GRANADA – The Opening Ceremony of the 2nd part of the 27th Winter Universiade was held on 4 February in the Granada Congress Palace in an electrifying atmosphere. It is rare that an opening ceremony takes place inside and in the presence of a philharmonic orchestra. The Organizing Committee had made this bet with some success.
The flame is coming
The delegations were invited to parade on stage before the speeches and the traditional entrance of the FISU flag.
As he has done in Strbske Pleso in Slovakia 10 days ago, the FISU President warmly welcomed all participants and also thanked the Spanish authorities including José Torres Hurtado, Chairman of the Organizing Committee and the Mayor of Granada; Mr. Francisco Gonzalez Lodeiro, the Rector of the University of Granada; Sandra Garcia Martin, Head of Government of the Region of Andalusia and Mr. Sebastien Martinez Perez, President of the Provincial Council of Granada.
FISU President Claude-Louis Gallien during his opening speech
The FISU President invited the student-athletes to compete in a spirit of fair play: “The real victory is not to defeat one’s opponents. The only true victory is to conquer oneself and the others in the competition are there to help you. In summary, I believe that anything is possible for those who dream, dare, working together and never give up. You are one of them; for you, anything is possible! Be as you wish to be! Champions here during the Universiade, and leaders that will build a better world, tomorrow!”
The FISU President then invited Mr. José Torres Hurtado to officially open the Games.
The raising of the FISU flag
There followed a magical show with songs and dances typical of the region to the delight of the spectators.
It is now time to think of the competitions which will be held from 4 to 14 February and that in seven sports: curling, ice hockey, figure skating, short track, alpine skiing, freestyle skiing and snowboarding.
Yvan Dufour, Editor-in-Chief – Photos by Yuan Ren
The cultural programme