‘A defining moment’ - Special event celebrates the 35th anniversary of Sheffield's World Student Games
The World Student Games saw more than 3,000 students from around the globe battle it out for medals in Sheffield
Sporting figures and politicians attended an event to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the World Student Games.
Hosted in the summer of 1991, the World Student Games saw more than 3,000 students from around the globe battle it out for medals at venues such as Don Valley Stadium and Ponds Forge, acting as a springboard for several future Olympians and enhancing the Steel City’s sporting legacy.
The anniversary event was held at the city’sOlympic Legacy Park on Wednesday, July 22 and was attended by former MPs Richard Caborn and Clive Betts along with B. Braun Sheffield Sharks founder Yuri Matischen among many others.
The occasion offered those in attendance a chance to reflect on the impact and legacy of the Games along with the ambition and achievements of those that made it possible.
Reflecting on the Games, Richard Caborn said: 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.”
The event coincided with the formation of the Sheffield Forgers, now known as the Sheffield Sharks.
Yuri Matischen said: “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.”