Nations participating | 162 | ||
---|---|---|---|
Athletes participating | 10,442 | ||
Events | 27 sports | ||
Opening ceremony | July 6 | ||
Closing ceremony | July 17 | ||
Officially opened by | President Vladimir Putin | ||
Athlete's Oath | Aliya Mustafina | ||
Judge's Oath | Yevgeny Sadovyi | ||
Torch lighter | Yekaterina Gamova, Irek Zaripov, Nail Yakupov and Tagir Khaibulaev | ||
Main venue | Kazan Arena | ||
Website | Official website | ||
|
The 2013 Summer Universiade, officially known as the XXVII Summer Universiade, was held in the city of Kazan (Tatarstan, Russia), the most northerly city ever to host a Summer Universiade. Over 10,400 university athletes from 162 countries participated in 13 mandatory and 14 optional sports, making the 2013 Universiade the biggest ever in the history of the event. For the first time in history a Cultural Universiade was also included, with many festivals and shows held simultaneously with the sporting events. The Universiade was organized by the International University Sports Federation (FISU) and by the authorities of the Republic of Tatarstan.
Kazan had bid twice for the Universiade; the first attempt was for the 2011 Summer Universiade, but Kazan lost to Shenzhen by just two votes. The city applied again for the 2013 Summer Universiade, and won the right to host the Universiade.
Prior to the Universiade, Kazan International Airport was totally rebuilt as a hub, the new Kazan-2 transit rail-bus terminal was built, the old Kazan-1 rail terminal was rebuilt, and the fast rail aeroexpress with Siemens trains was inaugurated between the Kazan-1 rail terminal downtown and the airport.
Zones of activity of the Universiade were connected by renewed highways with two-level flyovers, including the completed "Big Kazan Ring" with a new LRT (fast tram). In addition, a Kremlin bridge over the Kazanka River was rebuilt. The key transportation connector to the sporting and other venues from the Universiade Village was the Kazan Metro (subway) that had been built in 2005 and was expanded before the Universiade.
A large part of design works was carried out by JSC Institute Tatdorproject (autoroads, pedestrian crosses, transport junctions), Roszheldorproject (arrangement of intermodal transportation), Energoprojekt (reconstruction of Kazan International Airport), etc.