The 2021 Summer World University Games (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,[3] was a multi-sport event sanctioned by the International University Sports Federation (FISU), held from 28 July to 8 August 2023 in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. It was the fourth time the Games was hosted in China.[a] This is the first time the Games was referred to as the "Summer World University Games" rather than the "Summer Universiade."
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.[4][5] In May 2021, FISU rescheduled the event to 26 June – 7 July 2022.[4] 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.[6]
On 13 December 2018, it was reported that representatives from China signed a "pre-attribution contract" with the FISU members at a meeting of its steering committee in Braga, Portugal and they proposed that the Games could be held in Chengdu.[12] On 1 March 2019, prior to the Winter Universiade opening ceremonies in Krasnoyarsk, Russia Chengdu was officially announced as the host of the 2021 Summer Universiade.[13]
Venues
The following venues hosted events during the 2021 Summer World University Games:[14]
The opening ceremony was held on the evening of 28 July 2023 at the newly built Dong'an Lake Stadium, 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 and province and blended technology with art. The flame was lit by taikonautYe Guangfu (who also 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."[15]
The closing ceremony was held on the evening of 8 August 2023 at Chengdu Open Air Music Park. The ceremony was more modest and 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."[16]
Because of the establishment of the FISU University Football World Cup in 2019, football would no longer be part of the program starting from this edition.[18][19] With this change, the number of compulsory sports would be kept at fifteen, and so it was decided that from this edition onwards, badminton would take its place after five editions as an optional sport The three optional sports chosen by the Organizing Committee were shooting, rowing and wushu.[20]
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.[46]
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.[47] 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.[48] 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.[48]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.[49]
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).[1]
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.[50]
Schedule
The original schedule was published on 26 August 2021.[14] However, 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 and this led to a readjustment of the calendar.
^"Design your own Universiade mascot for Chengdu!". International University Sports Federation. 1 May 2019. Archived from the original on 12 May 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2019. The Chengdu 2021 Summer Universiade was launched with much fanfare along with the announcement of the design competition.Was also confirmed was the two main venues for the opening and closing ceremonies: The Opening will be held on the Dong'an Lake Sports Centre Main Stadium and the closing was scheduled to be at the same center indoor Arena who is next.
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