Asian Games

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The Asian Games, also known as Asiad,^[1] is a Pancontinental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until the 1978 Games. Since the 1982 Games they have been organized by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), after the breakup of the Asian Games Federation.^[2] The Games are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and are described as the second largest multi-sport event after the Olympic Games.^[3][4]

In its history, nine nations have hosted the Asian Games. Forty-six nations have participated in the Games, including Israel, which was excluded from the Games after their last participation in 1974.

The most recent games was held in Incheon, South Korea from 19 September to 4 October 2014, while the next games will be held in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia from 18 August to 2 September 2018.

History

Prior formation

Before the Asian Games were held, a gathering known as the Far Eastern Championship Games existed which was first mooted in 1912 at a location set between the Empire of Japan, the Philippine Islands, and China. The Far Eastern Games were first held in Manila in 1913 with 6 participating nations. Ten more Far Eastern Games were held until 1934. Against the backdrop of the second Sino-Japanese War in 1934, in the face of Japan's insistence on including Manchu Empire as a competitor nation in the Games, China announced its withdrawal from participation. Consequently, the Far Eastern Games scheduled for 1938 were cancelled. The organization was ultimately discontinued.

Formation

After World War II, a number of Asian countries became independent. Many of the newly independent Asian countries desired the formation of a new type of competition whereby Asian dominance was not expressed through violence, but instead strengthened through mutual understanding. During the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, a conversation between sportsmen from China and the Philippines raised the idea of restoring the Far Eastern Games. However, Guru Dutt Sondhi, the Indian International Olympic Committee representative, did not believe that restoration of the Far Eastern Games would sufficiently display the spirit of unity and level of achievement taking place in Asian sports. As a result, he proposed to sports leaders the idea of having a wholly new competition  – which came to be the Asian Games. This led to an agreement to form the Asian Athletic Federation. A preparatory committee was then set up to draft the charter for this new body. On 13 February 1949, the Asian Athletic Federation was formally inaugurated in New Delhi, alongside the name Asian Games Federation, with New Delhi announced as the first host city of the Asian Games which were scheduled to be held in 1950.^[5][6]

Crisis, reorganization, expansion

First Asian Games opening ceremony

Starting in 1962, the Games were hit by several crises. First, the host country Indonesia, refused to permit the participation of Israel and Taiwan due to political and religious issues. As a result, the IOC removed its sponsorship of the Games and terminated Indonesia as one of the IOC members.^[7] The Asian Football Confederation (AFC),^[8] International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) and International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), also removed their recognition of the Games.^[9][10]

In 1970, South Korea dropped its plan to host the Games allegedly due to national security crisis, however the main reason was due to financial crisis, forcing the previous host Thailand to administer the Games again in Bangkok using funds transferred from South Korea.^[11] Prior to the Games, Japan was asked to host the Games, but declined due to Expo '70 in Osaka.^[12] This edition also marked the first time the Games have a television broadcasting throughout the world.^[13] In Tehran, in 1974, the Games formally recognized the participation of China, North Korea and Mongolia. Israel was allowed to participate despite the opposition from Arab world, while Taiwan was permitted to continue taking part (as "Chinese Taipei") even though its status was abolished in general meeting on 16 November 1973 by Games Federation.^[14]

The last is 1978, Pakistan dropped its plan to host the Games in 1975 due to financial crisis and political issues.^[15] Thailand offered to help and the Games were once again held in Bangkok. However, once again, like in 1962, Taiwan and Israel were refused the participation by Games Federation, amid political issues and security fears.^[16] Several governing bodies protested against the ban, like IAAF, threatened to bar the participating players from 1980 Summer Olympics,^[17] this caused several teams to withdraw prior to the Games.^[18]

Following this series of crises, the National Olympic Committee in Asia decided to revise the constitution of the Asian Games Federation. A new association, named the Olympic Council of Asia, was created in November 1981 with the exclusion of Israel.^[19] India was already scheduled to host the 1982 Games and the OCA decided not to drop the old AGF timetable. The OCA formally supervised the Games starting with the 1986 Asian Games in South Korea.^[20] In the succeeding Games, Taiwan (Republic of China) was re-admitted, but was forced by the China to compete under the name Chinese Taipei.^[21]

In 1994, the Games included the former republics of the Soviet Union: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan for the first time. It was also the first time that the Games had been held outside the capital city of the host country.^[22] However, Iraq was suspended from the Games due to the Persian Gulf War in 1990, while North Korea boycotted the Games due to political issues. It was also marred by the death of Nepalese delegation Nareshkumar Adhikari during the Games' opening ceremony.^[23] The 1998 Games marked the fourth time the Games had been held in Bangkok, Thailand. The fourth opening ceremony occurred on 6 December, compared to 9 December for the previous 3. All four games were opened by H.M.King Bhumibol Adulyadej. The date of the closing ceremony remained as 20 December for all 4 games hosted by Thailand.

