Ekaterinburg impresses with bid presentation

LAUSANNE – For the second time in as many months, a delegation from the Russian city of Ekaterinburg visited the FISU headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, to give further impetus to their bid to host the Summer Universiade in 2023.

The formal notice of the city’s intention to bid had been received by FISU President Oleg Matytsin in March this year, following which a two-day intensive meeting had been held in early April. Many questions that had come up during those meetings were answered convincingly as the bidding dossier was presented.

“In just a few weeks the Ekaterinburg Bid Committee has been able to produce impressive documents in FISU’s three official languages, English, French and Russian,” said FISU Secretary General-CEO Eric Saintrond after the presentation.

“The dossier includes answers to the questions that had come up and will surely also be raised during the formal presentation to the Executive Committee in July in Naples.”

Some of the major plans outlined in the bidding dossier include the training and competition venues, calendar and schedules, the Universiade Village and other infrastructural schemes.

 
The territory proposed for the Village of the XXXII Summer Universiade is located in the western part of the city, on the picturesque banks of the Verkh-Isetsky Pond.

“The Village is one of the proposals we are extremely impressed with,” continued Saintrond. “After the Universiade the Village will become housing for the Ural University. It will be a fantastic legacy because it will go back to the students.”

The infrastructure and venue plans are carefully balanced between existing and new venues. Among the multiple competition and training venues planned, 67 percent are already existing.

This includes the famed Central Stadium of Yekaterinburg, also known as Ekaterinburg Arena, which is the home ground of Russian Premier League football club FC Ural Yekaterinburg and was also one of the 12 venues for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Much of the other infrastructural work undertaken was already part of the city’s development plans and will get accelerated thanks to the Universiade bid.

The fact that the bid has the highest political support in Russia was evident from the opening comment in the bidding dossier by none other than President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin.

“My greetings to the members of the FISU Executive Committee and thank you for the great work you are doing to promote the Olympic ideals and values among young people, the development of University sports, and the education of tomorrow’s leaders,” wrote President Putin.

The visiting delegation from Ekaterinburg included Director General of the Universiade-2023 Bid Committee Alexander Chernov, Minister of Physical Culture and Sports of Sverdlovsk region Leonid Rapoport, Deputy Director of the World Football Championship Coordination Department Anton Baranov, Deputy Director General of the Universiade-2023 Bid Committee Anna Kopenkina and Deputy Director of Sports Events Center of Sverdlovsk region Anna Baychibaeva. 

Ekaterinburg is one of Russia’s largest cities, often called the ‘third capital’, with a population of just over 1.5 million. It is an education and sports hub, with over 9,525 sports venues in the Sverdlovsk region.

Russia last staged the Summer Universiade in 2013, when Kazan was the host city and the Winter Universiade in March 2019 in Krasnoyarsk. The delegation included Head of Ekaterinburg Alexander Vysokinsky and the Minister of Physical Culture and Sports of Sverdlovsk region, Leonid Rapoport.