The 2021 Summer World University Games ( zh, , s=2021年夏季世界大学生运动会, labels=no), officially known as the XXXI Summer World University Games and also known as Chengdu 2021, was a

multi-sport event A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organized teams of athletes from (mostly) nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of intern ...

sanctioned by the

International University Sports Federation The International University Sports Federation (FISU; ) is responsible for the organization and governance of worldwide sports competitions for student-athletes between the ages of 17 and 25. It was founded in 1949 as the world governing body of ...

(FISU), held from 28 July to 8 August 2023 in

Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

, China. It was the fourth time the Games was hosted in China. This is the first time the Games was referred to as the "Summer World University Games" rather than the "Summer

Universiade The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a Blend word, portmanteau of the wor ...

." The Games were originally scheduled to be held between 16 and 27 August 2021. On 2 April 2021, it was announced that the Games would be postponed to 2022 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and the postponement of the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

to 2021 for the same reason. In May 2021, FISU rescheduled the event to 26 June – 7 July 2022. On 6 May 2022, FISU postponed the event again to 2023 due to COVID-19 concerns; the Games effectively replaced the

2023 Summer World University Games The 2023 FISU Summer World University Games (Universiade), officially known as the 2023 Summer Universiade or the XXXII Summer World University Games, and commonly known as Yekaterinburg 2023 or Ekaterinburg 2023, was planned to be the 32nd editi ...

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg (, ; ), alternatively Romanization of Russian, romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( ; 1924–1991), is a city and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the Ural Federal District, Russia. The ci ...

, whose hosting rights had been stripped due to the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

; they would still be referred to as the 2021 Games for branding and marketing purposes. The games marked the 15th anniversary of the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, China.

Host selection

On 1 September 2014, FISU opened bids for both the 2021 Winter and Summer Universiades.

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

and

Santiago de Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,280,522 residents estimate by National Administrative Department of Statistics, DANE in 2023. The city span ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

announced intents to submit bids for the Summer Universiade. Also, a proposal was made by

Ashgabat Ashgabat (Turkmen language, Turkmen: ''Aşgabat'') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies between the Karakum Desert and the Kopet Dag, Kopetdag mountain range in Central Asia, approximately 50 km (30 ...

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

who hosted the

2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games The 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (), which is also counted as the 5th Asian Indoor Games, was held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan in 2017. It became the third city in the former Soviet countries to win the right of hosting an Olympic Coun ...

venues, but the city declined due to the size of the event. On 14 October 2018, it was reported that the FISU had proposed a joint bid between

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

and

Pyongyang Pyongyang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (). Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. Accordi ...

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

during a meeting between

Mayor of Seoul The mayor of Seoul () is the chief executive of Seoul Metropolitan Government, Seoul being the capital and largest city of South Korea. The position is historically one of the most powerful in the country, charged with managing an annual budg ...

Park Won-soon Park Won-soon (; February 11, 1955 or March 26, 1956July 9, 2020) was a South Korean politician, activist, and lawyer. He was the longest-serving mayor of Seoul, from 2011 until his death in July 2020. A member of the Democratic Party of Kore ...

and the FISU's secretary-general Eric Saintrond. On 13 December 2018, it was reported that representatives from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

signed a "pre-attribution contract" with the FISU members at a meeting of its steering committee in

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

and they proposed that the Games could be held in Chengdu. On 1 March 2019, prior to the Winter Universiade opening ceremonies in

Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yenisey, Yenisey River, and is the second-largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk, with a p ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Chengdu was officially announced as the host of the 2021 Summer Universiade.

Venues

The following venues hosted events during the 2021 Summer World University Games: ;Dong'an Lake Sports Center *Dong'an Lake Stadium – Opening ceremony * Dong'an Lake Arena –

Gymnastics Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...

(Artistic) *Dong'an Lake Sports Park Aquatics Centre –

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

and

Water Polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

(finals) ;

Shuangliu District Shuangliu District () is a suburban district of the City of Chengdu, Sichuan, China. The district covers an area of , and has a population of approximately 2,659,829 as of 2020. It is the home of Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, the four ...

*Shuangliu Modern Pentathlon Centre –

Archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...

and

Water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

(preliminaries and finals) *

Shuangliu Sports Centre Stadium The Shuangliu Sports Center () is a sports venue in Shuangliu District, Chengdu, Sichuan, China. Its construction cost 600 million yuan. It has a multi-purpose stadium named Shuangliu Sports Centre Stadium with a capacity of 26,000, and an indoor ...

