BRUSSELS - Today, March 15th, the Bidding Committees for the 2015 Universiades delivered their Bidding Books at the FISU Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Present were Edmonton (CAN), Gwangju (KOR) and Taipei City (TPE), Bidding Cities for the 2015 Summer Universiade and Granada (ESP), Bidding City for the 2015 Winter Universiade.

For the first time in FISU history, a special ceremony was organized and all Bidding Candidates delivered their books at the same time.

The delegates were welcomed by FISU 1st Vice-President Claude-Louis Gallien and Secretary-General/CEO Eric Saintrond. Present also for FISU were EC members Stefan Bergh, Chair of the Evaluation Committee for the 2015 SU Candidates and Leonz Eder, Chair of the Evaluation Committee for the 2015 WU Candidates as well as the FISU Staff.

FISU 1st Vice President GallienMr. Gallien welcomed all delegates and gave an outline of the ‘competition' that lies ahead and stressed the importance of fair-play during the bidding campaign.

Then the floor was given to Mr. Eder and Mr. Bergh to introduce their respective candidates for Winter and Summer.

The delegates of the different cities were given the floor as well. Some random quotes:

‘The Winter Universiade will be a great opportunity for Granada, if FISU accepts our bid', Mr. Ignacio Valenzuela, Head of the Granada delegation said. ‘Sierra Nevada has already been a landmark for Alpine Skiing after the 1996 FIS Alpine Skiing World Championships, but the Universiade will also bring to ice sports to our city and will make Granada an entire winter sports site.'

‘In Canada, we take pride that we have built a country that is known for tolerance, peace and stability. We celebrate diversity, multiculturalism and mutual respect', Mr. Mike Mahon, Vice-President of the Edmonton Bid Committee told the audience. We are proud of the country we have built, but we also know success is not truly success unless it is shared, and that's why we have taken great care to create a bid for the 2015 Summer Universiade that considers we can share our values with the rest of the world.'

FISU Secretary-General/CEO Saintrond‘Based on our invaluable experience last year from our bid for the 2013 Universiade, we have been able to put our best into preparing for the 2015 Summer Universiade which shall be an arena of friendship, harmony and peace for the University students of the world', Mr. Park, Mayor of Gwangju commented.

‘Bidding for the Universiade is an educating process and invaluable experience for anyone from the city of Taipei and our University Sports Federation. It is a good chance to look at ourselves and find out how good we are and how much we have done as a candidate city', Mookie Wang, Taipei representative shared. ‘I know, in order to win the bid, Taipei has to be the best qualified candidate city it can possibly be by the FISU standards. We need to constantly improve ourselves and grow as a candidate city with the FISU Family That's why I mentioned earlier, the city and our federation are going through the educating process together. That is what bidding for the Summer Universiade is all about. Learn to be a qualified candidate city for FISU. Learn to become a better organization for our Federation.'

After their speech the Bid Cities Representatives handed their bid book to the FISU lawyer Mr. Etienne Vauthier who put it in a sealed envelope.

In his closing speech Mr. Galien referred to three words: ‘Share from Edmonton, Legacy from Gwangju and Fair Play from Taipei, these words are what the Universiade is about. Granada is probably the city in Europe that shared a lot throughout history and what a beautiful city it became. I thank all the candidates for presenting your bid book and wish you all the best.'

In April and May the Evaluation Committees will visit the candidate cities to make an extensive report for the FISU Executive Committee which will attribute the 2015 Games on May 23rd in Brussels. 

Follow the ceremony
on FISU TV - click here

Granada Bid Book Delivery by Mr. Valenzuela to Mr. Vauthier and Mr. Eder

Edmonton Bid Book Delivery by Mr. Mahon to Mr. Vauthier and Mr. Bergh

Gwangju Bid Book Delivery by Mayor Park to to Mr. Vauthier and Mr. Bergh

Taipei Bid Book Delivery by Mr. Wang to Mr. Vauthier and Mr. Bergh

The travelling schedule of the Evaluation Committees will be as follows:

- 2015 Summer Candidates:
• Taipei City: April 3rd to 5th
• Gwangju: April 6th to 9th
• Edmonton: May 1st to 4th

- 2015 Winter Candidate:
• Granada: April 6th to 9th