The city of Izmir lies on the western Anatolia peninsula and is surrounded by the Aegean Sea. The 5000-year-old metropolis now boasts an estimated population of 3.3 million, coming in third behind Istanbul and Ankara. It is a bustling and vibrant place, complete with museums, galleries and a plethora of ancient tourist attractions. And for those who were lucky enough to be in this eastern locale during the middle of August, the World University Summer Games were an added bonus.
Between August 11-21 Izmir played host to a gathering of athletes who had arrived to compete at the 23rd niversiade. The word universiade is a marriage of ‘university’ and ‘Olympiad’ and is meant to mean ‘Olympic Games for students.’ Similar to the Olympics, there are separate universiades for winter and summer sports. The Games are held every two years, in a different country around the globe.
In order to be eligible for competition, athletes must be full-time students at recognized universities and meet sport-specific criteria set by national governing boards. In essence, the university games are just like the Olympics; competitors stay in athlete villages, take part in opening and closing ceremonies, and compete in Olympic-calibre venues.
“It’s similar to the Olympics in that they build a village and all the athletes stay together, but it’s not as competitive,” swimmer Liz Warden said. “Everyone wants to do well, but it’s not like the Olympics. Everyone is more friendly and social here.”
This year’s competition attracted approximately 9,000 student athletes from 170 countries. It saw 11 present and former students from the University of Toronto head east to compete against the world’s best. Soccer coach Beth McCharles and therapist Angela Greco also represented U of T at the event.
In the pool, physical education student Jennifer Porenta competed in five events and reached the finals in two of them. She finished seventh in the B final of the 200m freestyle and helped the Canadian women place seventh in the 4x100m relay. Ian Macleod of Mississauga was 32nd in his 100m butterfly heat and did not advance further; however, former U of T Varsity Blue and 2002 CIS athlete of the year Liz Warden reached the finals in all of her events. She placed fourth, eighth, and seventh respectively in the 200m individual medley, 400m individual medley, and the 200m backstroke.
“I was pretty happy with my performance,” said Warden. “It was a little hard because I had just come back from the World (Aquatic) Championships in Montreal, so my training was geared towards that competition. It was tough to carry over the momentum to these games.”
Warden, who also represented Canada at the 2004 Olympic Games, will enter teacher’s college this fall at U of T. Her next big competition will be the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
Three other U of T students were competing in track and field in the blistering heat at Atatürk Stadium. five time CIS gold medallist Jocelyn Adu-Gyumfi managed a fifth-place finish in the long jump final, and pole-vaulter Jason Wurster was 16th in his qualifying round. Former national junior champion Mark Dillon placed 14th in his heat in the High Jump.
Meanwhile, four students competed in tae kwon do over at the Kültürpark Hol. Females Diana Sen and Dominique Bosshart (a bronze medallist at the Sydney Olympics) were eliminated in the quarterfinals. Ali Ghafour of Ajax and Eric Ahn of Etobicoke both made it to the round of 16, but could not get any farther.
Brian Arcand, competing in the archery competition, lost to Choi Young Kwang from Korea in the round of 64.
Team Canada won a total of 12 medals and finished 16th in the overall medal standings at the 2005 World University Games. Russia won 26 gold medals at the games and finished with a standings-topping 65 medals for the competition. Japan finished second with 18 gold and a total of 65 medals.
The next universiade will be held in 2007 and will take place in Bangkok, Thailand. Current U of T athletes will be training hard in the hope of helping Canada crack the top ten in Thailand in two years.