–

Athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

Shuangliu Sports Centre The Shuangliu Sports Center () is a sports venue in Shuangliu District, Chengdu, Sichuan, China. Its construction cost 600 million yuan. It has a multi-purpose stadium named Shuangliu Sports Centre Stadium with a capacity of 26,000, and an indoor ...

Gymnasium –

Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

*Sichuan International Tennis Centre –

Tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

;

Xindu District Xindu District () is a suburban district of the City of Chengdu, Sichuan, China. It covers part of the city's northern suburbs. Overview The Xindu District borders the prefecture-level city of Deyang Deyang ( zh, s=德阳 , t=德陽 , p=Dé ...

*Xindu Xiangcheng Sports Centre Natatorium –

(preliminaries and finals) ;

Wuhou District Wuhou District () is a central urban district of the City of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, China. Wuhou District contains the historic site, Wuhou Temple and Jinli Street. The district is bordered by Jinjiang District to the east, Shuangliu ...

* Sichuan Provincial Gymnasium –

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

Sichuan University Sichuan University (SCU) is a public university in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. The university is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction. I ...

Gymnasium –

;

Jinniu District Jinniu District () is a central urban district of the City of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, China. Jinniu District is bordered by Chenghua District to the east, Qingyang District to the southwest, Pidu District to the northwest, and Xindu ...

* Phoenix Hill Sports Park Arena –

(finals) * Chengbei Gymnasium –

Wushu Wushu may refer to: Martial arts * Chinese martial arts, the various martial arts of China * Wushu (sport) Wushu () (), or kung fu, is a competitive Chinese martial art. It integrates concepts and forms from various traditional and modern ...

* Chengdu Open Air Music Park – Closing ceremony ;

Pidu District Pidu District (; formerly known as Pi County or Pixian) is a suburban district of the City of Chengdu, Sichuan, China. It presently covers an area of , with a total population of 1,672,025 during the 2020 census. It was formerly known as the so ...

* Pidu Sports Centre Natatorium –

Fencing Fencing is a combat sport that features sword fighting. It consists of three primary disciplines: Foil (fencing), foil, épée, and Sabre (fencing), sabre (also spelled ''saber''), each with its own blade and set of rules. Most competitive fe ...

Xihua University Xihua University (XHU; ) is a provincial public university in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. It is affiliated with the Sichuan Provincial People's Government. Foundation XHU was founded on April 16, 2003 when Sichuan University of Science and Techno ...

Gymnasium –

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

(finals) ;

Longquanyi District Longquanyi District () is a suburban district of the City of Chengdu, Sichuan, China. Longquan District covers parts of the southeastern suburbs. In 1960, with the approval of the State Council, Chengdu Longquan Station District was officially e ...

* Chengdu Sport University Gymnasium –

(Rhythmic) ;

Xinjin District Xinjin District () is a suburban district of the City of Chengdu, Sichuan, China. It borders the prefecture-level city of Meishan to the south. Administrative divisions Xinjin District administers 4 subdistricts and 4 towns: * Wujin Subdist ...

*Shichuan Water Sports School –

Rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically a ...

;

Qingbaijiang District Qingbaijiang District () is a suburban district of the City of Chengdu, Sichuan, China. It covers parts of the city's northeastern suburbs. It borders the prefecture-level city of Deyang Deyang ( zh, s=德阳 , t=德陽 , p=Déyáng) is a pref ...

* Qingbaijiang Sports Centre Gymnasium –

;

Wenjiang District Wenjiang District () is a suburban district of the City of Chengdu, Sichuan, China. It covers part of the city's western suburbs. Wenjiang District is bordered by Qingyang District to the east, Shuangliu District to the southeast, Chongzhou ...

* Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Wenjiang Campus Gymnasium –

and

* Sichuan Vocational and Technical College of Communications Hongyi Gymnasium –

;

Jinjiang District Jinjiang District ( zh, s=锦江区, t=, p=Jǐnjiāng Qū) is a central urban district of Chengdu and the provincial seat of Sichuan, China. Jinjiang District is the geographical, economic, trade, cultural, and political center of Chengdu, Sichu ...

* Sichuan Water Sports School –

* Jinjiang International Event Centre –

;Chengdu Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone * Tianfu Software Park Sports Center –

Table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

Southwest Jiaotong University Southwest Jiaotong University (SWJTU; ) is a national public science and engineering university in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. The university is affiliated with the Ministry of Education. It is a national key university co-sponsored by the Minis ...

