Chengdu 2023 Summer World University Games - Broadcast Opening Sequence
Copyright (c) 2023 International University Sports Federation
The 31st edition of the Summer Universiade - now officially known as the FISU Summer World University Games - marks the third time (the fourth overall since the country hosts the winter edition at Harbin in 2009) that the event was hosted by China. Following in the footsteps of Beijing 2001 and Shenzhen 2011, the Games took place at Chengdu, the capital of the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan.
Chengdu is very much associated with the giant panda, considered a Chinese national symbol, which inhabits the area of Sichuan, and this distinction had influenced some assets in the look and feel of the Chengdu Games, from the event's mascot - Rongbao, to the design of the sport pictograms and especially the torch.
The event was postponed many times, mostly because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and especially the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics by one year due to the same reason. It was once timetabled to be held between 16 and 27 August 2021, and was then rescheduled for 26 June to 7 July 2022 just before FISU pushed it back to the dates of 28 July to 8 August 2023, still because of COVID-19 concerns. Ultimately, the Chengdu Games effectively replaced what would be the 32nd edition held at Yekaterinburg in Russia, as its hosting rights had been stripped due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine - FISU also barred Russia and Belarus from the competing at the Games.
The event had attracted 5,059 student athletes from 116 countries, and it featured 268 events in 18 sports. Football, once recognized as a mandatory sport at the Universiade, is excluded from the Games' programme as a result of the creation of FISU's University Football World Cup in 2019. At the same time, badminton gets promoted into a compulsory sport after serving as an optional sport for five editions. Shooting, rowing, and wushu were the three optional sports that are chosen by the games' organizing committee.
Hosts China dominated the Chengdu FISU Summer Games with 178 medals overall, including 103 golds won, finishing on top ahead of Japan at second with 21 golds, while South Korea (58) and Italy (56) had won 17 gold medals each, but placed at third and fourth respectively.
