2009 Summer Universiade
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| Nations participating | 145 |
|---|---|
| Athletes participating | 6,300 |
| Events | 15 sports |
| Opening ceremony | July 1 |
| Closing ceremony | July 12 |
| Officially opened by | Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković |
| Athlete's Oath | Ivana Đerisilo (volleyball) |
| Judge's Oath | Ivanka Raković (waterpolo) |
| Torch lighter | Petar Filipović-Kusturica (waterpolo) |
| Main venue | Belgrade Arena |
The 2009 Summer Universiade, officially known as the XXV Summer Universiade was celebrated in Belgrade, Serbia from July 1 to 12, 2009. The event has also been organised by a range of co-host cities mostly in Vojvodina (Serbian Autonomous Province), close to Belgrade. It was the largest sporting event ever to be organised by the city. At this Universiade the biggest star was the Russian rhythmic gymnast Evgeniya Kanaeva who won 5 gold medals. Russia was the leading nation in the medal table, with most gold medals (27) and most medals (76).
The bidding process for the 2009 Summer Universiade games began in early 2004. Together with Belgrade another two cities bid for the event - Monterrey in Mexico and Poznań in Poland. Working in Belgrade's favour were the various major sporting events the city was awarded to host in the upcoming 2005, 2006 and 2007 such as Eurobasket 2005, the 2005 European Volleyball Championship, the 2006 European Water Polo Championship, and the European Youth Olympic Festival 2007. Furthermore, the city launched two unsuccessful candidate bids to organize the Summer Olympic Games: for the 1992 Summer Olympics Belgrade was eliminated in the third round of International Olympic Committee voting, with the games going to Barcelona. The 1996 Summer Olympics ultimately went to Atlanta.
On 10 January 2005 in Innsbruck, Austria, Belgrade was announced as the host of the 2009 Summer Universiade. The ceremony of the host city announcement was attended by the now deceased Belgrade mayor Nenad Bogdanović.
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