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The Fédération Internationale du Sport Universitaire (FISU, English: International University Sports Federation), based in Brussels, Belgium coordinates the activities of over 100 national university sport federations and organizes the Winter and the Summer Universiades in uneven years and World University Championships in even years.
The word "Universiade" comes from "university" and "Olympiad", and means Olympic games for students. The Universiade is an international sporting and cultural festival, which is, staged every two years in a different city and which is second in importance only to the Olympic games.
History
FISU was officially formed in 1949, but its origin goes back to the 1920s when the Frenchman, Jean Petitjean, organized the first "World Student Games" in Paris, France in May 1923. The following year saw the birth of the International Confederation of Students (I.C.S.), which held a congress in Warsaw, Poland. Several delegations took part and the movement was launched. From 1925 to 1939, many great sporting events were organized by the students and the I.C.S.: in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1925, Rome, Italy in 1927, then again in Paris, Darmstadt, Germany (1930), Turin, Italy (1933), Budapest, Hungary (1935), Paris (1937) and Monaco (1939). The Second World War interrupted these meetings, but when peace was restored, France re-launched the World University Games
This peace was relative, because the shadow of the Cold War soon divided university sport. In 1949, although the International Students Union (I.S.U.) organized games at which very few western countries participated, the International University Sports Federation (FISU), born the previous year in Luxembourg, was officially founded and organized its first International University Sports Weeks bringing together the western delegations. These meetings took place notably in Meran-Merano, Italy (1949), Luxembourg (1951), Dortmund, Germany (1953) and San Sebastian, Spain (1955). In a new departure in 1957, the French Federation organized a World University Sports Championship, which brought together students from Eastern and Western blocks.
From this meeting came the desire to organize a universal event in which students from all over the world could participate. In 1959, FISU and the I.S.U. agreed to participate in the games organized in Turin by the Italian association: C.U.S.I. That year was undoubtedly the one that left the biggest impression on the federation. In fact, the Italian organizers baptized these 1959 games with the name Universiade and created the flag with a "U" surrounded by stars, which was going to begin its journey around the world, and replaced the national anthems at the medal-awarding ceremonies by the Gaudeamus Igitur. The Universiade in Turin was a success for the local executive committee and for the man who was going to change the future of the university sports movement: Dr Primo Nebiolo. At this Universiade, which brought together 43 different countries and 1,400 participants, many non-member federations asked to become members of FISU.
However, even though university sports finally led a peaceful coexistence, the modus vivendi still needed to be established. In addition to the agreement that was made concerning national symbols (neither flags nor anthems) and on the program, FISU determined its philosophy in article 2 of its statutes by stipulating: "FISU pursues its objects without consideration or discrimination of a political, denominational or racial nature". From then on, FISU was to organize the Games on a worldwide level.
Ever since this important period, the Universiades continues to attract more and more participants. It went from a total of 1407 participants in Turin 1959 - including 985 student-athletes - to a total of 6009 in 1999 (Palma de Mallorca, Spain) - including 4076 student-athletes - from more than 125 countries.
The Winter Universiades experienced the same success. In fact, the statistics show that 98 athletes participated in 1958 at the Universiade in Zeel-Am-See, Austria while 1007 participants came from 41 countries to the Universiade in Zakopane, Poland in 2001.
Championships
The expansion of university sport around the world created a new need for meetings and competitions in order to complete the Universiade program. Thus, FISU has also supervised the World University Championships since the early sixties.
These championships, which take place on even years and which have had increasing success as the years go on, guarantee continuity in the competitions program. They also allow a large number of students and university sports leaders to unite on occasions other than at Universiades.
Emblem and flag
The Italian University Sports Center (CUSI) created the emblem for the 1959 World University Games, although the stars were originally curved around the bottom of the U.
FISU has recently renewed the design of its emblem in order to improve the consistency of the emblems at the FISU events. The emblem consists of a black letter "U" printed on a white background, centered over 5 stars divided into two lines. The 3 upper stars are from left to right respectively: blue, black and red, and the 2 lower stars are yellow and green. The 'FISU' logotype, in black, is centered beneath the stars.
The FISU flag includes the emblem of FISU centered on a flag made out of white material.
Structure
FISU is composed of a General Assembly, which represents the members (134 National University Sports Federations). It is the organization’s main governing body. It elects the Executive Committee for a period of four years, which takes all the necessary decisions for the smooth running of FISU. Ten permanent commissions advise the Executive Committee in their specialized areas and so to simplify its duties.
The president of FISU is currently George E. Killian.
The Conference
The FISU Conference takes place at the same time as the Universiade, complementing the sporting aspect with sociological study and scientific research, thus illustrating the need to bring together Sport and the University Spirit. This FISU Conference also entitled "Conference for the Study of University Sport" tackles topics relating to the different aspects of sport and physical education.
The Forum
Since, like the Universiade, the Congress is biennial, FISU wished to give students and university sport officials the opportunity to meet more often to discuss subjects involving education, culture and sport, through Forum seminars.
Practically speaking, Forum seminars will take place every two years, alternating with Universiade years, and each time in a different location.
External links
"International University Sports Federation"