Flag

The Asian Games Movement uses symbols to represent the ideals embodied in the Asian Games charter. The Asian Games flag has four editions.

Participation

2006 Asian Games

All 45 members affiliated to the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) are eligible to take part in the Games.

According to membership in the OCA, transcontinental Kazakhstan participates in the Asian Games but Egypt does not, participating in the All-Africa Games instead. Various countries participating in the European Games rather than the Asian Games are partially or fully in Asia: Turkey, Russia (major parts in Asia); Azerbaijan, Georgia (almost completely in Asia); Cyprus, Armenia, Israel (fully in Asia).

In history, 46 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) have sent competitors to the Games. Israel has been excluded from the Games since 1976, the reason cited as being due to security reasons.^[24] Israel requested to participate in the 1982 Games, but the request was rejected by the organizers due to the Munich massacre.^[25] Israel is now a member of the European Olympic Committees (EOC).

Taiwan, Palestine, Hong Kong, and Macau participate in the Asian Games according to membership in OCA. Due to its continuing ambiguous political status, Taiwan participates in the Games under the flag of Chinese Taipei since 1990. Macau NOC is allowed to compete as one of the NOCs in Asian Games, despite not being recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for participation in the Olympic Games.

In 2007, the President of OCA, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, rejected proposal to allow Australia to participate in the Games. He stated that while Australia would add good value to the Asian Games, it would be unfair to the Oceania National Olympic Committees (ONOC).^[26] Being members of ONOC, Australia and New Zealand participates in Pacific Games since 2015. However this motion was mooted again in 2017 after Australia participation in 2017 Winter Games as they are in discussions of become full Asian Games member from 2022 or 2026.^[27]

Only seven countries, namely India, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Thailand have competed in all editions of the games.

List of Asian Games

1951, 1982

1954

1958

1962, 2018

1966, 1970, 1978, 1998

1974

1986

1990

1994

2002

2006

2010

2014

2018

2022

2026

Host cities of the Asian Games

Games	Year	Host Nation	Host City	Opened by	Date	Sports	Events	Nations	Competitors	Top Nation	Ref
I	1951	India	New Delhi	President Rajendra Prasad	4–11 March	6	57	11	489	Japan (JPN)	[28]
II	1954	Philippines	Manila	President Ramon Magsaysay	1–9 May	8	76	18	970	Japan (JPN)	[29]
III	1958	Japan	Tokyo	Emperor Hirohito	24 May – 1 June	13	97	20	1,820	Japan (JPN)	[30]
IV	1962	Indonesia	Jakarta	President Sukarno	24 August – 4 September	13	120	17	1,460	Japan (JPN)	[31]
V	1966	Thailand	Bangkok	King Bhumibol Adulyadej	9–20 December	14	143	18	1,945	Japan (JPN)	[32]
VI	1970	Thailand	Bangkok	King Bhumibol Adulyadej	9–20 December	13	135	18	2,400	Japan (JPN)	[33]
VII	1974	Iran	Tehran	Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi	1–16 September	16	202	25	3,010	Japan (JPN)	[34]
VIII	1978	Thailand	Bangkok	King Bhumibol Adulyadej	9–20 December	19	201	25	3,842	Japan (JPN)	[35]
IX	1982	India	New Delhi	President Zail Singh	19 November – 4 December	21	199	33	3,411	China (CHN)	[36]
X	1986	South Korea	Seoul	President Chun Doo-hwan	20 September – 5 October	25	270	27	4,839	China (CHN)	[37]
XI	1990	China	Beijing	President Yang Shangkun	22 September – 7 October	29	310	36	6,122	China (CHN)	[38]
XII	1994	Japan	Hiroshima	Emperor Akihito	2–16 October	34	337	42	6,828	China (CHN)	[39]
XIII	1998	Thailand	Bangkok	King Bhumibol Adulyadej	6–20 December	36	376	41	6,554	China (CHN)	[40]
XIV	2002	South Korea	Busan	President Kim Dae-jung	29 September – 14 October	38	419	44	7,711	China (CHN)	[41]
XV	2006	Qatar	Doha	Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani	1–15 December	39	424	45	9,520	China (CHN)	[42]
XVI	2010	China	Guangzhou	Premier Wen Jiabao	12–27 November	42	476	45	9,704	China (CHN)	[43]
XVII	2014	South Korea	Incheon	President Park Geun-hye	19 September–4 October	36	439	45	9,501	China (CHN)	[44]
XVIII	2018	Indonesia	Jakarta-Palembang	TBA	18 August – 2 September	Future event
XIX	2022	China	Hangzhou	TBA	10–25 September	Future event
XX	2026	Japan	Nagoya	TBA		Future event

