The 23rd Summer Universiade officially opened on August 11, 2005 in Izmir , Turkey.
After George Killian, the president of FISU finished his welcoming speech, the Prime1 Minister of the Turkish Republic Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared the opening of the 23rd Universiade.
After 46 years later, the Universiade first came to Turkey, which is located2 between Asia and Europe and combines with the Eastern and Western culture. Attracted by the theme of the cultural show “Anatolia, the land where the sun rises” in the opening ceremony, about 10,000 university athletes from 147 countries will compete in 15 fields of sports from August 12 to August 21.
Related3:
FISU stands for Fédération Internationale du Sport Universitaire and was founded in 1949. Its main responsibility4 is the supervision5 of both Summer and Winter Universiades as well as the World University Championships.
The word “Universiade” comes from “university” and “Olympiad”, and means6 Olympic games for students. The Universiade is an international sporting and cultural festival which is staged every two years in a different city and which is second in importance only to the Olympic Games.
The first Summer Universiade was held in Turin, Italy and Beijing held the 21st Universiade in 2001.
Website for FISU：
www.fisu.net
Website for Universiade 2005, Izmir:
www.universiadeizmir.org
