Stephen Wordsworth

Universiade spirit... or not

The World University Games, or Universiade, opened in Belgrade this week, bringing thousands of athletes and officials from 145 countries to Serbia.  On Monday 29 June we organised a garden party to welcome the British team and officials, and some team members from other countries too.  We also hosted many Serbian guests, of course, including a group of school pupils from the Rade Drainac school who are supporting the UK team during their stay here.  With entertainment from the 'Orthodox Celts' - a local band that plays Irish music - it was a very international occasion.  All the weather forecasts had said it would rain, but they were wrong as usual, and everybody seemed to have a good time.  I was enormously impressed by the enthusiasm of the young UK visitors, none of whom (as far as I could find out) had been to Serbia before, who were all looking forward to their competitions.  They all seemed very happy with their accommodation, and with the welcome they had received.

 
On 1 July I went to the opening ceremony at the Belgrade Arena.  The flags were paraded in one by one to loud cheers and everything seemed to be going well until the flag of the USA appeared.  Then, unfortunately, a large section of the crowd to my left began booing loudly, and there were further boos, though less loudly, when the Croatian flag appeared a few minutes later.  This must have been very hurtful to the young US and Croatian athletes present, who had worked so hard to get to the competition.  It also left all the references to 'sportsmanship' and 'fair play' in the pre-scripted speeches that followed sounding very hollow.  After the speeches there was an entertainment programme.  The young people must have rehearsed hard, but I no longer felt like celebrating and left before the end.

Any Comments? - in Serbian or in English?

Posted at 08:44 02 July 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[3]