That year, we were able to come together in Turin, Italy, completely unaware that the world we all knew would be turned upside down just a year later due to a global pandemic. Imagine if we could go back. No doubt we would all think to savour the moment.

However, there is no turning back. And we must move forward together in our present reality. In many parts of the world, thanks to the rapid creation of effective vaccines, the efforts of healthcare professionals worldwide and the resilience of humanity, we can now look forward to new opportunities. 

At the same time, for students, campuses have gradually reopened their doors and in-person learning and university sport has resumed.

There is now an unprecedented opportunity to rebuild stronger, healthier, fitter and more united than ever before. This feeling of optimism, of a moment to reset, restart and rebuild, is exactly the energy I felt from our National University Sport Federations (NUSF) at this year’s online General Assembly.

Together, we were able to hear about the incredible line-up of international university sport in store for the next year. In addition to the Lucerne Winter Universiade in December and the FISU World University Games in Chengdu in June next year, we will have 14 FISU World University Championships and seven FISU University World Cups; 2022 will be a year like no other for university sport.

In 2022, we will see a bolstered line-up of FISU University World Cups, a game-changing format which embraces university-versus-university competition rather than national delegations. Through the expansion of this format to include sports such as rugby sevens, powerlifting, combat sports, handball, floorball, American football, cheerleading and finswimming, countless more student-athletes will have a pathway to high-end international tournaments. 

The value it will add to university sport will be unparalleled, with students able to support, cheer and roar for their university teams on a bigger stage than ever before.

Looking beyond next year, we have a strong pipeline of host cities for future FISU World University Games which all presented their exciting, legacy-driven projects during this weekend’s General Assembly.

In 2023, the summer and winter editions of the FISU World University Games will be held in Ekaterinburg, Russia, and Lake Placid, in the US, respectively, with amazing projects that seamlessly combine sport, education and culture.

Then, in 2025, the FISU Winter World University Games will return to the fantastic city of Turin, Italy, a place which aligns perfectly with the ethos of FISU and the university sports movement. And in the same year, the summer edition of the FISU World University Games will return to the Rhine-Ruhr region for the first time since 1989 when the event was held in Duisburg, Germany.

Ekaterinburg and Lake Placid 2023, in addition to Rhine-Ruhr and Turin 2025, no doubt present a very exciting line-up for the world’s largest multi-sport events for student-athletes, in addition to showcasing the success of our FISU Games model which adapts to the needs of our city partners.

These are indeed very exciting times. By losing what we never thought we would lose - freedom to participate in sport and the opportunity to learn on campus with fellow students - we now know just how hard we must work to keep it.

Challenges certainly still exist for society as a whole. The most pressing challenge is taking this momentum to create a healthier society for decades to come. Here at FISU, we know that these healthy habits must be promoted and strengthened at university level.

We also understand that, to help achieve this, our role must go beyond sport, and this is a challenge that FISU is wholeheartedly embracing as we step forward with the university sports movement.

This is at the heart of our Healthy Campus programme. While Healthy Campus may have been developed prior to the pandemic, it is now more relevant than ever as students return to campus. The programme helps to promote collaboration between universities, allowing for best practices and initiatives in physical and mental health which benefit students to be shared.

We have worked tirelessly to expand this initiative which now has 82 universities from 31 countries certified or on track to become certified. Last month, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the NUSFs of Brazil, the Russian Federation and Hungary to further promote the programme. 

We are also in the process of finalising a MoU with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and Healthy Campus will be a core focus of this collaboration. 

Efforts to create a better society must continue, from FISU, NUSFs, the global university sports community and university leaders. Because we have a once in a generation opportunity to do better than those that came before us.

For FISU in particular, we will continue to expand with new sports, a more meaningful events programme which provides opportunities for more students and the evolution of our Healthy Campus programme. Together, with all other actors and leaders in the global sports community, we will do everything possible to help foster well-rounded individuals that lead healthy and fulfilling lives.