Crowds gather to welcome Universiade Torch Relay to Rostov-on-Don

The administrative centre of the Southern Federal District gave a warm welcome to the Flame of the 27th Summer Universiade as the Torch Relay arrived in Rostov-on-Don on May 26. Students of this Russian city were given the opportunity to see with their own eyes the symbol of world university sports movement while it will stay at Southern Federal University.

The symbol of the World University Summer Games arrived in Rostov-on-Don from the resort city of Sochi where the Torch Relay had been held the day before. The length of the Relay in the administrative centre of the Southern Federal District totaled 3,600 metres. The honour of running with the Torch past the city's landmarks and tourist hot spots was given to the best students of the region, famous athletes, as well as representatives of the Kazan 2013 SU's partner companies. A total of 37 Torchbearers ensured the Flame made its way through the city and was used to ignite the City Cauldron in Rostov-on-Don. 

The ceremonial lighting of the first runner's torch, which took place in the square in front of Don State Technical University (DSTU), was attended by Deputy Governor of the Rostov Oblast Igor Guskov; Mayor of Rostov-on-Don Mikhail Chernyshev; Deputy Director General of the Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate and Executive Director of the Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies Igor Sivov; Rector of DSTU Besarion Meskhi, as well as Vice President of the Russian Students Sports Union (RSSU) and Chairman of the Regional Office of RSSU Roman Olkhovsky, who became first to carry the Universiade Flame in Rostov-on-Don. 

"The Universiade is a unique event. It's a great honour for any athlete to take part in it," said Igor Guskov. "To date, there are 39 representatives of the Rostov Oblast among the candidates vying for spots on the Russian national team for the Universiade. At the previous Games, which took place in China, our athletes added 7 medals to Russia's collection. I'm positive that athletes from Rostov will win even more medals at the upcoming Universiade. I wish success and victories to Team Russia at the Universiade."

"Not so many cities were awarded the right to host the Universiade Torch Relay and Rostov-on-Don is among them," said Mikhail Chernyshev. "I'm sure that our student athletes will show a good performance at the Universiade in Kazan. We have all grounds to say that Rostov-on-Don is a sports city: more than a quarter of the population are engaged in sports activities and the Mayor's Office invests much time and energy in developing Rostov-on-Don's sports infrastructure."

The Relay's route passed through the main streets of the city, as well as sites in front of higher education institutions of Rostov-on-Don, including Rostov State University of Economics (RSUE) and Southern Federal University (SFedU). 

"I'm grateful that I was afforded the opportunity to become part of our country's history as this chance is given to a select few! And there is a good reason why the Torch Relay brought together athletes, people committed to sports and those who want to make our country a better place," said Galina Sagaydachnaya, one of the Torchbearers who works as a Senior Crimes Officer at the Department of Interdepartmental Interaction for Preventing Drug Trafficking of the Federal Drug Control Service (FDCS) of Russia in the Rostov Oblast. 

The Torch Relay finished in Teatralnaya Square in front of the Academic Drama Theatre named after M.Gorky where the City Cauldron was lit. The honour of kindling it was granted to the final Torchbearer, the 2004 Olympic rowing champion Nikolay Spinev. 

"The Universiade and the Olympic Games are not only about state-of-the-art infrastructure constructed especially for these events in these cities, but first of all about citizens' emotions and feelings! The most beautiful and valuable thing the Flame gets when it travels through cities is people's smiles," Igor Sivov said in his wcome speech. 

"Today Rostov-on-Don is greeting the Universiade Flame. Let your hearts always burn with this flame. I wish the Russian national team success and victories!" said Marina Borovskaya, Rector of SFedU, one of partner higher education institutions of the 2013 Summer Universiade. 

At the end of the Torch Relay, Igor Sivov gave replicas of the 2013 Summer Universiade Torch to the Mayor's Office as a gift. 

Citizens of Rostov-on-Don will be able to see the Universiade Flame at SFedU where it will stay until tomorrow following which the Torch Relay will head to St. Petersburg with all celebrations unfolding on May 29. 

The Universiade Torch Lighting Ceremony took place at Paris-Sorbonne University where the first ‘World Student Games’ were held in 1923. The ceremony was attended by Claude-Louis Gallien, President of FISU (International University Sports Federation); Barthélémy Jobert, President of Paris-Sorbonne University; Mintimer Shaimiev, Tatarstan's first president and current State Counsellor; Oleg Matytsin, President of the RSSU (Russian Student Sports Union); José Savoye, President of the French University Sports Federation; Vladimir Leonov, Director General of the Kazan 2013 Executive Committee. The honour to kindle the Flame was awarded to five students of Paris-Sorbonne University representing five continents of the world: Europe (France), Asia (China), America (Mexico), Africa (Egypt) and Australia. During the Lighting Ceremony they touched the torches in the FISU colours of red, yellow, green, blue and black together, uniting the separate fires into one flame, thus symbolising the unity of all nations of the world under the aegis of sports.

The historic moment in the Torch Relay arrived when the Universiade Flame embarked on a round-the-world voyage aboard the world’s largest bark - the tall ship Sedov. On July 15th, the Torch was handed over to a team of navy cadets – the Keepers of the Universiade Flame. Travelling aboard the bark Sedov, the Torch covered 45,000 nautical miles and repeated the route of greatest sailors of all times. 

The Russian leg of the Universiade Torch Relay started off on January 25, on Russian Students' Day. Travelling from east to west, the Flame will be carried through Russia’s 30 top student cities. The Torch Relay has already visited Khabarovsk, Yakutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Tyumen, Yekaterinburg, Kaliningrad, Arkhangelsk, Stavropol, Pyatigorsk, Sochi, Rostov-on-Don. In the 42 days to come, the Flame will visit St. Petersburg, Vladimir, Moscow, Perm, Izhevsk, Kirov, Nizhny Novgorod, Yoshkar-Ola, Cheboksary, Ulyanovsk, Saransk, Penza, Saratov, Samara, Orenburg, Ufa and pass through 43 municipal districts of the Republic of Tatarstan, finishing its odyssey in Kazan on July 6, on the opening day of the 2013 Summer Universiade. 2,013 Torchbearers will carry the Universiade Torch as it will make its way all over the country.