History
FISU was officially formed in 1949, but its origin goes back to the 1920s when the Frenchman, Jean Petitjean, organized the first "World Student Games" in Paris, France in May 1923. The following year saw the birth of the International Confederation of Students (I.C.S.), which held a congress in Warsaw, Poland. Several delegations took part and the movement was launched. From 1925 to 1939, many great sporting events were organized by the students and the I.C.S.: in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1925, Rome, Italy in 1927, then again in Paris, Darmstadt, Germany (1930), Turin, Italy (1933), Budapest, Hungary (1935), Paris (1937) and Monaco (1939). The Second World War interrupted these meetings, but when peace was restored, France re-launched the World University Games
This peace was relative, because the shadow of the Cold War soon divided university sport. In 1949, although the International Students Union (I.S.U.) organized games at which very few western countries participated, the International University Sports Federation (FISU), born the previous year in Luxembourg, was officially founded and organized its first International University Sports Weeks bringing together the western delegations. These meetings took place notably in Meran, Italy (1949), Luxembourg (1951), Dortmund, Germany (1953) and San Sebastián, Spain (1955). In a new departure in 1957, the French Federation organized a World University Sports Championship, which brought together students from Eastern and Western blocks.
From this meeting came the desire to organize a universal event in which students from all over the world could participate. In 1959, FISU and the I.S.U. agreed to participate in the games organized in Turin by the Italian association: C.U.S.I. That year was undoubtedly the one that left the biggest impression on the federation. In fact, the Italian organizers baptized these 1959 games with the name Universiade and created the flag with a "U" surrounded by stars, which was going to begin its journey around the world, and replaced the national anthems at the medal-awarding ceremonies by the Gaudeamus Igitur. The Universiade in Turin was a success for the local executive committee and for the man who was going to change the future of the university sports movement: Dr Primo Nebiolo. At this Universiade, which brought together 43 different countries and 1,400 participants, many non-member federations asked to become members of FISU. Adin Talbar, the Israeli representative, forcibly lobbied the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to join FISU.
However, even though university sports finally led a peaceful coexistence, the modus vivendi still needed to be established. In addition to the agreement that was made concerning national symbols (neither flags nor anthems) and on the program, FISU determined its philosophy in article 2 of its statutes by stipulating: "FISU pursues its objects without consideration or discrimination of a political, denominational or racial nature". From then on, FISU was to organize the Games on a worldwide level.
Ever since this important period, the Universiades continues to attract more and more participants. It went from a total of 1407 participants in Turin 1959 - including 985 student-athletes - to a total of 10.624 in 2009 (Shenzhen, China) - and 174 countries in 2003, Daegy, Korea.
The Winter Universiades experienced the same success. In fact, the statistics show that 98 athletes participated in 1958 at the Universiade in Zell am See, Austria while 2511 participants competed at 2007 Winter Universiade held in Torino (Italy) and 52 countries were present In Erzurum, Turkey for 2009 edition of Winter Univesiade.
Read more about this topic: International University Sports Federation
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