2021 Summer World University Games


The 2021 Summer World University Games, the XXXI Summer World University Games will be held in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, originally scheduled from 8 to 19 August 2021. Delayed twice due to scheduling change and was rescheduled to 18 to 29 August 2021, ten days after the rescheduled 2020 Summer Olympics.

Host selection

On 1 September 2014, FISU launched of the bidding process for the 2021 Winter and Summer Universiades. Although not officially announced, it was virtually certain that Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan would host the event, but for unknown reasons the city withdrew.

Candidate city

Chengdu, China

On 13 December 2018, during a meeting of the International University Sports Federation's Steering Committee in Braga in Portugal, it was announced that the Chinese city of Chengdu became the only official candidate to host the event. The city was officially announced as host city during a meeting of the entity's executive board during the 2019 Winter Universiade which was held in Krasnoyarsk in Russia. Chengdu will be the third city in Mainland China to host an edition of the Summer Universiade, the first was Beijing in 2001 and the second was Shenzhen 10 years later. China also hosted the 2009 Winter Universiade in Harbin.

Previously interested cities

Bucharest, Romania

In March 2015, days after the closing ceremonies of 2015 Winter Universiade FISU has been informed about the intention of Bucharest, capital of Romania to make a bid for the 2021 Summer Universiade. Should Bucharest won, this would have been the second Summer Universiade hosted by the city, with the first was in 1981.

Cali, Colombia

In July 2016, FISU has been informed about the intention of the city of Santiago de Cali, Colombia interested in hosting the 2021 Summer Universiade. Should Cali won, it would have become the second South American city to host the Summer Universiade, the first since 1979 to be held in Latin America, and the first since 1993 to be held in the Americas.

Seoul, South Korea and Pyongyang, North Korea

On 4 October 2018, it was announced by the mayor of Seoul that there were joint negotiations between the city, the capital of North Korea, Pyongyang and FISU, so that both cities could host the 2021 Summer Universiade, the proposal would be that the opening ceremony would be held in Seoul, while the closing would be in Pyongyang. Should the talks came to fruition, this would have been the third time in history that the Summer Universiade would be held in South Korea, the first time was in 2003 in Daegu and the second was in 2015 in Gwangju. The country also hosted the 1997 Winter Universiade, in Muju County and the Jeonju city. This would have been the first time in history that more than one country host a Summer Universiade, as well as first for North Korea. This had already happened at the 2015 Winter Universiade, when due to the extremely high risk of an environmental disaster, the Spanish city of Granada was unable to host the Nordic skiing and biathlon events and they have been transferred to FISU approved to move the Nordic Skiing and Biathlon events to Štrbské Pleso and Osrblie in Slovakia.

Sports

Motto

The official motto of the games is Chengdu Makes Dreams Come True or 在成都,成就每一个梦想 in Chinese.

Logo

The logo of the World University Games in Chengdu draws inspiration from the sunbird, a symbol of ancient Sichuan culture and also from the letter 'U' that stands for university sports.

Mascot

The mascot "Rong Bao", a Giant panda, was unveiled on 30 December 2019. "蓉" stands for Sichuan and "宝" means baby.