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The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a Pancontinental 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. Forty-six 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 Incheon, South Korea from 19 September to 4 October 2014.

History

Prior formation

Before the Asian Games were held, a gathering known as the Far Eastern 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. 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.^[4][5]

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 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 Amateur Athletics Federation (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 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.^[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 16 November 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, 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.^[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 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.

Future changes

The number of competition events is scheduled to shrink down to just 36 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. However, due to the choice of Jakarta, Indonesia as the host city of the 18th Games, the plan to hold the event in the year 2019 was changed back to 2018 because in 2019, Indonesia will be preoccupied by presidential election. The Olympic Council of Asia is currently in discuss concerning the 19th Asian Games, whether it will be held in 2022 or 2023.

Symbols

Similar to the Olympic Games, the Olympic Council of Asia also uses symbols to represent the ideals of the Asian Games, namely:

• Olympic Council of Asia Flag
• Asian Games flame
• Olympic Council of Asia Hymn

Participation

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. 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

Forty-four sports were presented in Asian Games history, including 2010 Games in Guangzhou.

Medal count

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. 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)	1,342	900	653	2,895
2	Japan (JPN)	957	980	913	2,850
3	South Korea (KOR)	696	606	761	2,063
4	Iran (IRI)	159	161	175	495
5	Kazakhstan (KAZ)	140	141	200	481
6	India (IND)	139	178	285	602
7	Thailand (THA)	121	159	233	513
8	North Korea (PRK)	98	132	166	396
9	Chinese Taipei (TPE)	82	125	255	452
10	Philippines (PHI)	63	112	215	390
11	Uzbekistan (UZB)	63	96	114	273
12	Indonesia (INA)	60	95	203	358
13	Malaysia (MAS)	56	88	132	276
14	Pakistan (PAK)	44	63	93	200
15	Singapore (SIN)	37	55	101	193
Total		4,313	4,295	5,136	13,744

^[26]

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:

Editions

Host countries of the games through 2019. Red spot denotes the city of the Games.

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).^[48] 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 it was moved to January 2014.^[49][50]

See also

• Asian Para Games
• List of IOC country codes

References

External links

• Olympic Council of Asia: Games

Association of National Olympic Committees All-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