The 2009 Summer Universiade, officially known as the XXV Summer Universiade, was celebrated in Belgrade, Serbia from July 1 to 12, 2009. The event has also been organised by a range of co-host cities mostly in Vojvodina (Serbian Autonomous Province), close to Belgrade. It was the largest sporting event ever to be organised by the city. At this Universiade the biggest star was the Russian rhythmic gymnast Evgeniya Kanaeva, who won 5 gold medals. Russia was the leading nation in the medal table, with the most gold medals (27) and most medals (76).
The bidding process
The bidding process for the 2009 Summer Universiade games began in early 2004. Together with Belgrade another two cities bid for the event – Monterrey in Mexico and Poznań in Poland. Working in Belgrade's favour were the various major sporting events the city was awarded to host in the upcoming 2005, 2006 and 2007 such as EuroBasket 2005, the 2005 European Volleyball Championship, the 2006 European Water Polo Championship, and the European Youth Olympic Festival 2007. Furthermore, the city launched two unsuccessful candidate bids to organize the Summer Olympic Games: for the 1992 Summer Olympics Belgrade was eliminated in the third round of International Olympic Committee voting, with the games going to Barcelona. The 1996 Summer Olympics ultimately went to Atlanta.
On 10 January 2005 in Innsbruck, Austria, Belgrade was announced as the host of the 2009 Summer Universiade. The ceremony of the host city announcement was attended by the now deceased Belgrade mayor Nenad Bogdanović.
Mascot
The mascot of the 2009 Summer Universiade is a sparrow bird. The organisers chose the sparrow not only because of its symbolic ties to the host city but also because it represents a fast, dynamic and skillful bird, attributes needed for those competing at Universiade. The mascot received a new more modern look in 2009 and a competition began to name the Belgrade sparrow. The three final names for the sparrow were published in the Serbian media in April 2009, with the finalists being Srba, Cvrle and Dživdžan. The final voting was left to the 10,000 Universiade volunteers who overwhelmingly chose the name "Srba".
Venues
The 2009 Summer Universiade took place in 69 venues across Belgrade and near bycities Inđija, Novi Sad, Obrenovac, Pančevo, Smederevo, Vršac and Zrenjanin. Obrenovac hosted the water polo and volleyball competition, Inđija, Pančevo and Vršac the basketball, Novi Sad the athletics and volleyball, while Zrenjanin hosted the swimming competition. The venue for each sport can be found on the official website of the 2009 Summer Universiade in Belgrade.
The opening and closing ceremonies took place at the Belgrade Arena, with a capacity of 20,000. A range of sports halls have undergone intense reconstruction to meet standards for the Universiade games. A number of venues were also newly constructed.
Belgrade Arena — ceremonies, basketball, gymnastics
Stadion Crvena Zvezda — athletics
Partizan Stadium — football (final) Tašmajdan Sports Centre Pool — swimming, diving Tašmajdan Sports Centre Tennis Court — tennis Belgrade Fair — judo, fencing, taekwondo Železnik Hall — basketball Železnik Stadium — football New Belgrade Sports Hall — basketball Dvorana Sumice — basketball FK Obilić Stadium — football Omladinski Stadium — football Lokomotiva Stadion — football Voždovac Stadium — football FK Srem Stadium — football FK Teleoptik Stadium — football FK Makiš Stadium — football SRK Banjica — water polo
Vršac
Millennium Center — basketball
Novi Sad
SPC Vojvodina — volleyball
Smederevo
Smederevo City Stadium — football
Lazarevac
FK Kolubara — football
Inđija
Inđija Stadium — football
Jakovo
FK Jakovo Stadium — football
Universiade Village
The Universiade Village was home to all athletes participating at the 2009 Summer Universiade games. Often referred to as Belville, the village has been newly built and comprises 14 buildings containing modern apartments. The Belville complex consists of a residential area comprising 120,000m², commercial and business facilities comprising 34,800m² and educational facilities comprising 6,100m². The complex also includes 22,000m² of office space. The Belville complex was completed in May 2009 and officially opened in June 2009. 2000 Apartments have been offered for sale in spring of 2008, and the new owners will be allowed to move in during October 2009.