The city of Gwangju will host the 28th Summer Universiade from July 3rd to the 14th, gathering together more than 12,000 university athletes from 170 countries.
The Universiade, billed as the largest multi-sport event after the Olympics, will benefit from the Korean City of Light’s extensive services and infrastructure, much of which has been newly-created for this event since it was awarded the hosting rights in 2009.
The Universiade, derived from “University” and “Olympiade”, is an international sporting event organized by FISU (International University Sports Federation). The athletes will be competing in 21 sports for 272 gold medals in Gwangju and across the Jeollanam-do, Jeollabuk-do and Chungcheongbuk-do provinces.
The opening and closing ceremonies will be attended by Korean celebrities representing Korea’s traditional and pop culture, including actor Joo Won, singer Yunho of Kpop duo TVXQ, popera singer Lim Hyung-joo, and many more. The sub-themes of the opening and closing ceremonies are “U are Shining” and “Sharing the Light,” respectively, and they will proceed under the Universiade’s slogan of “Light Up Tomorrow”.
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The 2015 Gwangju Universiade will also benefit from a wide variety of venues across the region, most notably including the Kimdaejung Convention Center, the sole exhibition and convention center in Jeolla-do Province. The convention center offers 40,046 m2 of floor space and will be used for fencing during the Universiade. Only 4 out of the 69 facilities that will be used during the games are newly constructed, while the other 65 existing venues are renovated.
New venues include the Nambu University International Aquatics Center, which will receive a Green Building Certification for using geothermal heat as the main source of energy, and the Kwangju Women’s University Universiade Gymnasium, which will be rated the highest energy-efficiency level by the Korea Energy Management Corporation for consuming 26% of its energy from renewable energy. Due to its minimization of new construction and the low carbon footprint, the event is also being referred to as the “Ecoversiade”.
The 2015 Gwangju Universiade will be considered as a stage offering a glimpse at the stars of the upcoming 2016 Rio Olympics, as 154 medalists in the Universiade won 174 medals in the 2012 London Olympics. 48% of Olympic medalists are also Universiade medalists, and Universiade records in most sports surpass those of the Asian Games.
