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2021 Summer World University Games

The 2021 Summer World University Games (Chinese: 2021年夏季世界大学生运动会), officially known as the XXXI Summer World University Games and also known as Chengdu 2021, was a multi-sport event sanctioned by the International University Sports Federation (FISU), held from 28 July to 8 August 2023 primarily in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China. It was the fourth edition of the Games hosted by China (the 2001 Summer Universiade was held in Beijing, the 2009 Winter Universiade was held in Harbin, and the 2011 Summer Universiade was held in Shenzhen). This is also the first edition to be referred to as the "Summer World University Games" rather than the "Summer Universiade." The games marked the 15th anniversary of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

The Games were originally scheduled to take place between 16 and 27 August 2021. On 2 April 2021, it was announced that the Games would be postponed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the postponement of the 2020 Summer Olympics to 2021 for the same reason. In May 2021, FISU rescheduled the event to 26 June – 7 July 2022. On 6 May 2022, FISU postponed the event again to 2023 due to COVID-19 concerns; the Games effectively replaced the 2023 Summer World University Games in Yekaterinburg, whose hosting rights had been stripped due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine; they would still be referred to as the 2021 Games for branding and marketing purposes.

Host selection

On 1 September 2014, FISU opened bids for the 2021 Winter and Summer Universiades. Bucharest, Romania and Santiago de Cali, Colombia announced intents to submit bids for the Summer Universiade. Ashgabat, Turkmenistan was offered to host the Games using the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games venues, but declined due to the size of the event. On 14 October 2018, it was reported that the FISU had proposed a joint bid between Seoul, South Korea and Pyongyang, North Korea during a meeting between Mayor of Seoul Park Won-soon and the FISU's secretary-general Eric Saintrond.

On 13 December 2018, it was reported that a representative of Chengdu, China had signed a "pre-attribution contract" with the FISU at a meeting of its steering committee in Braga, Portugal. On 1 March 2019, prior to the Winter Universiade in Krasnoyarsk, Chengdu was officially announced as the host of the 2021 Summer Universiade.

Venues

The following venues hosted events during the 2021 Summer World University Games:

Dong'an Lake Sports Center

Dong'an Lake Stadium – Opening ceremonies
Dong'an Lake Arena – Gymnastics (Artistic)
Dong'an Lake Sports Park Aquatics Centre – Swimming and Water Polo (finals)

Shuangliu District

Shuangliu Modern Pentathlon Centre – Archery and Water polo (preliminaries and finals)
Shuangliu Sports Centre Stadium – Athletics
Shuangliu Sports Centre Gymnasium – Badminton
Sichuan International Tennis Centre – Tennis

Xindu District

Xindu Xiangcheng Sports Centre Natatorium – Water polo (preliminaries and finals)

Wuhou District

Sichuan Provincial Gymnasium – Basketball
Sichuan University Gymnasium – Basketball

Jinniu District

Phoenix Hill Sports Park Arena – Basketball (finals)
Chengbei Gymnasium – Wushu
Chengdu Open Air Music Park – Closing ceremonies

Pidu District

Pidu Sports Centre Natatorium – Fencing
Xihua University Gymnasium – Volleyball (finals)

Longquanyi District

Chengdu Sport University Gymnasium – Gymnastics (Rhythmic)

Xinjin District

Sichuan Water Sports School – Rowing

Qingbaijiang District

Qingbaijiang Sports Centre Gymnasium – Basketball

Wenjiang District

Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Wenjiang Campus Gymnasium – Basketball and Volleyball
Sichuan Vocational and Technical College of Communications Hongyi Gymnasium – Volleyball

Jinjiang District

Sichuan Water Sports School – Rowing
Jinjiang International Event Centre – Basketball

Chengdu Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone

Tianfu Software Park Sports Center – Table tennis
Southwest Jiaotong University Xipu Campus Gymnasium – Volleyball
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China Qingshuihe Campus Gymnasium – Basketball

Qingyang District

Sichuan Normal University, Wanjiang Campus Gymnasium – Taekwondo
Southwestern University of Finance and Economics Guanghua Campus Gymnasium – Volleyball

Jianyang County

Cultural and Sports Centre Gymnasium – Judo
Cultural and Sports Centre Natatorium – Diving

