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7/13/2009
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Universiade – Serbia’s Feat and Triumph
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At the ceremonial conference, attended by members of Organizing and Executive Committees, representatives of public companies, sponsors, media partners and Universiade employees, the 25th Summer Universiade has closed down.
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Bozidar Djelic, the chairman of the Organizing Committee and deputy prime minster of Serbia, addressed media representatives on behalf of all those who took part in organizing and realizing the biggest sports event in 2009.
- The Universiade is Serbia’s feat and triumph. At the press conference, we were given top marks for the Universiade organization by George Killian, the FISU chairman. This is Serbia’s triumph, but I need to thank citizens of this country who gave their support to this event despite this year’s financial crisis.
He reminded the auditorium that the initial idea for hosting the Universiade had come from the late Mayor of Belgrade, Nenad Bogdanovic.
-This is not just a triumph, this is the veritable feat. Serbia and Belgrade have found themselves in the company of giants. We have become one of the leading countries as regards University sport. Thailand organized the previous Universiade and they spent 700 million Euros. The next Universiade will be in China, and Chinese have announced that they plan to spend 720 million, while Russia, the organizer of the 2013 Universiade are going to spend 604 million. I have said jokingly that this Unversiade was, by financial criteria, a frugal event, but by no means below Universiade standards. Belgrade has set the bar high for future organizers of sports events without having exceeded the budget we had – Djelic said at the press conference.
The chairman of the Universiade Belgrade 2009 said that the cost of organization of the sports event at which 8600 athletes from 128 countries played was 75 million Euros.
- We are not as numerous as the Chinese and we don’t have as much money as Russia. We have the know-how, resourcefulness, inventiveness, unity. We managed to make the Universiade look like million dollars with ten times less money.
The state of Serbia has provided two thirds, 25% was provided by the city of Belgrade while Vojvodina has provided 10% of the funds.
- Valuable sports equipment, 53 newly renovated sports venues for 15 sports are the legacy of the Universiade. We have built two of the most up-to-date athletic tracks. Sports Hall in Smederevo has been reconstructed. This is Serbia’s victory.
Serbian national University team is in the 10th place according to number of medals won. Out of 19 medals, Serbian won 5 gold, 5 silver and 9 bronze medals.
- That is the record number of medals for Serbia. We are one of the ten most successful sports nations in the world – said Bozidar Djelic.
10 000 volunteers helped with the organization of the Universiade and 5000 more were engaged on preparation of competitions.
- I would like, once again, to thank our volunteers because they were the ones who showed to the world the true face of Serbia. I can’t even begin to count the number of times I was stopped by someone to tell me: “You are great, but your volunteers are something special”. They were prized not only for being resourceful and receptive to other people’s needs and fluent in foreign languages, but because they knew how to correlate with people from diverse cultures. There is a deeper message in that – our people know how to correlate with 128 different cultures and come out victorious.
At the Universiade, competitions in 15 sports and 203 disciplines for 8600 athletes have been played. 1467 medals have been awarded and over 200 hours of sports program has been telecast from Belgrade to 60 countries in the world.
At the 25th Summer Universiade, 34 Universiade records have been broken and over 500 thousand people viewed competitions in Belgrade.
- A day after the great victory for Serbia, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all those people who have worked day and night to make the Universiade possible. I hope they will be given a chance to play other important matches in their lives and organize other sports events important for their country – said Nebijsa Ilic, the chairman of the Executive Committee.
Vojislav Tabacki, assistant minister of sport and youth said that he was proud of the successful organization of the Universiade.
- I am proud that Belgrade, together with five other Serbian towns, was the host of the Universiade. I want to express thanks to the government of Serbia for not backing out of the Universiade, despite financial problems. Serbia is a small country, but it has resources, ability, but above all, young and intelligent people we can be proud of. I would also like to express my thanks to different Sport Associations of Serbia for their immeasurable help – said Vojislav Tabacki.
Radmila Hrustanovic, assistant Mayor of Belgrade, said that in Belgrade and Serbia, sport has achieved a victory over cheap politics.
- Serious, responsible and hard-working Serbia has won; people who have taken responsibility for organization of the biggest sports event in 2009 had over 200% of work more than is usual. Our guests have said that, as host, we deserve a 10; 10 is the place we occupy on the list of world sports powers.
Nadja Higl, Serbian star swimmer, who has won two silver medals in 100 and 200m breaststroke events, address the auditorium on behalf of Serbian athletes.
- We gave our maximum at these Games. I hope Serbia wins even more medals at the next Universiade – said Nadja Higl.
Bozidar Djelic presented Universiade organizers with Letters of thanks. The first to receive the Letter of thanks was Ana Kostadinovic, the little girl who, together with Manchester United football player Nemanja Vidic, opened the Universiade. Members of UB2009 Executive Committee, mayors of towns where Universiade competitions were held, UB2009 directors and editors of leading Serbian media houses also received Letters of thanks.
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