The Taipei Summer Universiade was a complete success and the competition management was one of the best the federation has ever seen, International University Sports Federation (FISU) president Oleg Matytsin said yesterday.
“Athletes came here from all over the world — from 134 countries — and when they came to train and compete, they found excellent conditions for sports,” Matytsin said on the final day of the Taipei Summer Univerisade.
All but two venues used for the Universiade were existing venues, which is a model that the International Olympic Committee is encouraging for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, he said, adding that Taipei has showed how this can work.
“The venues were in great conditions for great performance and the athletes made new records in exciting competitions here,” Matytsin said at a news conference. “In Taipei, the competition management was one of the best the FISU has ever seen.”
“The best performances were when there was a crowd full of passion to lift up athletes’ efforts, and that is exactly what we found here,” he said, adding that the passionate crowd cheered for athletes who won first place as it did for those who came in last and the audience even cheered for an athlete in a 10,000m points elimination roller sports race, giving him the strength to finish it.
Taiwanese weightlifter Kuo Hsing-chun (郭婞淳), who won gold in the women’s 58kg division and broke a Universiade record, told the news conference she was especially excited to see many familiar faces in the audience cheering loudly for her, giving her the courage to lift 142kg and share her glory with them.
German javelin thrower Andreas Hofmann, who won silver, said: “People were cheering not only for the athletes from Taiwan, but also for those from all over the world… It pushed us all to give our best.”
“I think these two weeks were very exciting” Matytsin said. “It has been about the value of sports, education, friendship and hospitality, and unity”
He thanked Taiwan on behalf of the athletes, saying: “Wherever the athletes and spectators went, thousands of smiling volunteers showed us the hospitality of Taipei.”
There were many outstanding performances, including record-breaking results, and “Chinese Taipei can be proud of itself for winning 26 gold medals at home,” which is a big improvement compared with the previous Universiade, FISU chief executive Eric Saintrond said
The national team achieved its best Universiade result this year, winning 26 gold medals, 34 silver medal and 30 bronze medals, and ranked No. 3, following Japan, with 37 gold medals, and South Korea, with 30 gold medals.
Taipei Universiade chief executive Su Li-chung (蘇麗瓊) said ticket sales also reached an outstanding result of more than 83 percent, as of yesterday.
Preparing for the Universiade in the past six years was not an easy task, she said.
“However, the most important accomplishments of the Taipei Universiade were the outstanding performances of our athletes and the passion of the Taiwanese crowd.”
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