Relay of the Universiade Flame meeting in Torino

The Taipei Torch Relay made a fitting final stop — a baseball diamond in the middle of Taipei Stadium for a home run moonshot to light the Universiade cauldron last August

The Relay of the Universiade Flame is a wonderful tradition. It starts in Turin, a magnificent city, an important business and cultural center of the northern Italy. The international stage always starts in Turin, where the First Summer Universiade took place in 1959.

The aim of the project is to unite the international community of university students from five continents, promote healthy lifestyles and attract public attention to university sport that is showing the highest level of achievement. 

This year is no exception as work on this ambitious project already started in early May. The Rector of the University of Turin Gianmaria Ajani, together with the representatives of CUS Torino President Riccardo D’Elicio and the Head of International relations of CUS Torino Silvia Bini, welcomed the delegation of the FISU members and Organizing Committee of the Winter Universiade Krasnoyarsk 2019.

The delegation consisted of the General adviser to the FISU President Igor Sivov and several representatives of the Winter Universiade Krasnoyarsk 2019 Organizing Committee, namely the Deputy Director General Stella Alekseeva and the Head of Universiade Flame Department Anna Rabushko.

The main purpose of the inspection visit was to see if the city of Turin is ready to host the Ceremony of Lighting the Relay of the Universiade Flame once again and to determine the Flame’s route.

The Ceremony traditionally starts at the University of Turin. The Polytechnic University of Turin will be the place there the Relay of the Universiade Flame is handed over to the representative of the country that hosts  the Universiade. The delegation visited  these sites and also inspected the route of the torchbearers.

 The Rector of the University of Turin, Gianmaria Ajani (right), and General Adviser to the FISU President, Igor Sivov, pose for the camera in Torino this May

The meeting in CUS Torino with technical supplier of Turin was of equal importance.  It focused on the key aspects of technical capabilities. The decision on the format of the Ceremony of Lighting the Relay of the Universiade Flame will be finally made according to these aspects.

During the inspection visit an agreement was reached to hold the Opening Ceremony of the Relay of the Universiade Flame in Turin on September 20th 2018 as it makes sense to tie the start of this event with that of the International Day of University Sport, which is celebrated annually on this date.

 The FISU Flame getting passed during the most recent torch relay in Torino

One more significant event took place during the inspection visit. Mr. Sivov presented the concept of the flame bowl to the University of Turin rector. The concept is that at first it will serve as a flame bowl, but then it is to remain in  Turin University as a monument.

Every Universiade will start with the lighting of the Relay flame from this bowl. The project was approved by FISU President Oleg Matytsin, and the Torino Rector supported this idea as well. Gianmaria Ajani was so inspired by this project and expressed his trust and special respect to FISU and promised to allocate space for this bowl in the heart of the University courtyard.

The lighting of the Universiade cauldron is one of the great moments of sports