Xipu Campus Gymnasium –

University of Electronic Science and Technology of China A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

Qingshuihe Campus Gymnasium –

;

Qingyang District Qingyang District () is a central urban district of the City of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, China. Qingyang District is bordered by Jinniu District to the northeast, Jinjiang District to the southeast, Wuhou District to the south, Shuangliu Dis ...

Sichuan Normal University Sichuan Normal University (SICNU; ) is the oldest normal university (teacher's college) located in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. It is the largest provincial key university with the most complete courses offered among the provincial universities and c ...

, Wanjiang Campus Gymnasium –

Taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...

Southwestern University of Finance and Economics The Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE; ) is a public finance and economics university in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education, and co-funded with the Sichuan Provincial People's Governm ...

Guanghua Campus Gymnasium –

; Jianyang County * Cultural and Sports Centre Gymnasium –

Judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

* Cultural and Sports Centre Natatorium –

Diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), ...

Ceremonies

The opening ceremony was held on the evening of 28 July 2023 at the newly built

Dong'an Lake Stadium Dongan may refer to: People *Donegan, an Irish surname, sometimes spelled Dongan * Dongan Baronets, in the Baronetage of Ireland *Dungan people, a Muslim population of Chinese origin living in central Asia Places *Yunfu City (), Guangdong, China ...

, which replaced the Chengdu Stadium as the main city sports venue. The ceremony featured the parade of nations and other aspects of the traditional protocol, including the raising of the FISU flag, the opening declaration, and the athlete's, coach's and judge's oaths. The artistic portion showcased the cultural features of the host city and province and blended technology with art. The flame was lit by

taikonaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spacecraft. Although generally reserve ...

Ye Guangfu Ye Guangfu ( zh, s=叶光富, p=Yè Guāngfù; born September 1980) is a Chinese fighter pilot and People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps (PLAAC) taikonaut selected as part of the Shenzhou program. A veteran of the Shenzhou 13 and Shenzhou 1 ...

(who also born in

) along with 30 university sport athletes representing each previous edition of the World University Games. The ceremony concluded with a gold-colored fireworks display, aptly titled "Golden Dreams." The closing ceremony was held on the evening of 8 August 2023 at Chengdu Open Air Music Park. The ceremony was more modest and featured the athletes' entrance and other aspects of the traditional protocol, including the lowering of the FISU flag and the closing declaration. The artistic portion featured modern music-and-dance performances along with references to traditional

Sichuan opera Sichuan opera (; Sichuanese Pinyin: Cuan1ju4; ) is a type of Chinese opera originating in China's Sichuan province around 1700. Today's Sichuan opera is a relatively recent synthesis of five historic melodic styles. Chengdu is the main home of S ...

. The FISU flag was then handed over to Germany’s Rhine-Ruhr Region (the host of the next edition in

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

), which then presented a handover segment titled "Rhine-Ruhr 2025 - Passionately Connected by Fire and Water." The flame was then extinguished before the ensemble cast performed a rendition of the traditional farewell song "

Auld Lang Syne "Auld Lang Syne" () is a Scottish song. In the English-speaking world, it is traditionally sung to bid farewell to the old year at the stroke of midnight on Hogmanay/New Year's Eve. It is also often heard at funerals, graduations, and as a far ...

Medal table

Sports

Because of the establishment of the FISU University Football World Cup in 2019, football would no longer be part of the program starting from this edition. With this change, the number of compulsory sports would be kept at fifteen, and so it was decided that from this edition onwards, badminton would take its place after five editions as an optional sport The three optional sports chosen by the Organizing Committee were shooting, rowing and wushu. *

Aquatics Aquatics may refer to: *Aquatic sports in the Olympics and other international competitions, including the disciplines of swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, water polo, and open water swimming *Water-related sports more broadly (including boa ...

** ** ** * * * * * * **

Artistic gymnastics Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different types of apparatus. The sport is governed by the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique, Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), ...

(14) **

Rhythmic gymnastics Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform individually or in groups on a floor with an apparatus: hoop (rhythmic gymnastics), hoop, ball (rhythmic gymnastics), ball, Clubs (rhythmic gymnastics), clubs, ribbon (rhythmic gymnastics), ...

(8) * * * * * * * *

Participating NUSFs

The following 116 National University Sporting Federations sent delegations to the 2021 Summer World University Games.

