WWW.UNIVERSITYSPORT.CA
June 11, 2008

2015 Universiade: Edmonton, U of A win Canadian bid
OTTAWA (CIS) - Canadian Interuniversity Sport announced Wednesday morning that the City of Edmonton and the University of Alberta had been selected as the domestic partner that will work with CIS in its efforts to bring the 2015 Universiade to Canada.

Edmonton hosted the only Universiade previously held in Canada, in the summer of 1983.

The CIS Partnership Selection Committee evaluated proposals from Edmonton and the U of A to organize the 2015 Summer Games, and from Quebec City and Laval University to host the 2015 Winter Universiade.

The Selection Committee recommended to the CIS Board of directors that the Edmonton bid be advanced to the next phase of the CIS International Partnership Framework, which involves the development and submission of the funding application to the Federal Government.

The Board unanimously supported the Selection Committee's decision on Tuesday.

"Both bids presented an excellent opportunity to bring the Fédération Internationale du Sport Universitaire family to Canada and showcase university sport in our country," said CIS Chief Executive Officer, Marg McGregor. "The CIS Partnership Selection Committee was in the enviable position of having two excellent candidates to choose from."

"Both Edmonton and Quebec demonstrated a capacity to run "best-ever" Universiades."

The Selection Committee, comprised of McGregor, former University of Saskatchewan Athletic Director Ross Wilson and current University of New Brunswick Athletic Director Kevin Dickie, applied the selection criteria as published in the International Partnership Framework against the written bid materials, the site evaluation visits, and the bid presentations in Ottawa on June 8.

In addition to securing government support, the next steps in the FISU bid process for the 2015 Winter and Summer Universiades are: - September 2008: Call for bids from FISU; - March 2009: FISU site visits; - May 2009: FISU selection of host city for 2015 Winter and Summer Universiades.

The next Universiades will be staged in:

- 2009: Harbin, China (winter) / Belgrade, Serbia (summer) - 2011: Erzurum, Turkey (winter) / Shenzhen, China (summer) - 2013: Maribor, Slovenia (winter) / Kazan, Russia (summer)

About the Universiade The Universiade is an international sporting and cultural festival that is staged every two years and is second in size only to the Olympic Games.

The Summer Universiade consists of 12 compulsory sports (Athletics - Basketball - Fencing - Soccer - Gymnastics - Judo - Swimming - Diving - Water Polo - Table Tennis - Tennis - Volleyball) as well as optional sports chosen by the host country. The record figures are 9,006 participants in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2007, and 174 countries in Daegu, Korea, in 2003.

The Winter Universiade consists of eight compulsory sports (Alpine skiing - Snowboarding - Nordic skiing composed of jump, cross country & combined - Curling - Ice Hockey - Short Track Speed Skating - Figure Skating - Biathlon). The host country also chooses one to three optional sports. A record of 2,511 student-athletes participated in Torino, Italy, in 2007, and a record number of 50 countries were represented in Innsbruck, Austria, in 2005.

-CIS-