Ceremonies

The opening ceremony was held on the evening of 28 July 2023 at the newly built Dong'an Lake Stadium (seating capacity 40,000), which replaced the Chengdu Stadium as the main city sports venue. The ceremony featured the parade of nations and other aspects of the traditional protocol, including the raising of the FISU flag, the opening declaration, and the athlete's, coach's and judge's oaths. The artistic portion showcased the cultural features of the host city (Chengdu) and blended technology with art. The flame was lit by taikonaut Ye Guangfu (who was, fittingly, born in Chengdu) along with 30 university sport athletes representing each previous edition of the World University Games. The ceremony concluded with a gold-colored fireworks display, aptly titled "Golden Dreams."

The closing ceremony was held on the evening of 8 August 2023 at Chengdu Open Air Music Park. The ceremony featured the athletes' entrance and other aspects of the traditional protocol, including the lowering of the FISU flag and the closing declaration. The artistic portion featured modern music-and-dance performances along with references to traditional Sichuan opera. The FISU flag was then handed over to Germany’s Rhine-Ruhr Region (the host of the next edition in 2025), which then presented a handover segment titled "Rhine-Ruhr 2025 - Passionately Connected by Fire and Water." The flame was then extinguished before the ensemble cast performed a rendition of the traditional farewell song "Auld Lang Syne."

Medal table

* Host nation (China)

Sports

Because of the establishment of the FISU University Football World Cup in 2019, football would no longer be part of the Summer World University Games program starting at that year. With this change, the number of compulsory sports would be kept at fifteen, since football would be replaced by badminton, which became a compulsory sport after serving as an optional sport for five editions. The three optional sports chosen by the Organizing Committee were shooting, rowing, and wushu.

Participating NUSFs

The following 116 National University Sporting Federations sent delegations to the 2021 Summer World University Games.

Controversies

Withdrawn NUSFs

Canada: Canada withdrew citing the cost of the travel and health risks.
Mexico: The country withdrew from the games on 7 July 2023.
New Zealand: Announced to pull out due to COVID-19 crisis.
Great Britain: BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) announced the withdrawal of their GB Students delegation from the games on 11 March 2022.

Banned NUSFs

Both Belarus and Russia were banned from the games due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Belarus
Russia

India wushu team visas

India withdrew its wushu team to protest against the issuance of Chinese stapled visas to athletes from Arunachal Pradesh, which China views as part of southern Tibet.

Somali 100-meter nepotism allegations

During the 100-meter race, Somali athlete Nasra Ali Abukar finished last with a time of 21.81 seconds, more than 10 seconds behind the winning runner. The video of Ali Abukar's exceptionally poor performance went viral on social media, with the Somali athletics officials drawing criticism for allowing a person with no athletic background and minimal preparation to represent the country. Allegations of nepotism were levied against the Somali Athletics Federation, as it was revealed that Ali Abukar is the niece of Somali Olympic Committee President Abdullahi Ahmed Tarabi and Somali Athletics Federation Chair Khadija Adan Dahir. Somali Minister of Youth and Sport Mohamed Barre apologized for the incident and ordered an investigation into Ali Abukar's selection. This investigation resulted in the Somali Olympic Committee suspending Dahir, who eventually resigned from her position.

Marketing

Motto

The official motto of the games is "Chengdu Makes Dreams Come True" (Chinese: 成都成就梦想; pinyin: Chéngdū chéngjiù mèngxiǎng).

Logo

The logo of the games draws inspiration from the Golden Sun Bird, a symbol of ancient Sichuan culture and also from the letter 'U' that stands for university sports.

Mascot

The mascot "Rong Bao" (Chinese: 蓉宝), a giant panda, was unveiled on 30 December 2019. "蓉" stands for Chengdu and "宝" means Treasure.

Schedule

The original schedule was published on 26 August 2021. However, the FISU announced on 6 May 2022 that the Games had been rescheduled for 2023 in a period between the 2023 World Aquatics Championships and the 2023 World Athletics Championships, so the schedule was adjusted accordingly.

All times and dates use China Standard Time (UTC+8)

References

External links

Official website

Text submitted to CC-BY-SA license. Source: 2021 Summer World University Games by Wikipedia (Historical)

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