Koreans sweep university Olympics in Daegu

Some 7, 000 participants from more than 170 countries gathered in one of the largest assembly of university students in the World, the University Championship (Universiade), annually organized by the International Federation of University Sports (FISU). The venue for the 22nd summer Universiade was the South Korean city of Daegu.

The Universiade is an international sporting and cultural festival sponsored every two years in a different city and is second in importance only to the Olympic Games.

The summer Universiade consists of 10 compulsory sports including athletics, basketball, fencing, football, gymnastics, swimming, diving, water polo, tennis, volleyball and up to three optional sports chosen by the host country.

Unlike other international sports tournaments of this magnitude, the Universiade is known as a pinnacle of amateur and non-commercial sports competitions.

There are no minimum standards for participation. Therefore, in the same race a world class athlete competes against a new comer to a sport.

Under the slogan of Dream for Unity which addressed a global audience and particularly South and North Koreans, the tournament was launched on Aug. 21 and ended ten days later. Participating countries included 42 Asian countries, 41 European, 34 American, 10 from Oceania and 50 African.

The main contenders for the Universiade where China, USA and Russia, while South Koreans were in a close second. After eleven days of competition, China succeeded in topping the medal standings with 41 golds, followed by Russia scoring 26 and South Korea with 25 golds. Fourth place winners were Ukraine with 23 golds. The US which ranks one in the number of Universiade titles finished in an embarrassing 8th place with only 5 golds to show.

Besides the run for gold, the Daegu Universiade had also four new comers to the world of university sports of which two were Arab states: Bahrain and Djibouti.

The Universiade had notable participants too namely: East Timor, Iraq and D.P.R. Korea (North Korea). East Timor gained their independence from Indonesia in 2000 and made their first sporting debut in the Asian Games in 2002 in South Korea.

North Korea, for its part, took a massive media attention craze. The North Korean delegation was considerably large (225 members) and was accompanied by a 300 strong, all female, cheering squad. This was the fourth consecutive march of South-North Korean athletes hand in hand.

Finally, coming out of a devastating war and an ever-increasing cycle of violence, post-war Iraq made its first international sports debut.

The delegation was composed of four judo players and four Taekwondo players along with two officials and coach Nam Sungbok who is a Korean-American who currently heads the Pennsylvania State Taekwondo association in the US.

Judoist Oday Tariq Hussein told Alternative that "through the Daegu Universiade, we are determined to show the world that the Iraqi team is still alive."

The enthusiasm and commitment of the Iraqi team could hardly be denied but the lack of preparation took the better part of the results. All the Iraqi players were eliminated from the first round. "However, we have over 6000 Taekwondo players in over 90 clubs in Iraq" said Haidar Baqir, anticipating a good future for sports in his country.