Global

Universiade

first edition, Turin: 1959
editions held: 32
medal nations: 101
next · Chungcheong: 2027

World's first global student athletics competition held in 1924 under the patronage of International Students Confederation (CIE). It lasted until 1947, then World Youth and Students Sports Festival replaced that event. Alternatively, FISU (International University Sports Federation) formed a biannual sports festival in 1949. This Summer Sports Festival transformed to FISU powered University Games (sometimes referred as Student Olympics) in 1959.

First event was held in Turin, as athletics competition staged in Stadio Communale for four days. Italian team won more medals any other teams in the first edition. Starting from 1961 Sofia, the 'Soviet-Era' has begun. The Soviets secured the top spot in every competition which they entered until 1985, the year United States weighted the event for the first time. In 2001, Beijing made a rehearsal for the upcoming Olympics as Chinese athletes took the lead on the medal table. Followed by, Russian secured seven consecutive top spot in Universiade athletics competition until their ban in 2017. Japan became 'athletics leading nation' in the last two editions of Universiade, ahead of Poland and Ukraine respectively.

Alongside with athletics giants; some other nations such as Cuba, Romania, Ukraine, and five-time host Italy all have great tradition in University Games' athletics.

MOST SUCCESSFUL ATHLETES
8-1-0 Tatyana Shchelkanova, Soviet Union
5-0-2 Pietro Mennea, Italy
5-0-1 Tamara Press, Soviet Union
4-2-0 Halil Akkaş, Turkey
4-0-0 Paula Ivan, Romania
4-0-0 Luguelin Santos, Dominican Republic
4-0-0 Pawel Fajdek, Poland
4-0-0 Gwen Torrence, United States

TRIPLE GOLD IN SAME EDITION
1959 Livio Berruti, Italy (100m, 200m, 4x100m)
1961 Tatyana Shchelkanova, Soviet Union (100m, 4x100m, LJ)
1965 Tatyana Shchelkanova, Soviet Union (LJ, 4x100m, Pentathlon)
1985 Leandro Penalver, Cuba (200m, 4x100m, 4x400m)
1987 Gwen Torrence, United States (100m, 200m, 4x100m)
2005 Wilson Busenei, Uganda (5000m, 10,000m, Half Marathon)
2015 Viktoriya Zyabkina, Kazakhstan (100m, 200m, 4x100m)

OLDEST ACTIVE CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD
Men's 110H: Alejandro Casanas (CUB), 13.21 in Sofia 1977
Men's 800m: Alberto Juantorena (CUB), 1:43.44 in Sofia 1977
Women's SP: Nadezhda Chizhova (URS), 20.82 in Moscow 1973

LONGEST STREAKS BY A COUNTRY
10 United States in Women's 4x100m (1981-1998)
7 United States in Men's 4x100m (1987-1999)
5 Poland in Women's 100H (1970-1979)
5 United States in Men's 200m (1991-1999)
5 United States in Men's 4x400m (1991-2001)
5 SovietUnion in Women's 4x100m (1970-1979)
4 Soviet Union in Women's 400m (1979-1985)
4 Soviet Union in Women's 4x100m (1959-1965)
4 United States in Women's 4x400m (1987-1993)
4 Belarus in Men's HT (2003-2009)
4 Poland in Men's HT (2011-2017)
4 Soviet Union in Men's PV (1981-1987)
4 United States in Men's 400H (1987-1993)
4 Italy in Men's 400H (1959-1967)

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Stats by Athleticspodium.com / Contributers of this section: Wilfred Kramer (GER)

