The 14th International Swimming Federation (FINA) World Championship was held at the Oriental Sports Center of Shanghai on July 16. Among the 181 female flag bearers holding the national flags of the participating countries, 49 were from SHNU.
The 49 girls, together with the other 227 SHNU volunteers, had participated in numerous rehearsals and other trainings before the opening ceremony of the 16-day bi-annual event. SHNU is the university with the largest number of volunteers serving the event in Shanghai.
Pu Meiwei, a student from SHNU College of Xie Jin Film and Television Arts, stepped into the venue holding the Chinese national flag and immediately became the focus of all.
The 14th FINA World Championship attracts more than 5,000 athletes, referees, officials, and 1,500 journalists from 180 countries in the world. It includes five major events of swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, water polo, and open water swimming. Shanghai won the bid to host the 14th FINA World Championships on March 24, 2007. This is the first time that the FINA World Championships is held in China and the second time in an Asian country, following Fukuoka of Japan which hosted the competition in 2001.
The 14th FINA World Championship is the largest sport event ever undertaken by Shanghai in terms of scale and number of participants.
