No nat'l anthems at Universiade

The Korean national flag is hoisted at the judo winners’ ceremony as gold medalist Cho Gu-ham, second from right, stands on the podium at the Yeomju Bitgoeul Gymnasium in Gwangju, Saturday. / Yonhap

By Baek Byung-yeul

A day before the Gwangju Summer Universiade officially began on July 3, an opening men’s football match between host Korea and Chinese Taipei was held at the Yeonggwang Sportium Gymnasium in Yeonggwang, South Jeolla Province.By Baek Byung-yeul

It is customary that the national anthem of each participating nation be played at international events, and fans watching this game expected that to be the case here.

But a song that spectators did not expect filled the stadium.

The song was “Gaudeamus Igitur” (“So Let Us Rejoice”), an official hymn for the biggest sports event for collegians and university students across the world.

The organizing committee said that they used this song, also known as a beer-drinking song, as the official hymn to emphasize that the biennial sports event is to unite university students from around the world and to celebrate their sportsmanship, not for putting them into competition.

Although watching gold medalists sing along with their country’s national anthem on the podium in international competitions provides memorable moments for sports fans, “Gaudeamus Igitur” has been the official anthem since the FISU (International University Sports Federation) and ISU (International Students Union) participated in the games in Italy’s Turin in 1959.