12 replies to this topic

[munchen2018]

Anyone follow Universiade?

[munchen2018]

I guess I can safely say that there is no interest in these games?

[BTHarner]

The only time I remember any TV coverage here in the US was when the games were nearby, such as Edmonton 1983 (most notable for Sergey Salibashvili's fatal accident in the diving competition) and Buffalo in 1993. I can't say that I'm all that interested in them myself anymore. The time between Olympics passes a lot faster as you get older and I don't need to use events such as these to get my fulfill my need for international competition anymore.

[Rols O'Bertilsson]

Well, Guardian hasn't posted for a while, and he usually keeps up to date on the Universiades. I'm sure he'll notice this thread.

Really though, generally, I had never even heard of them before I came to gamesBids, and they get absolutely NO media coverage down here. So I suppose I have a lack of interest and knowledge aboutt them.

[rav3n]

We don't have any coverage of this games neither (maybe because we don't compete at these games), the first time i heard about them was during the Korea-Japan 2002 World Cup, when i learned of the previous events hosted by one of the cities, Kobe (which hosted the 1985 Universiade). The FISU offered web coverage of great part of these games on the decade, but i was not much convinced with their work for Bangkok 2007.

Anyway, the next editions of the games will be at Belgrade (Serbia) in 2009, and Shenzen (China) in 2011.

Some curious fact of Buffalo '93. The US flagbearer at these games (which i don't remember his name at this moment) fought in the Irak War and died.

[wamel042]

Let's drop the Universiad and replace them with European Games (like Asian Games, Pan American Games and All African Games).....

[rav3n]

wamel042, on Jan 8 2008, 03:10 PM, said:

Let's drop the Universiad and replace them with European Games (like Asian Games, Pan American Games and All African Games).....

Nah, they would had similar coverage problems like the Pan Am Games or Asiad. Besides, the Universiade is more global than an European Games, and Europe is hosting a lot of sport events almost each year.

And there are the Mediterranean Games already, which are a smaller version, but with african and asian nations also taking part.

[Guardian]

There hasn't much interest in them for a while now. Some people are amazed that the Universiade has lasted this long, despite that the general knowledge of the event is shallow at best.

[Ripley]

I only know about them because Sheffield hosted the 1991 edition... University sports aren't a big deal in the UK like they are in other countries.

[Xu Wen-Ting]

haha~~
China and Universiade:
China likes to make Universiade become a test for big events. And China goverment also pay great attention and money to these games.

Beijing hosted 2001 Summer Universiade(for the bid of 2008 SOG)
my home city Harbin will host 2009 Winter Universiade(for China future WOG bid )
ShenZhen will host 2011 Summer Universiade