiade. Russia hosted two times the Summer Universiade – Moscow (1973), Kazan (2013) and will host the Winter Universiade two years later in Krasnoyarsk.
• Trentino, Italy. Until 2011, Italy hosted the Universiade 9 times (4 Summer Universiades and 5 Winter Universiades). A week before the announcement of results of the bidding campaign, in connection with the economic crisis, the Italian government decided to withdraw its candidacy.

«Given the difficult economic situation in Italy and the high financial obligations to the International Federation for the moment, the Council of the Autonomous Province of Trento sees no possibility to raise funds for the Universiade in 2017 and therefore removes the candidature of the city.»

Later Trentino was invited to host the 2013 Winter Universiade, after Maribor withdrew to host the event.^[3]

Formal decision on the Universiade in Almaty was taken on a vote of the International University Sports Federation (FISU) on November 29, 2011, which was held in Brussels (Belgium).

Thus, due to the lack of competitors, Almaty was declared the host city of the 28th Winter Universiade in 2017.

Venues

Almaty

Earlier it was reported that Kazakhstan would spend $950 million on Winter Universiade 2017. An Ice Palace, two ice rinks, an Athletic Village and international airport terminal and many more other sport and non-sport venues were to be built in Almaty for the event. The cost is considered small, and it is because some of the objects had already been built for the 7th Asian Winter Games,^[4] part of the competition which also took place in Almaty, and certain existing and remodeled venues. Kazakhstan chose bandy, ski jumping, Nordic combined, freestyle skiing and speed skating as optional sports, with bandy being in the form of demonstration. However, after tightening the budget, bandy was removed.

Almaty Region

Schedule

The competition schedule for the 2017 Winter Universiade is shown as follows:^[5] The opening ceremony of the 28th Winter Universiade was held on 29 January 2017. A total of 1,604 athletes from 56 countries arrived in Almaty to compete in 85 events and 12 types of sports.^[6][7]

January/February	28 Sat	29 Sun	30 Mon	31 Tue	01 Wed	02 Thu	03 Fri	04 Sat	05 Sun	06 Mon	07 Tue	08 Wed	Events
Ceremonies		OC										CC
Alpine skiing		●	2	●	2		1	1	1	1	1		9
Biathlon			●	2	●	2	2	●	1	●	2		9
Cross-country skiing			2	2		2		1		2	1	1	11
Curling			●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	2		2
Figure skating					●	1	●	2					3
Freestyle skiing			2	1		2	2			●	2		9
Ice hockey	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	1	●	1	2
Nordic combined		●	●		1	●	1	●	1				3
Short track speed skating									2	2	4		8
Ski jumping			●	●	2		●	1	2				5
Snowboarding			2	2	●	2			2		2		10
Speed skating				2	2	2	2	2	2	2			14
Total events			8	9	7	11	8	7	11	8	14	2	85
Cumulative total			8	17	24	35	43	50	61	69	83	85
January/February	28 Sat	29 Sun	30 Mon	31 Tue	01 Wed	02 Thu	03 Fri	04 Sat	05 Sun	06 Mon	07 Tue	08 Wed	Events

Withdrawn events

Bandy was supposed to debut as a demonstration sport.^[8] However, after tightening of the budget, bandy was no longer part of the programme.

On January 17, it was announced the cancellation of pairs competition in the figure skating due to the low number of entrants. Only two pairs from Russia were registered in the event, which forced the cancellation of the same, according to the rules of FISU.^[9]

Participating nations

56 national university sports federations sent a total of 1,604 athletes.^[10] The numbers in parenthesis represent the number of participants. The International University Sports Federation (FISU) declared there were no positive doping cases at the 28th Winter Universiade.^[11]

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Russia	29	27	15	71
2	Kazakhstan	11	8	17	36
3	South Korea	11	5	5	21
4	Japan	6	12	10	28
5	Poland	5	2	5	12
6	China	4	4	2	10
7	France	4	2	2	8
8	Italy	4	0	0	4
9	Belarus	3	2	1	6
10	Ukraine	2	3	4	9
11	Czech Republic	2	2	5	9
12	Austria	1	2	5	8
13	Canada	1	1	1	3
14	Great Britain	1	0	0	1
	Latvia	1	0	0	1
16	Netherlands	0	3	1	4
17	Switzerland	0	2	3	5
18	Germany	0	2	1	2
19	Australia	0	2	0	2
	Finland	0	2	0	2
	Slovenia	0	2	0	2
22	Sweden	0	1	3	3
23	United States	0	1	1	2
24	Slovakia	0	0	2	2
25	Armenia	0	0	1	1
	Norway	0	0	1	1
Total		85	85	85	255

Logo of the Winter Universiade 2017

2016 stamp of Kazakhstan showing the mascot of the 2017 Winter Universiade, an eyas.

The logo of the Winter Universiade 2017 was created considering the following images:^[12]

• Letter "U" – is an essential attribute of all Universiade logos
• Wings – symbolizes the aspiration to win

The logo was created in bright and soft colors that emphasize the modernity and the eco-friendly approach, which is one of the most important elements of the general concept of the Games.

References

1. ↑ Almaty officially announced capital of Winter Universiade-2017. tengrinews.kz ()
2. ↑ "Universiade History". almaty2017.com. 
3. ↑ "NEWS". www.fisu.net. Retrieved 2016-12-10. 
4. ↑ Asian Winter Games at Olympic.cn, see Sports arenas Asian Winter Games in 2011
5. ↑
6. ↑ Almaty 2017: Results
7. ↑ "28th Winter Universiade declared open in dazzling show". inform.kz. 
8. ↑ 2017 Almaty Winter Universiade: Dates confirmed
9. ↑ "Pairs figure skating competition removed from Almaty 2017 schedule". Inside the Games. Retrieved 17 January 2017. 
10. ↑ "Winter Universiade 2017 Participating Athlete List | Universiade 2017". almaty2017.com. Retrieved 2017-01-28. 
11. ↑ "Doping Control at the Almaty 2017 Winter Universiade". Eurosport. 2017-04-12. Retrieved 2017-05-10. 
12. ↑ http://almaty2017.com/en/news/novyi-logotip-talisman.html

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2017 Winter Universiade.

• Universiade-2017 in Almaty

Universiade
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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/Chonju 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 Lucerne 2021 TBD 2023
FISU Sports at the Universiade All-time Universiade medal table