The Napoli Universiade, which
ended with a spectacular closing ceremony on Sunday after a
12-day festival of sport, will be remembered as a big success.
Apart from some initial hiccups with transport, the athletes
were happy and the World University Games in Naples and Campania
went down well with the public too, with around 300,000 tickets
sold for the various events.
Indeed, several athletes who had also taken part previously
in the Olympics, such as German gymnast Janine Berger, Indian
sprinter Dutee Chand and Italian 400 metres hurdles runner
Ayomide Folorunso, said the experience of the Universiade was
comparable.
It was a success in sporting terms for the host nation too.
The Italian team produced their best ever showing in the
World University Games with 44 medals - 15 golds, 13 silvers and
16 bronzes.
So a good time was had by all.
But now the fun is over, the city and the southern region can
enjoy the benefits of the rich legacy the event leaves behind.
There are no white elephants.
Rather than building new facilities for the Games, organizers
renovated old ones, many of which were in a dreadful state or
had been abandoned outright.
The San Paolo, the home ground of Serie A soccer team Napoli,
got new seats, big screens and lighting systems and the nearby
Scandone swimming pool is now a gem, for example.
Many of these facilities are now ready to be used by local
universities, schools and sporting clubs.
Rather than building an athletes village, most of the
competitors were accommodated on two cruise ships that docked in
the port of Naples for the duration of the Games - an experience
most loved.
"The Games have given new impulse to this region," said Oleg
Matytsin, the president of International University Sports
Federation FISU.
"The (renovated) facilities are new and really modern and
ready to host events in the future.
"This is a legacy".
The Games have enriched the southern region in human terms as
well as material ones.
"There is a legacy in terms of refurbished structures," said
2019 Universiade General Coordinator Adam Sotiriadis.
"There is a legacy in terms of a model of merging sport and
education.
"But the most important that we leave behind is that, by
implementing our programme and giving an opportunity to students
to see how a big event was being organized in every single
speciality - infrastructure, mobility, technology, international
relations - they have gained new skills.
"In the future they will use this know-how".
When Brasilia, the city originally designated to host this
year's Universiade, backed out at the end of 2014, there was a
very real danger that the 2019 World University Games would
simply not take place.
International University Sports Federation FISU reopened the
bidding process, but it was not until 2016 that the Games were
reattributed to Naples and the surrounding region of Campania.
Given the late start and negative stereotypes about the
organizational skills of people in southern Italy in general,
and Naples in particular, there were doubts about whether
Campania would be up to the challenge.
Those doubts looked justified when, with just months to go
to the event, the lost time caused by the late start had still
not been made up.
But despite the skepticism, Naples and Campania have so far
served up a largely successful event and smashed some of those
stereotypes in the process. "I'm generally satisfied but we
haven't got to the end yet," 2019 Universiade General
Coordinator Adam Sotiriadis told ANSA with three days to go to
the Games closing ceremony at the San Paolo Stadium.
"It isn't over until the referee whistles. "But we delivered
the Games. Seven or eight months ago many people didn't believe
that we would deliver the Games. "Thank God, the team worked
with passion, making some mistakes, of course.
"We are delivering the games - I say delivering because we
haven't finished yet".
When asked about whether Naples had defeated the negative
stereotypes, Sotiriadis replied: "It's fact. You'd have to be
blind not to see the differences in the city.
"This is progress," he continued.
"This is a change in the image of the city". Sotiriadis, a
former water polo competitor from Greece with a wealth of
experience in organising sporting events, including the 2004
Athens Olympics, admitted there had been some big problems,
especially regarding transportation.
But he also stressed that transportation is the biggest
challenge for all such major events and the problems are
understandable, to a degree, given that there are several
athletes' villages and dozens of competition and training venues
throughout the region. He also said he had hoped to see bigger
crowds at some events.
The positives for Sotiriadis included the coverage the Games
have had on Italian State broadcaster Rai, Eurosport and FISU TV
and the attention that the event is attracting on social media.
He also expressed delight at the legacy the Games will leave
behind in terms of the professional skills acquired by the young
staff and volunteers involved and in terms of renovated
facilities, singling out the transformation of the San Paolo,
the home ground of Serie A soccer team Napoli, and the Scandone
swimming pool.
Sotiriadis revealed that the head of the US delegation told
him that the spectacular opening ceremony at the San Paolo was
the best operation for such an event he had witnessed after
taking part in 26 Universiade Games.
Another source of pride for Sotiriadis was that, even though
organizers had half of the seven years host countries get to
prepare for an Olympics, corners had not been cut and procedures
that had been followed were given the green light by Italian
anti-corruption authority ANAC. "Events never stop coming up and
Naples and Campania will get other big events very soon," he
said.
"In general, I'm very proud that these games have been
delivered, maybe not with 100% excellence, but we delivered it
in a nice way, with grace and with passion".
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