Editions

Scroll for all 34 · newest first

All-time medal table

101 nations

#	Nation				Total
1	Soviet Union URS	148	113	102	363
2	United States of America USA	142	110	91	343
3	Russia RUS	84	77	60	221
4	Poland POL	69	64	51	184
5	Germany GER	66	80	90	236
6	Japan JPN	63	72	78	213
7	Italy ITA	62	48	62	172
8	China PR CHN	56	55	40	151
9	Ukraine UKR	51	36	26	113
10	Romania ROU	44	51	53	148
11	Cuba CUB	40	34	31	105
12	Great Britain & NI GBR	33	57	61	151
13	Hungary HUN	30	29	31	90
14	Republic of South Africa RSA	28	29	33	90
15	Australia AUS	27	19	24	70
16	Turkey TUR	23	21	19	63
17	Germany DR (1949-89) GDR	23	21	17	61
18	France FRA	20	32	50	102
19	Bulgaria BUL	20	16	19	55
20	Czech Republic CZE	16	17	25	58
21	Belarus BLR	15	15	14	44
22	Jamaica JAM	14	16	12	42
23	Finland FIN	14	14	17	45
24	Brazil BRA	13	9	20	42
25	Nigeria NGR	12	11	11	34
26	Portugal POR	11	12	5	28
27	Canada CAN	10	39	37	86
28	Spain ESP	10	14	18	42
29	Yugoslavia SR JUG	9	13	7	29
30	Kazakhstan KAZ	9	10	5	24
31	Morocco MAR	9	9	6	24
32	Austria AUT	9	6	14	29
33	Belgium BEL	8	8	14	30
34	Kenya KEN	8	8	9	25
35	Netherlands NED	7	12	9	28
36	Mexico MEX	7	9	5	21
37	Republic of Korea KOR	7	7	11	25
38	Switzerland SUI	6	10	13	29
39	Latvia LAT	6	5	3	14
40	Uganda UGA	6	5	3	14
41	Azerbaijan AZE	6	0	0	6
42	Lithuania LTU	5	10	7	22
43	Ireland IRL	5	6	7	18
44	Estonia EST	5	4	4	13
45	Dominican Republic DOM	5	0	0	5
46	Chinese Taipei TPE	4	7	10	21
47	New Zealand NZL	4	4	8	16
48	Sweden SWE	4	3	5	12
49	Algeria ALG	3	7	8	18
50	Moldova MDA	3	2	3	8
51	DPR of Korea PRK	3	1	6	10
52	Serbia SRB	3	1	3	7
53	Iran IR IRI	3	1	0	4
54	Greece GRE	2	8	8	18
55	Slovakia SVK	2	8	3	13
56	India IND	2	5	6	13
57	Thailand THA	2	4	3	9
58	Slovenia SLO	2	3	4	9
59	Norway NOR	2	3	3	8
60	Ivory Coast CIV	2	1	3	6
61	Luxembourg LUX	2	1	1	4
62	Israel ISR	2	1	0	3
63	Ghana GHA	2	0	1	3
64	Senegal SEN	1	5	2	8
65	Egypt EGY	1	4	0	5
66	Botswana BOT	1	1	2	4
67	Barbados BAR	1	1	0	2
68	Ecuador ECU	1	1	0	2
69	US Virgin Islands ISV	1	1	0	2
70	Kyrgyzstan KGZ	1	0	2	3
71	Madagascar MAD	1	0	2	3
72	Bermuda BER	1	0	1	2
73	Albania ALB	1	0	0	1
74	Honduras HON	1	0	0	1
75	Philippines PHI	1	0	0	1
76	Uzbekistan UZB	1	0	0	1
77	St. Vincent & The Grenadines VIN	1	0	0	1
78	Yugoslavia (1993-2004) YUG	1	0	0	1
79	Cyprus CYP	0	3	3	6
80	Burkina Faso BUR	0	3	0	3
81	Croatia CRO	0	2	4	6
82	Chile CHI	0	2	0	2
83	Individual European Participants IEP	0	2	0	2
84	Denmark DEN	0	1	3	4
85	Tunisia TUN	0	1	2	3
86	Argentina ARG	0	1	1	2
87	Armenia ARM	0	1	1	2
88	Mozambique MOZ	0	1	1	2
89	Qatar QAT	0	1	1	2
90	Namibia NAM	0	1	0	1
91	Sierra Leone SLE	0	1	0	1
92	Tanzania TAN	0	1	0	1
93	Trinidad & Tobago TTO	0	1	0	1
94	Ethiopia ETH	0	0	2	2
95	Puerto Rico PUR	0	0	2	2
96	Bahamas BAH	0	0	1	1
97	Colombia COL	0	0	1	1
98	Hong Kong HKG	0	0	1	1
99	Mongolia MGL	0	0	1	1
100	Panama PAN	0	0	1	1
101	Peru PER	0	0	1	1

Most golds

1 Tatyana Shchelkanova 100m, 80m hurdles, Long jump +2 · 1961–65 Gold 8 Silver 1 Bronze 0
2 Pietro Mennea 100m, 200m, relays · 1973–79 Gold 5 Silver 0 Bronze 2
3 Tamara Press Shot put, Discus throw · 1961–65 Gold 5 Silver 0 Bronze 1
4 Lyudmila Zharkova-Maslakova 100m, relays · 1970–77 Gold 5 Silver 0 Bronze 0
5 Halil Akkas 5000m, 3000m steeplechase · 2005–11 Gold 4 Silver 2 Bronze 0
6 Marina Sidorova 200m, relays · 1970–77 Gold 4 Silver 2 Bronze 0
7 Livio Berruti 100m, 200m, relays · 1959–67 Gold 4 Silver 0 Bronze 2
8 Luguelin Santos 400m, relays · 2015–17 Gold 4 Silver 0 Bronze 0
9 Pawel Fajdek Hammer throw · 2011–17 Gold 4 Silver 0 Bronze 0
10 Paula Ivan 1500m, 3000m · 1987–89 Gold 4 Silver 0 Bronze 0

Programme · all time

59 events contested since 1959

From 29 events in Turin to 51 in Bochum.

Universiade

Editions

All-time medal table

Most golds

59 events contested since 1959

Men 27

Women 31

Mixed 1

Universiade

History

Editions

All-time medal table

Most golds

59 events contested since 1959

Men 27

Women 31

Mixed 1