The 27th Winter Universiade FISU ended this evening with the men's ice hockey final. Outstanding displays and a rather unusual game since it put together the two nations that will welcome the FISU Winter Games in 2017 and 2019 respectively, i.e., Kazakhstan (Almaty 2017) and Russia (Krasnoyarsk 2019). After a genuine final thriller, Russia had the upper hand of this golden game beating their opponents 3-1 in front of full house with 5,000 spectators.
Traditionally after the ice hockey medal ceremony, the Closing Ceremony of the Universiade took place.
In his speech, FISU President Claude-Louis Gallien first of all thanked José Torres Hurtado, Mayor of Granada and President of the Organizing Committee; Mr. Sebastian Perez Ortiz, Chairman of the Board Province of Granada; Mr. Francisco Gonzalez Lodeiro, the Rector of the University of Granada; Sandra Garcia Martin, the delegate of the Government of the Region of Andalusia; Antonio Granados, Councillor for Sports of the City of Granada and finally Ignacio Pipo, CEO of Granada in 2015 Universiade.
The FISU President welcomed the success of the 27th Winter Universiade, which brought together 2,400 participants and was the demonstration that such an event could be organized on two sites in two different countries. In total, 540 universities were represented at the Universiade that will leave an unforgetable memory to all participants, athletes, judges, referees, volunteers and officials.
Once the Granada Universiade was officially closed, the mayor of Granada handed the FISU flag back to President Gallien who passed it to the delegates of the city of Almaty led by the Mayor Akhmetzhan Yessimov and the Minister of Education and Science of Kazakhstan Aslan Sarinzhipov.
Then it was time for the cultural programme harmoniously combining elements of Spanish and Kazakhstan folklore.
Some figures of this Universiade: 2,362 participants (athletes and officials), 392 athletes in Slovakia and 1,180 athletes in Granada, thus a total of 1,572 athletes, 540 universities represented; 42 nations from 5 continents (31 in Slovakia and 41 in Spain), 20 days of competition (9 in Slovakia, 11 in Spain), 10 training and competition venues and a total of more than 60,000 spectators (of which 50,000 in Spain).
FISU has noticed a growing interest on the part of our member federations. The level of participants is very high, take for example Russia, which had a delegation of 179 athletes, nearly a tenth of all participants. Other nations have also sent a large contingent of athletes: China (94 athletes), Canada (82), United States (117), Kazakhstan (89), Japan (97), not forgetting, of course, the two host countries, Slovakia (56) and Spain (78).
Many top athletes have also participated in the Universiade. Patrizia Kummer is the best example. This Swiss athlete, currently a Master of Psychology student at the University of Berne, won the gold medal of the 2015 Universiade in PGS, having just won the Olympic title in Sochi in 2014.
The figures for media coverage of the Universiade are impressive as well: 150 hours of television production (44 in Slovakia and 106 in Spain), 105 hours of broadcast competitions on Eurosport. Several other national television channels also broadcast the competitions of the Universiade: KZTV, RTR, CCTV, CZTV, and CBSSN, and then there was the livestreaming on www.livefisu.tv.
In social media, the FISU Twitter account @FISUnetwork has also exploded: 260,900 impressions over a period of 11 days (from 4/2 to 14/2), for an average of 23,700 impressions per day.
Ends
Notes to editors: About FISU
Founded in 1949, FISU (International University Sports Federation) is an organisation dedicated to university sport and the promotion of excellence in mind and body. Balancing elite sport competition and academic studies, the student-athletes participating in FISU events are today's stars and tomorrow's leaders. FISU has three core sport properties: the Summer and Winter Universiade and the World University Championships. The Summer and Winter Universiade are international multi-sporting and cultural festivals held every two years, gathering student-athletes aged 17-28 from over 170 countries. FISU's other major sporting events are the World University Championships (WUC), single-sporting events which are held in the years between the Universiades. In 2014 there will be a total of 29 Championships in 23 countries. In addition to our existing broadcast agreements, FISU's long-term multimedia partnership with Eurosport will bring live HD broadcast for each Summer Universiade and Winter Universiade across Europe and Asia-Pacific and greater exposure for all FISU properties through the monthly TV magazine CAMPUS. FISU's partnerships with Eurosport covers all events through 2017. The 2015 editions of the Universiade are in Granada, ESP & Strbske Pleso/Osrblie, SVK (winter) and Gwangju, KOR (summer), 2017 in Almaty, KAZ (winter) and Taipei City, TPE (summer) and 2019 in Krasnoyarsk, RUS (winter).
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