Non-participating NUSFs

Withdrawing NUSFs

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

: Canada withdrew from participating in the event due to monetary and logistic issues and health risks. #

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

: Also withdrew from participating in the event due budgetary and logistics issues. #

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

: Withdrew from participating in the event due to COVID-19 crisis. #

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

BUCS British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS; ) is the governing body for higher education sport in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2008, BUCS is responsible for organising 54 inter-university sports in the United Kingdom, as well as represe ...

(British Universities and Colleges Sport) Also withdrew from participating in the event due budgetary issues.

Banned NUSFs

Both Belarus and Russia were banned from the games due to the

and

Russian Olympic Committee The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) is the National Olympic Committee representing Russia. Its current president during IOC suspension is Mikhail Degtyarev. The membership of ROC is currently suspended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC ...

was allowed to compete. #

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

Controversies

India wushu team visas incidents

India withdrew its wushu team to protest against the issuance of Chinese stapled visas to athletes from

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeast India. It was formed from the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and India declared it as a state on 20 February 1987. Itanagar is its capital and la ...

, which China views as part of southern

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

Somali 100-meter nepotism allegations

During the 100-meter race, Somali athlete Nasra Ali Abukar finished last with a time of 21.81 seconds, more than 10 seconds behind the winning runner. The video of Ali Abukar's exceptionally poor performance went viral on social media, with the Somali athletics officials drawing criticism for allowing a person with no athletic background and minimal preparation to represent the country. Allegations of nepotism were levied against the Somali Athletics Federation, as it was revealed that Ali Abukar is the niece of

Somali Olympic Committee The Somali Olympic Committee () is the National Olympic Committee representing Somalia. Logo Image:SomaliOlympicCommittee.jpg, Former logo See also * Somalia at the Olympics References External linksSomali Olympic Committee(English site) ...

President Abdullahi Ahmed Tarabi and Somali Athletics Federation Chair Khadija Adan Dahir. Somali Minister of Youth and Sport Mohamed Barre apologized for the incident and ordered an investigation into Ali Abukar's selection. This investigation resulted in the Somali Olympic Committee suspending Dahir, who eventually resigned from her position.

Marketing

Motto

The official motto of the games is "Chengdu Makes Dreams Come True" ().

Logo

The logo of the games draws inspiration from the

Golden Sun Bird The Golden Sun Bird, or the Sun and Immortal Birds Gold Ornament ( zh, t=太陽神鳥金飾, s=太阳神鸟金饰, p=Tàiyáng Shénniǎo Jīnshì), is an ancient artifact, unearthed in 2001 at Jinsha archaeological site located in the city of C ...

, a symbol of ancient Sichuan culture and also from the letter 'U' that stands for university sports.

Mascot

The mascot "Rong Bao" (), a

giant panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear or simply panda, is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its white animal coat, coat with black patches around the eyes, ears, legs and shoulders. ...

, was unveiled on 30 December 2019. "蓉" stands for Chengdu and "宝" means Treasure.

Schedule

The original schedule was published on 26 August 2021. However, FISU announced on 6 May 2022 that the Games had been rescheduled for 2023 in a period between the

2023 World Aquatics Championships The 2023 World Aquatics Championships, the 20th edition of the World Aquatics Championships, were held in Fukuoka, Japan, from 14 to 30 July 2023. Originally scheduled to be held in 2021 as the 19th championships, the championships were postpo ...

and the

2023 World Athletics Championships The 2023 World Athletics Championships (), the nineteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships, were held from 19 to 27 August 2023 at the National Athletics Centre (Budapest), National Athletics Centre, in Budapest, Hungary. The tourna ...

and this led to a readjustment of the calendar. :''All times and dates use

China Standard Time The time in China follows a single standard UTC offset, time offset of UTC+08:00, where Beijing is located, even though the country spans five geographical time zones. It is the largest sovereign nation in the world that officially observes only ...

(

UTC+8 UTC+08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +08:00. It is the most populous time zone in the world, as well as a possible candidate for ASEAN Common Time, mainly due to China's large population, with an estimated population ...

)''

Notes

References

External links

* * {{Authority control

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Universiade Summer University Games International sports competitions hosted by China Sport in Chengdu Multi-sport events in China Summer World University Games, 2021 Summer World University Games, 2021

Summer World University Games The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a Blend word, portmanteau of the wor ...

July 2023 in China August 2023 in China