Just this week the last of our North Carolina USA Team returned from the 2025 Summer World University Games in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany. We have much to report on the event and look forward to sharing the highlights with you!
The 2025 FISU World University Games – What an Experience!
The 2025 edition of the Summer World University Games were held primarily across 5 cities of western Germany: Bochum, Duisburg, Essen, Hagen, and Mulheim. Three sports were also held in eastern Germany in Berlin. The 18 sports of the Games included Archery, Artistic Gymnastics, Athletics (Track & Field), Badminton, Basketball (5-on-5), Basketball 3×3, Beach Volleyball, Diving, Fencing, Judo, Rhythmic Gymnastics, Rowing, Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Volleyball, and Water Polo. For the first time at the Games, 3-on-3 Wheelchair Basketball was included as a Para Sport.
Impressive facts and figures from the Games: More than 9,000 participants from 102 countries, representing over 1,900 different universities! The Games were covered by close to 1,000 accredited members of the media while hundreds of hours of broadcast coverage showcased the Games to a global audience. The 2025 World University Games also included a World Conference focused on sustainability and mental health, and a major cultural program, the Ruhr Games Festival, which featured arts and cultural displays, events, and concerts.
Sports competition was at the highest level as there were more than 30 Olympic athletes competing in the Games, as well as two of the top 3 world-ranked Judo athletes. Twenty-seven new Games records were set. The sports venues and presentations were at the elite sport level and as more than one participant commented, “You cannot tell the difference between the World University Games sports presentation and that of the Olympic Games.” Altogether, a big success for the Rhine-Ruhr region of Germany, which, thanks to the Games, is now being mentioned as a potential host region for Germany’s bid for the 2036 Olympic Games.
USA Tops Medal Count and North Carolina Athletes Account for 25%
The United States of America topped the Medal Table with 84 medals, ahead of Japan with 79, and China with 74. Amazingly, North Carolina athletes fully accounted for 25% of the U.S. total! The Medalists for the USA included Elizabeth Becker (Charlotte) Bronze in 3v3 Wheelchair Basketball; Ellie Joyce (UNC Chapel Hill) Silver and Bronze in Diving; Lanie Gutch (UNCCH) Silver and Bronze in Diving; Ben Delmar (UNCCH) 3 Gold, 1 Bronze in Swimming; Leah Shackley (NCSU) 5 Golds and a Silver in Swimming; Kennedy Noble (NCSU) 2 Golds and 2 Silvers in Swimming; Daniel Diehl (NCSU) 1 Gold and 2 Bronze in Swimming.
North Carolina Has a Major Presence at the Games
North Carolina Has a Major Presence at the Games
Thirty-one members of our North Carolina USA Local Organizing Committee for the 2029 FISU World University Games traveled to Germany to experience and learn from the event. Our North Carolina Team operated in several different groups at the Games including the FISU Observer Program, the Embedded Staff Program, and the Fam Tour Program.
One of the most important programs of the Games was the unique Embedded Staff Program where, thanks to the leadership and generosity of the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 World University Games Organizing Committee, 21 of our Team North Carolina volunteers could work as a member of the Organizing Committee to learn the Games from the inside out. This included all of our Sports Managers for the 15 compulsory sports of the Games. The participating North Carolina Sports Managers were Andy Neville (Archery), Karen Pleasants (Artistic and Rhythmic Gymnastics), Frank Davis (Athletics, aka Track & Field), Jason Niu (Badminton), Scott Conway (Basketball), Jen Oldham (Fencing), Carla Sinclair (Judo), Susan Braman (Swimming and Diving), Mike Babuin (Table Tennis), Eric Winninger (Taekwondo), Ted Reese (Tennis), Wade Brence (Volleyball) and Mike Tadych (Water Polo).
In addition to sports operations, 6 additional members of the North Carolina Team were able to be embedded in other aspects of the operations of the Games including Wendy Coulter (Marketing), Lucy McInnis (Social Media), Ingrid Wicker-McCree (Venue Operations), Monte Brown (Medical Services) and Margaret Scully and Vinson Hines (Transportation).
