Asian Games
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The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a 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.^[1] The Games are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and are described as the second largest multi-sport event after the Olympic Games.^[2][3]

In its history, nine nations have hosted the Asian Games. 46 nations have participated in the Games, including Israel, which was excluded from the Games after their last participation in 1974.

The last Games was held in Guangzhou, China from November 12, to November 27, 2010. The next Games will be held in from September 19 to October 4, 2014 at Incheon, South Korea.

History[edit]

Prior formation[edit]

Before the Asian Games were held, there was a gathering known as the Far Eastern Games which was first mooted in 1912 between Empire of Japan, the Philippine Islands and China. The first Games were then held in Manila in 1913 and ten further gatherings were held until 1934. However, against the backdrop of the second Sino-Japanese War in 1934, in the face of Japan's insistence on including Manchu Empire as competitor nation in the Games, China announced its withdrawal from participation. The Games scheduled for 1938 were cancelled and the organization was discontinued thereafter.

Formation[edit]

After World War II, a number of Asian countries became independent. Many of the newly independent Asian countries wanted to see a new type of competition where Asian dominance would not be shown by violence but would be strengthened by 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, the Indian International Olympic Committee representative Guru Dutt Sondhi thought that the restoration of the Games would not be sufficient to show the spirit of unity and level of achievement in Asian sports, so proposed to sports leaders the idea of having discussions about holding a wholly new competition — the Asian Games. This gave rise to the agreement to form the Asian Athletic Federation. A preparatory committee was 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.^[4][5]

Crisis, reorganization, expansion[edit]

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 the Republic of China 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.^[6] The Asian Football Confederation (AFC),^[7] International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), also removed their recognition of the Games.^[8][9]

In 1970, South Korea dropped its plan to host the Games declined 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.^[10] Prior to the Games, Japan was asked to host the Games, but declined due to Expo '70 in Osaka.^[11] This edition also marked the first time the Games have a television broadcasting throughout the world.^[12] 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 take part despite its status was abolished in general meeting on November 16, 1973 by Games Federation.^[13]

The last is 1978, Pakistan dropped its plan to host the Games in 1975 due to financial crisis and political issues.^[14] 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.^[15] Several governing bodies protested against the ban, like IAAF, threatened to bar the participating players from 1980 Summer Olympics,^[16] this caused several teams to withdraw prior to the Games.^[17]

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.^[18] 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.^[19] In the succeeding Games, Taiwan (Republic of China) was re-admitted, but was forced by the People's Republic of China to compete under the name Chinese Taipei.^[20]

In 1994, the Games included the former republics of the Soviet Union: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan for the first time. It was also the first time that the Games had been held outside the capital city of the host country.^[21] 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.^[22] The 1998 Games marked the fourth time the Games had been held in Bangkok, Thailand. The fourth opening ceremony occurred on 6th December, compared to 9th December for the previous 3. All four games were opened by Bhumibol Adulyadej. The date of the closing ceremony remained as 20th December for all 4 games hosted by Thailand.

Future changes[edit]

The number of competition events is scheduled to shrink down to just 35 sports at the 2014 Games to be held in Incheon, South Korea. 2014 will also see the last Games hosted in an even-numbered year, as the Olympic Council of Asia pushed the subsequent Games to just one year ahead of the Olympic Games. This means the 18th Asian Games which were originally planned for 2018 will be pushed to 2019.

Participation[edit]

2006 Asian Games

All 45 members affiliated to the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) are eligible to take part in the Games. 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.^[23] Israel requested to participate in the 1982 Games, but the request was rejected by the organizers due to incident in 1972 Summer Olympics.^[24] Israel is now a member of the European Olympic Committees (EOC).

Due to its continuing ambiguous political status, Taiwan has participated in the Games under the flag of Chinese Taipei since 1990. Macau 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 the 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 other NOCs in Oceania.^[25]

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

Sports[edit]

44 sports were presented in Asian Games history, including 2010 Games in Guangzhou.

Medal count[edit]

Of the 46 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. 34 nations have won at least a single gold medal, while Japan and China became the only two nations in history to emerge as overall champions.

Samsung MVP award[edit]

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

Year	Athlete	Sport	Ref
1998	Koji Ito	Athletics	[26]
2002	Kosuke Kitajima	Swimming	[26]
2006	Park Tae-Hwan	Swimming	[27]
2010	Lin Dan	Badminton	[28]

List of Asian Games[edit]

Host countries of the games through 2014. Red spot denotes the city of the Games.

Year	Games	Host	Dates	Nations	Athletes	Sports	Events	Ref
1951	I	New Delhi, India	March 4–11	11	489	6	57	[29]
1954	II	Manila, Philippines	May 1–9	19	970	8	76	[30]
1958	III	Tokyo, Japan	May 28 – June 1	16	1,820	13	97	[31]
1962	IV	Jakarta, Indonesia	August 24 – September 4	12	1,460	13	88	[32]
1966	V	Bangkok, Thailand	December 9–20	16	1,945	14	143	[33]
1970	VI	Bangkok, Thailand	December 9–20	16	2,400	13	135	[34]
1974	VII	Tehran, Iran	September 1–16	19	3,010	16	202	[35]
1978	VIII	Bangkok, Thailand	December 9–20	19	3,842	19	201	[36]
1982	IX	New Delhi, India	November 19 – December 4	23	3,411	21	147	[37]
1986	X	Seoul, South Korea	September 20 – October 5	27	4,839	25	270	[38]
1990	XI	Beijing, China	September 22 – October 7	36	6,122	29	310	[39]
1994	XII	Hiroshima, Japan	October 2–16	42	6,828	34	337	[40]
1998	XIII	Bangkok, Thailand	December 6–20	41	6,554	36	376	[41]
2002	XIV	Busan, South Korea	September 29 – October 14	44	7,711	38	419	[42]
2006	XV	Doha, Qatar	December 1–15	45	9,520	39	424	[43]
2010	XVI	Guangzhou, China	November 12–27	45	9,704	42	476	[44]
2014	XVII	Incheon, South Korea	September 19 – October 4	Future event
2019	XVIII	Hanoi, Vietnam		Future event
2023	XIX	TBA		Future event

Centennial Festival[edit]

On November 8, 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).^[45] OCA awarded the Philippines the hosting rights as it was the same host 100 years ago. The event will be held in Boracay Island, Malay, Aklan in November 27 to 29, 2013.^[46]

See also[edit]

Asian Games portal

• Asian Winter Games
• List of Asian Games mascots
• List of IOC country codes

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Asian Games

• Olympic Council of Asia: Games

v t e Association of National Olympic Committees All-African Games Asian Games European Games Pan American 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