Transportation Prior to the Universiade,
Kazan International Airport was totally rebuilt as a hub, the new Kazan-2 transit rail-bus terminal was built, the old Kazan-1 rail terminal was rebuilt, and the fast rail
aeroexpress with
Siemens trains was inaugurated between the Kazan-1 rail terminal downtown and the airport. Zones of activity of the Universiade were connected by renewed highways with two-level flyovers, including the completed "Big Kazan Ring" with a new
LRT (fast tram). In addition, a Kremlin bridge over the
Kazanka River was rebuilt. The key transportation connector to the sporting and other venues from the Universiade Village was the
Kazan Metro (subway) that had been built in 2005 and was expanded before the Universiade. A large part of design works was carried out by JSC Institute Tatdorproject (autoroads, pedestrian crosses, transport junctions),
Roszheldorproject (arrangement of intermodal transportation), Energoprojekt (reconstruction of
Kazan International Airport), etc. The Cultural Universiade was held in the Cultural Park at Palace Square downtown near the
Kazan Kremlin, at various theatres and performance venues in the Kremlin, and at other places throughout the city.
Venues A total of 27 new stadia were built as venues for the event. The Games used 64 venues in all, 36 of which were constructed specifically for the 2013 Summer Universiade. The 64 venues were concentrated in 4 zones across the city of Kazan. These included the area of Pobeda Avenue with the Kazan Area, the Aquatics Palace of Water Sports, the Combat Sports (Boxing) Palace, and the area of Orenburgsky Trakt where the
Universiade Village was located, as well as the Tennis Academy and Gymnastics Palace. In addition, many sports venues for training functions were located elsewhere in Zarechye (Novo-Savinovsky and Airbuilders districts), and some of them in downtown
Kazan.
Universiade Village The Universiade Village is a residential neighborhood for 14,500 residents that was constructed within the
Kazan Federal University campus to house competitors and officials during the Kazan 2013 Summer Universiade. Nearly 400 sporting and cultural events have been staged on the campus since it opened its doors in 2010. Shortly after the first move-in phase, an open-air
step aerobics marathon was held that brought together up to 1,000 Universiade Village residents. The campus had already hosted
football,
volleyball, and
chess championships that can rightfully be called 'international' as a number of international students competed in them.
Torch relay The length of the relay was about 104,000 kilometers, and 2,013 torchbearers were enlisted to participate in the relay. After touring through 51 cities on five continents, the torch arrived in
Vladivostok on 24 January, and on 25 January, the Russian leg of the Universiade torch relay began. The Russian section of the Universiade Torch Relay was held between January and July 2013. The Universiade Torch Relay celebrations took place in 30 cities across
Russia, as well as 44 cities and towns of municipal districts of
Tatarstan. The torch arrived at the
Kazan Arena on the night of 6 July for the lighting of the cauldron at the Opening Ceremony.
Medals A total of 351 sets of medals were distributed during the two weeks of the competition. The medal design featured a globe emblazoned with the emblem and logo of the Universiade, and surrounded by a circle featuring the slogan of the Universiade.
Opening and closing ceremonies The 2013 Summer Universiade opening and closing ceremonies were held on 6 and 17 July 2013, with Russian President
Vladimir Putin and Premier
Dmitry Medvedev in attendance accordingly. The ceremonies took place in the new
Kazan Arena stadium with a seating capacity of 45,000 people. Notable songs performed during the opening ceremony, composed by
Igor Krutoy include: • White Bird –
Aida Garifullina • The Cradle – Yana Melikaeva • Reflection (also known as Ti amo cosi) –
Albina Shagimuratova,
Ildar Abdrazakov • Memory (also known as Credo) –
Ekaterina Scherbachenko • The Path (also known as La via) –
Dmitri Hvorostovsky • Towards (also known as Forse non fu) –
Alexander Gradsky,
Maria Maksakova Jr. In the handover segment of the closing ceremony, the Korean branch of the boy group
EXO performed their hit song "
Wolf", the title track from their first full-length album
XOXO, at the closing ceremony while Russian artists such as
Serebro and
Zemfira made a huge show.
Sports For the first time in the history of the Universiades, twenty-seven sports were included in Kazan 2013. The optional sports chosen were badminton, beach volleyball, belt wrestling, boxing, canoeing, chess, field hockey, rugby sevens, sambo, shooting, synchronized swimming, rowing, weightlifting, and wrestling. Of the optional sports chosen, belt wrestling, boxing, sambo, rugby sevens, and synchronized swimming made their debut at the 2013 Summer Universiade. •
Aquatics • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Artistic gymnastics (14) •
Rhythmic gymnastics (8) • • • • • • • • • •
Participants A total of 162 nations were officially entered prior to the opening ceremony. In the list below, the number of athletes from each nation is given in parentheses. The largest national teams were from Russia, Ukraine, Canada, the U.S., Poland, Japan and China. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • (34) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
(host) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Medal table From the official website's medal tally information: In April 2014,
Roxana Bârcă from
Romania, started a two-year doping ban for the use of
Methasterone, and lost the gold medal at the
Women's 5000 metres. The ban lasted from 11 July 2013 to 3 September 2015. On 8 August 2016, the
International Weightlifting Federation announced the disqualification of several athletes who participated in the competition due to the retesting of the anti-doping exams, with which several medals are redistributed. On 18 May 2017, the rankings of the Women's Heptathlon and 1,500m were updated further to the suspension of two Russian female athletes by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the medal table was updated. On 13 November 2020, the rankings of the Women's 3000m steeplechase were updated further due to the suspension of two Russians, one Ukrainian and one Turkish female athletes by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). On 12 August 2022, the results of Russian
Irina Tarasova between July 2012 and July 2016 were annulled by the
Athletics Integrity Unit for doping violations. This means that her gold medal in the women's shot put has been stripped. On 9 September 2023, the Court of Arbitration for Sport annulled the results from
Tatiana Kashirina who won the gold medal in the +75kg event in
Weightlifting over four years of her results due to drugs offenses, stating, "All the competitive results obtained by Tatiana Kashirina from 1 April 2013 until 19 June 2017 were disqualified, with all the resulting consequences, including the forfeiture of any titles, awards, medals, points and prize and appearance money". • Record (*) Russia got almost half of gold medals and more than a quarter of all medals. This is more than any other nation in this games and in the history of Universiades. The media explained this by the fact that the Russian team featured nineteen reigning Olympic champions, who were all listed as students, more than all other teams taken together, in an apparent attempt to make a good impression in Russian language media. There were 67 Universiade records, 38 of them set by Russian athletes. On 19 July 2013,
Vladimir Putin congratulated Russian athletes, and responded to criticism by saying that all critics of Russia's [calling it USSR] achievements should take
Viagra.
Schedule The competition schedule for the 2013 Summer Universiade is shown as follows: ==Marketing==