Regional Dimensions of Global Games: the Case of Sports Mega-events in Tatarstan
Résumé
This chapter addresses practices of preparation to and hosting of sports mega events in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan. I mostly focus on the Universiade 2013, or the XXVII Summer World Student Games, that have been held in this city. Despite its rather modest ranking in the global sports hierarchy, the Games were important for at least three reasons. First, the Universiade 2013 was the fi rst sportive mega event hosted by the post-Soviet Russia just one-half year ahead of the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Hence, both federal and regional authorities dubbed it a 'rehearsal' for the 'Big Games' (the Olympiad), and a symbol of '(re)joining' the prestigious club of mega-events holders, allowing Russia to enhance its soft power capabilities, mainly through nation (re)branding (Krasutskaya 2010). The fact that Russia sent to the Universiade a team of unusually top level athletes whose supremacy over competitors was unduly overwhelming attests to the importance of the Student Games for Russia's sports offi cialdom. Second, being a 'test' version for a larger mega event, the Universiade 2013 triggered specifi c changes in practices of urban governance, which have been further institutionalized in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi and the World Aquatic Championship (FINA) 2015 in Kazan.