Hill Carrow, Chair & CEO of our Local Organizing Committee for the 2029 presented a Progress Report on the Games in North Carolina to the FISU Executive Committee prior to the start of the Games, and the following day he and Melissa Hartzell, Development Director, attended the FISU General Assembly. Hill; Melissa; Andrew Blattner, Operations Manager; and Dave Robinson of Maynard Nexsen, LOC Legal Counsel, all participated in the Official Observer Program.
The final group of Team North Carolina attendees at the 2025 Games included April Albritton, Chief of Staff for the City of Greensboro; Richard Beard, President of the Greensboro Sports Foundation; Caleb Wilson, Sports Sales Manager at the Greensboro Convention & Visitors Bureau; Layne Woodward of Genesco Sports; and Andrew Holton, Executive VP & COO, Research Triangle Park, and his wife Charlotte Holton. This group, which we affectionately referred to as our Fam Tour group, took in the Opening Ceremonies, a special USA reception, the World Conference, and an incredible 10 sports across 4 cities at 9 venues – including a number of back-of-house tours, thanks to our embedded sports managers – all in just three and half days!
Some other NC connections spotted at the games: Dan Kalupski (NCSU) Assistant Swim Coach, Blake and Amelia Borges (Duke Health) US Team Doctors, and Yuri Suguiyama (UNC Grad), USA Swimming Team Leader.
Hill Carrow said, “Having such a large contingent from North Carolina in Rhine-Ruhr has been extremely beneficial to our 2029 Games planning and organization. The Embedded Staff Program was truly special and served as both an incredible learning opportunity and an amazing relationship builder between the Rhine-Ruhr LOC and our LOC in North Carolina. We can’t thank the Rhine-Ruhr Team enough!” The list of people to thank for North Carolina’s participation at the Rhine-Ruhr Games is too lengthy to include here, but leaders included Leonz Eder, Matthias Remund, Jing Zhao, and Lilia Barieva of FISU; Niklas Borger, Sina Diekman, Donna Spethman, and Rebecca Heims of Rhine-Ruhr 2025; Dan Guerrero and Lori Thomas of UniUSA; and Neal Holden, Nels Hawkinson, Emily Person, Kreston Welch, David Knopp, and Anny Knopp of BTI (the support team for UniUSA).
Saying Goodbye to our Summer Intern Team
We have been privileged this summer to have three excellent interns working with us on the 2029 World University Games. Jaden Cross is an NC State University graduate in Sport Management with a minor in Business Administration. Jaden has been with our NC USA Team since the start of the Spring 2025 semester. Anna Schmedes is a rising senior at UNC Chapel Hill majoring in Exercise & Sports Science/Sports Administration with minors in Data Science and Advertising & Public Relations. Andrew Perna is a recent graduate of UNC Charlotte with a BS Degree in Business Administration and Marketing and was selected as a Fellow in the new Triangle Sports Business Fellows program. These three have been a tireless, hard-working team who have supported the planning and development of the 2029 Games in a wide variety of areas ranging from social media to fundraising. We cannot thank them enough for their outstanding efforts. We will miss them and wish them the very best in continuing their careers in the sports sector.
The 2029 Games Will be Here Sooner Than You Think!
To add to the intensity of 2029 Games planning and preparations, we enjoyed watching the pageantry, speeches and symbolism of the handoff of the FISU Flag at Closing Ceremonies in Rhine-Ruhr to the leadership of the Korea Organizing Committee for the 2027 Games. That is when it really hit home that we have only 2 years left until North Carolina USA will be up at the plate for the Games in 2029! Hopefully that reality will help light a fire under everyone that thinks our Games are somehow far off into the future.
Support the Games
Be a vital part of championing the world’s premier event for student-athletes! Bringing the 2029 World University Games to our state promises unparalleled economic advantages for our communities. Seize the chance to spotlight North Carolina on the global stage! Click below to explore the myriad of ways you can contribute and support the Games.
Don’t Forget to Shop Local and Support the WUG
Our online store features 2029 FISU World University Games t’s, polos, hoodies, tanks, caps, and more. Items come in a wide variety of colors, and the store has proven to be quite a popular online shopping destination. Don’t miss your opportunity to show your support of the 2029 FISU World University Games by snagging some excellent quality, name-brand clothing and caps!
Sponsor Thank You’s
We cannot thank our sponsors enough for their strong belief in, and generous support of, the 2029 World University Games. We encourage you to patronize their businesses and give them your own personal thanks when you do.
