Winter Universiade underway in Trentino. Part 3
The Opening Ceremony of the 26th Winter Universiade was held in the evening of December 11 in Piazza Duomo in Trento, Italy. The Italian President Giorgio Napolitano declared the event officially open. Klaus Obermaier, a choreographer of Venice's La Fenice Theatre, was the artistic director behind the amazing projection and music performances of the Opening Ceremony. The show was followed by the parade of nations. Ekaterina Galkina, the leader of the curling team, was the flagbearer for the Russian delegation, as is reported on the official website of the Olympic Committee of Russia.
The Winter Universiade is traditionally held at the beginning of the year, but due to the transfer of the organisation of the 2013 Games from Maribor (Slovenia) to Trentino (Italy), it was decided to move them to a later date as well. And for the first time, the Universiade serves as an prelude for the Winter Olympics: in less than two months Sochi will host the major event of the year 2014. The Opening Ceremony was attended by President of the International University Sports Federation (FISU), Claude-Louis Gallien. He congratulated the guests of the event on the opening of the Games and wished athletes plenty of brilliant victories. Remembering the outgoing year, Claude-Louis Gallien recalled the previous World University Games in Kazan and called them the best in history of FISU.
Currently, Russia is leading the medal count at the Trentino Universiade. Russian athletes added 8 medals to the nation's collection: 3 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze. Russian athletes showed excellent results on the very first day of the Games. Snowboarder Nikolay Olyunin contributed the first medal to Russia's medal tally. He took silver in the men's snowboard cross. Hanno Douschan of Austria placed first in this event, followed by Leo Trespeuch of France.
The Russian skier Raul Shakirzyanov, who had no equal in the men's 15 km skiathlon, won the first gold medal for Team Russia. Kazakhstan's Mark Starostin (38.48,1) and Russia's Pavel Syulatov (38.48,1) finished second and third respectively. Another Russian athlete, Gordei Gorshkov, took silver in the men's figure skating event.