One of the final big meetings before the beginning of the European Universities Games was held on Friday, July 1, in Rijeka. The central part of the meeting was a lecture held for all those involved in the organization of the EUG in order to familiarize them with the organizational structure of the Games. More than a hundred coordinators, members and heads of boards, technical delegates, sports venue managers, team leaders, and volunteers came to the Faculty of Civil Engineering to see a presentation on the operational functioning of the Games, prepared by the head of the EUG 2016 Main Operations Centre for Rijeka, Nikola Vincetić.
Vincetić started by stating that the Games were only 550 hours away, presenting to the attendees everything that had been done up to that point by various committees of the EUG. He also talked about the upcoming organizational tasks.
The first contestants will arrive to Rijeka on July 10, marking the beginning of the most beautiful sports story ever told in Croatia. Interestingly, all hotels in Rijeka will be full through most of July as approximately 180 EUG participants from 36 countries will come to the city.
The Vice-president of EUSA (European University Sports Association) and the EUG 2016 Haris Pavletić reminded the attendees that this is a historical event for Croatia and Rijeka, expressing his pride on how the interest in the Games is greater than expected. Marko Žunić, Secretary General of the EUG 2016, expressed his gratitude to everyone for their efforts, reminding everyone that a lot of work and sleepless nights still lie ahead. He stated he was certain that all the contestants would leave Zagreb and Rijeka satisfied with the biggest and best European Universities Games up to date.
Alongside 6 sports that will take place in Rijeka (water polo, judo, taekwondo, swimming, and 3×3 basketball), the Games will for hold sports competitions for athletes with disabilities for the first time in their history. Zagreb will host the table tennis competition, while the swimming competition will be held in Rijeka.
The so-called Rector’s Conference will be held as well: it will gather more than 50 participants who will discuss student sports and try to devise ways to make higher education more accessible to top athletes. Among them will be the president of the NCAA (the American National Collegiate Athletic Association) Mark Emmert, the president of FISU (The International University Sports Federation) Oleg Matysin, and the president of EUSA (European University Sports Association) Adam Roczek.
The opening ceremony of the Games will be held in Zagreb on July 13, while the closing ceremony will be held in Rijeka on July 25. Both of these special events will be directed by Krešimir Dolenčić.
Various parties will be held all across Rijeka, on locations such as Ploče beach, Kantrida and the EUG lounge at Rijeka Campus, so that the athletes can have fun and enjoy themselves, and all citizens and tourists will be welcome to join them.
To conclude, here are some figures: in total, over 10 000 people are accredited, 398 universities with 884 teams will participate, over 180 000 meals will be served, 1200 medals awarded, and over 5000 fights will be held.
The volunteers were presented as the backbone of the Games. Over 2300 volunteers applied, 1319 of which are women. The youngest is 11, and the oldest 73 years old. They will clock in up to 96 000 working/volunteering hours!
