BRUSSELS – Today, November 20th, the FISU Executive Committee meeting held its last day of meetings in the Belgian capital.
2015 Winter Universiade
Delegates OC 2015 WU Granada
The day started with the progress report of the 2015 Winter Universiade in Granada, Spain. Milan Augustin, FISU Director for the Winter Universiade and Roger Roth, CTI WU gave an internal update. Then the floor was given to the delegates of the Granada Organizing Committee. The delegates confirmed the full support of the Government of Spain through the High Sport Council and the winter sport federations of Spain. An overview was given of the activities and works in progress. Regarding the snow facilities a new chairlift and a moguls course has been built. A Universiade speed trial slope is under construction to avoid problems between competitors and tourists. A new snowmaking water pond will be constructed, the half pipe project is planned to start in 2011, and the design for the biathlon and cross country courses in Puerto de la Ragua has been studied as well as the environmental impact to improve the area. Ice facilities are non-existant in Granada. A new and permanent double surface facility will be built for ice hockey, while figure skating and short track competitions will be staged on a temporary ice rink in a multi-sports venue. Also the curling rink will be temporary in downtown Granada. The news of the permanent ice rink was welcomed by the Granada citizens as an ice sports club was already founded. The OC also moved to a new headquarters.
2011 Summer Universiade
2011 SU Delegation
CTI Chair report for the 26th Summer Universiade was given by Mr. Stavros Douvis, EC member and CTI Chair SU. The Shenzhen Organizing Committee was next to give an update on the 2011 Universiade preparations. After Mr. Douvis’ update, the Shenzhen OC presented its progress report. The first Plenary Meeting of the OC was successfully held and the OC has started the process of inviting countries to send delegations to participate in the Games. A one-year countdown celebration marked the beginning of the ‘preparation’ sprint. The OC hosted the 8th WUC Archery as a test event and in the meanwhile the construction of venues and the preparations for the competitions continues. The OC also developed creative publicity and cultural activities. The preparations for the FISU conference during the Universiade are on track as well are the preparations for important key activities such as the Opening Ceremony, the Closing Ceremony and the torch relay. Progress in other fields has been made as well as 60,000 volunteers have been signed up, standards for transport services were designed and a thorough security plan has been developed.
2013 Summer Universiade
2013 Kazan Delegates
Stavros Douvis presented the CTI Chair report for the 27th Summer Universiade in Kazan. Then the floor was given to the Organizing Committee of the 2013 Summer Universiade. Rafis Burganov, Minister of Sports, Youth and Tourism of the Republic of Tatarstan once again confirmed the strong support of the Russian President Dmitri Medvedev. In his report he gave an overview of the newly constructed venues. Reconstruction of the Kazan International Airport and the development of an international flights network is an important objectives of the host city. At present all necessary works for the 1st stage of the construction of a new terminal for a capacity of 1.2 million passengers a year are under way. Another main objective is the further development of the street-road system of the city. To make the Universiade venues reachable a construction of 12 traffic intersections is planned. This year two traffic intersections are to be launched. The construction of the Universiade Village started on July 10th, 2009. On August 30th, the stage-by-stage setting of two of three clusters of the Village started. Since November 2nd, some 2,500 students from 36 countries are housed in the 2 clusters. The 3-year experience of maintenance of the complex will help successfully implement all the necessary projects. The OC already hosted some test events. The OC also developed a Sponsorship and Licensing Program and three Universiade 2013 trademarks have been registered. The OC has been fine-tuning its Volunteer program and created a specific Kazan 2013 Volunteer logo. Regarding broadcasting, the OC has defined a preliminary list of venues from which TV broadcasting of the Games events will be carried out. Currently the OC studies broadcasting experiences from major events such as the Olympics in Beijing and Vancouver in order to maximize the opportunities of modern television for the highest quality coverage of the forthcoming Universiade 2013.
2015 Summer Universiade
2015 SU Gwangju Delegation
The last delegation to give its progress report was the OC from Gwangju, host city of the 2015 Summer Universiade. After Marc Vandenplas, FISU SU Director gave an update of his last visit, the OC delegates headed by the newly elected Mayor of Gwangju Mr. Kang Woon-Tae, presented their report. For the last five months GUOC has taken steps forward in preparations to deliver an event that leaves a meaningful legacy. The OC has decided to build an environmentally friendly Athletes’ Village by regenerating old apartment estates. Many programs are being developed. There are Sport Talent Supporting programs to help current middle school students who are going to be University students in 2015. Foreign languages classes are being held for the OC members to strengthen their language skills and global mind set. The same programs are provided for citizens in order to secure volunteers for the Universiade and also to develop competency as global citizens. GUOC is drawing up an action plan to prop up the 2015 Universiade. Meticulous work analysis is in progress to set up a guideline for execution. The OC also proposed to add baseball as an optional sport which was approved by the EC.
C. Pierre, FISU Press Officer
Stavros Douvis
Rafis Burganov, Minister of Sports, Youth and Tourism of the Republic of Tatarstan
Gwangju Mayor Kang Woon-Tae