2011 Winter Universiade Update
September 9th, 2008
F.l.t.r.: Eric Saintrond, Mehmet Atalay, Milan Augustin, Yunus Akgül, Kemal Tamer, Serdar Atalay
On September 8, 2008, Eric Saintrond, FISU Secretary General/CEO, and Milan Augustin, Director for Winter Universiade, paid a visit to Ankara, Turkey, in order to meet with Mehmet Atalay, General Director of Youth and Sports, Yunus Akgül, new Coordinator of the Winter Universiade in Erzurum and Deputy General Director of Youth and Sports, as well as with Serdar Atalay, the Head of the Facilities Department of Youth and Sports. Mr. Kemal Tamer, President of the Turkish University Sports Federation (TUSF) and FISU Executive Committee member also attended this important meeting.
FISU Media: What was the reason of your visit to Ankara with the local authorities? A few months ago, we were informed by our Turkish friends that the Governor of Erzurum, Celalettin Güvenç, who had been the leading person in the Organizing Committee, had changed. Therefore, it was important for us to know with whom FISU was going to deal in the future. Furthermore, we were also in Ankara in order to express our concerns regarding the construction of the sports facilities and the Athletes’ Village. Indeed, Erzurum must build new facilities for all sports and, due to harsh winter weather conditions between November and April, it is difficult to manage constructions during that time. Therefore, we believe that a good construction plan must be prepared to make sure that all deadlines will be met.
FISU Media: What about the progress of the general organization of the Winter Universiade in Erzurum? Everyone still remembers very well how successful the 2005 Izmir Summer Universiade was and the ability of our Turkish friends in the organization of major events. However, we are now talking about winter sports and it is clear that the expertise and experience of Turkey in winter sports competition is not at the same level as in summer sports. One of the subjects of our discussion was the training and education of the officials who will run the competitions. A very close cooperation with the International Sports Federations is crucial in some specific sports. For instance, experts from the International Biathlon Union (IBU), and the International Ski Federation (FIS) in Cross Country Skiing, have already paid a visit to Erzurum to establish a close collaboration with the Organizing Committee. Of course, in the next four months, the Erzurum Organizing Committee will be invited to join several meetings abroad in the frame of the Winter Universiade. The first one will take place in Harbin, China, at the occasion of the Head of Delegation meeting from September 25th to 27th, 2008. Afterwards, during the FISU Executive Committee meeting that will be held on October 17th and 18th, 2008, in Belgrade, Serbia, the Erzurum Organizing Committee will present an extensive report on the progress of the preparation of the Winter Universiade. During this meeting, FISU will receive detailed information about the construction plans which will allow our Supervision Committee Members, Technical Committee members and our Winter Universiade Director, Milan Augustin, to better supervise the progress of the works. During the Games in Harbin, in February 2009, a large delegation from Erzurum will be invited as observers to collect relevant information and obtain experience by observing the work of the Organizing Committee in Harbin.
FISU Secretary-General presents Mehmet Atalay General-Director of Youth and Sports of Turkey with a FISU souvenir
FISU Media: After your visit to Ankara, are you confident that the 2011 Winter Universiade in Erzurum will be very successful? We all know the strong ability of Turkish people in achieving major projects. The 2005 Summer Universiade was a great success even if the construction of some sport facilities were only built during the last couple of months prior to the Opening Ceremony of the Summer Universiade. However, when talking about Winter Sports, the situation is different. Indeed, FISU received all the guarantees from the Turkish authorities that all venues will be completed on time and before November 2010. We are very fortunate that the National University Sports Federation of Turkey is a very active FISU Member Association led by our Executive Committee member, Mr. Kemal Tamer. I am convinced that with the experience associated to the full support of the Turkish authorities we will have fantastic Winter Games in Erzurum.
FISU Media: What are the most important actions that must be conducted and completed by the Erzurum Organizing Committee in the upcoming months? Actually, we have already submitted to the Organizing Committee a number of technical reports given by our technical chairs concerning the technical preparations of the Winter Universiade including a technical master plan. We have also insisted on the fact that international experts from International Sports Federations be associated to the construction process of the sport facilities. This will guarantee that all snow facilities designed by US SE Group and Ateljes as well as all other sports facilities will meet international standards and will be completed on time to organize test events. This is a major point which will ensure the good running of the Winter Universiade in Erzurum. We also had the opportunity to meet a number of young people and people involved in Winter National Sports Federations and we know that all of them are eager to attend training seminars in order to get more expertise. The experience acquired by the staff will certainly be essential at the time of organizing test events and running the Winter Universiade itself.