Sports

Fifty one sports, spanning 39 different disciplines and nearly 400 events, have been part of the Asian Games program at one point or another, including 2018 Games in Jakarta and Palembang. The most program was forty-two sports, have comprised the schedule for 2010 Games.

Disciplines

Medal count

Of the 45 National Olympic Committees participating throughout the history of the Games, 43 nations have won at least a single medal in the competition, leaving three nations: Bhutan, Maldives and Timor-Leste yet to win a single medal. 37 nations have won at least one gold medal (only Japan and India have done so at every Asian Games), while Japan and China became the only two nations in history to emerge as overall champions.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China (CHN)	1342	900	653	2895
2	Japan (JPN)	957	980	913	2850
3	South Korea (KOR)	696	606	761	2063
4	Iran (IRI)	159	161	175	495
5	Kazakhstan (KAZ)	140	141	200	481
6	India (IND)	139	178	299	616
7	Thailand (THA)	121	159	233	513
8	North Korea (PRK)	98	132	166	396
9	Chinese Taipei (TPE)	82	125	245	452
10	Philippines (PHI)	63	112	215	390

Samsung MVP award

Samsung introduced the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in Asian Games beginning in the 1998 Games in Bangkok, Thailand. Below is the list of winners:

Year	Athlete	Sport	Ref
1998	Koji Ito	Athletics	[45]
2002	Kosuke Kitajima	Swimming	[45]
2006	Park Tae-hwan	Swimming	[46]
2010	Lin Dan	Badminton	[47]
2014	Kosuke Hagino	Swimming	[48]

Centennial Festival

On 8 November 2012, the OCA decided at its 31st General Assembly in Macau to create a special multi-sport event called Asian Games Centennial Festival in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Oriental Games (later became Far Eastern Championship Games).^[49] OCA awarded the Philippines the hosting rights as it was the same host 100 years ago. The event was originally scheduled to be held in Boracay Island, Malay, Aklan on 27 to 29 November 2013 but due to the events surrounding Typhoon Haiyan, it was moved to January 2014.^[50]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Asian Games.

• Olympic Council of Asia: Games

Asian Games
Sports OCA NOCs Medal table Mascots
Summer Games	New Delhi 1951 Manila 1954 Tokyo 1958 Jakarta 1962 Bangkok 1966 Bangkok 1970 Tehran 1974 Bangkok 1978 New Delhi 1982 Seoul 1986 Beijing 1990 Hiroshima 1994 Bangkok 1998 Busan 2002 Doha 2006 Guangzhou 2010 Incheon 2014 Jakarta–Palembang 2018 Hangzhou 2022 Nagoya 2026
Winter Games	Sapporo 1986 Sapporo 1990 Harbin 1996 Gangwon 1999 Aomori 2003 Changchun 2007 Astana–Almaty 2011 Sapporo 2017
Category Portal WikiProject Asian Beach Games Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games Asian Youth Games Asian Para Games

Association of National Olympic Committees
African Games Asian Games European Games Pan American Games Pacific Games
Africa	ANOCA – Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa
Americas	PASO – Pan American Sports Organization
Asia	OCA – Olympic Council of Asia
Europe	EOC – European Olympic Committees
Oceania	ONOC – Oceania National Olympic Committees