Team Suisse readies itself of Napoli 2019

Under the delegation motto “ Passion, Challenge, Success.” 82 Swiss athletes competing in 11 sports gathered late last week to collect the official team wear, to take some photos equipped in this team wear and to hear about what soon awaits them in southern Italy for the Napoi 2019 Summer Universiade.

Athletes hopping into and test out their new team  red-white-and-grey track suits made for quite the scenes and one instructive for the colours that are going to dominate during the two weeks of games-time.

 Athletes posing in the distinct “Suisse red” clothing attire with their sporting teammates was a familiar theme as they are soon to say, “Andiamo a Napoli.”

After switching about t-shirts to find the perfect fit and look, team members signed the athletes code of conduct before moving on to presentation time. Rather than rehash of a meetings, though, let’s hear what the athletes have to say about being on the precipice of their study, sports and personal career: the 30th Summer Universiade.

For me the Universiade is a major event at which I can enjoy performing in my sports — gymnastics — and still show my best performance as I am not exposed to the same pressure as at the world championships, for example. I am looking forward to ending my athletic career with such an amazing competition.

— Marco Walter, Artistic Gymnastics. Marco placed third at the Taipei 2017 Summer Universiade.

Being able to participation at the Universiade is very special thing for me. Normally, swimmers stay in the swimming circle and have our own, separate competitions. Now we are part of Team Suisse that consists of athletes from 11 different disciplines and this means a lot to me.

Furthermore, the Universiade is the perfect opportunity to gain experience from a major international even and work towards my main goal: participating at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

—Jacques Läufer, Swimming 200 M Breaststroke. Napoli 2019 will mark Jacques’s first time competing in the Universiade.