Why the World Students Games was ‘one of the biggest catalysts in British sporting history’
The 1991 World Student Games certainly changed the face of Sheffield.
A special event celebrating one of the most significant chapters in Sheffield’s sporting history is to be held next month.
The World Student Games, which took place in the summer of 1991, was at the time the biggest sporting event the UK had hosted since the summer Olympics in London back in 1948.
It attracted 3,364 students from around the world to compete at Don Valley Stadium and Ponds Forge, which were both built for the games, and other venues - acting as a springboard for many future Olympians to showcase their potential.
Richard Caborn, who served as an MP for Sheffield Central between 1983 and 2010, while also acting as Sports Minister for six years under Tony Blair’s government, played a massive role in bringing the Student Games to Sheffield at a time when the steel industry was struggling.
He told the Star: “I was active in Sheffield in the Labour Party and the local authority. And the decision was taken that we would want with our colleagues to look at sport and how that could be used as a part of the regeneration of Sheffield because the steel industry was not going very well and we needed to have economic development for the east end of the city.”
“In 1987 we won that bid to stage the 1991 World Student Games and from that it transformed the east end of Sheffield.”
Yuri Matischen, who went on to become the founder and chairman of the B. Braun Sheffield Sharks basketball team, came to the Steel City to help bring the Student Games to life.
He added: “So I got involved because I was the General Secretary of British Student Sport and British University Sport. In my role, we were the people who came to cities in the country, and we selected Sheffield for us to bid to bring the World University Games to Britain.
“That's also where we started the Sheffield Sharks basketball franchise.The Hatters women's team was already successful, but there wasn't a men's basketball franchise, so in 1991 it was also the birth of the Sheffield Sharks and that's been running for 35 years so you can see what the regeneration and the legacy has been.
“The World Student Games was one of the biggest catalysts in sport in Britain at the time and to grow from that we've never stopped in developing elite performance athletes venues that support them, but also for the greater good of generally athletes and people of the city region and what we've learned at the facilities we've developed from the World Student Games has enabled other people to play sport be healthier and become a national city of sport and many envy the quality of these facilities.”
As part of celebrations to mark the 35th anniversary of the World Student Games, a commemorative plaque will be unveiled in front of the very cauldron that Helen Sharman lit to start the Games in 1991. Similarly, there will also be film footage from 1991 and reflections on the impact of the Games from several guests at the Canon Medical Arena in Attercliffe.
Richard said: “The World Student Games were a defining moment for Sheffield. They demonstrated the city’s ambition and helped lay the foundations for the regeneration of east Sheffield and the development of facilities and opportunities that continue to benefit communities today.
“This anniversary is an opportunity to celebrate that legacy and recognise everyone who played a part in making it happen.”