Asian Games

• 1 The 1951 Asian Games, New Delhi, India
• 2 The 1954 Asian Games, Manila, Philippines
• 3 The 1958 Asian Games, Tokyo, Japan
• 4 The 1962 Asian Games, Jakarta, Indonesia
• 5 The 1970 Asian Games, Bangkok, Thailand
• 6 The 1974 Asian Games, Tehran, Iran
• 7 The 1978 Asian Games, Bangkok, Thailand
• 7 The 1982 Asian Games, New Delhi, India
• 8 The 1986 Asian Games, Seoul, South Korea
• 9 The 1990 Asian Games, Beijing, China
• 10 The 1994 Asian Games, Hiroshima, Japan
• 11 The 1998 Asian Games, Bangkok, Thailand
• 12 The 2002 Asian Games, Busan, South Korea
• 13 The Future

The original 1950 charter of the Asian Games begins, “The Asian Games shall be held every four years, exceptional circumstances apart, and assemble amateurs of Asian nations in fair and equal competition under conditions that are to be as perfect as possible. No discrimination is allowed against any country or person on grounds of color, religion or politics.” Women were restricted to competition in athletics, fencing, gymnastics, swimming, canoeing, yachting, and art exhibitions. The charter allowed for Asian Winter Games to be held during the same year, but the first Asian Winter Games were not held until 1986, and thereafter in 1990, 1996, 1999, and 2003.
The games resumed competition between Asian nations that was interrupted during the 1930s. China, Japan, and the Philippines had hosted ten competitions of the Far East Championships from 1913 until 1934. Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru proposed the idea to other Asian nations in 1947. The Indian Olympic Committee, led by G. D. Sohndi, continued the discussions with Asian neighbors at the 1948 Olympic Games and the first competitions were planned for 1950. Delays slowed the preparations and the first “Asiad” or Asian Games were held in New Delhi, India, in 1951. Since 1954 the Asian Games have been held regularly every four years on the even years between the Summer Olympic Games.

The 1951 Asian Games, New Delhi, India

New Delhi’s National Stadium welcomed athletes from eleven nations in March of 1951 to the first Asian Games. A five-mile torch relay from New Delhi’s Red Fort to National Stadium opened the games. The cauldron in the stadium was lit by India’s Dalip Singh, a participant in the 1924 Olympic Games. China and Vietnam did not participate as India did not recognize their governments, and they were not invited to the games. Pakistan, newly independent from India, and still disputing the Kashmir regions with India, boycotted the games.

The 1954 Asian Games, Manila, Philippines

China declined to participate in the games of 1954, in Manila, Philippines, when the Taiwanese were invited to participate. The debate of athletic sovereignty between the “two Chinas” began in 1952 and continues to this day.

The 1958 Asian Games, Tokyo, Japan

In Tokyo, Japan built for the 1958 Asian Games what was said to be one of the most modern and beautiful stadiums of its time in the world. They also succeeded in impressing the International Olympic Committee to award them the 1964 Olympic Games. Gun laws in Japan were so severe that even starting pistols were restricted. The Japanese Diet (parliament) had to give special permission for the officials to use starting guns. Japanese commercial and government television stations broadcast the games.The torch for the games was lit in Manila’s Rizal Stadium, host of the previous games, and carried by plane to southern Japan where it was relayed on foot to Tokyo. Japan’s 1928 Olympic triple jump champion Mikio Oda lit the games cauldron. China again refused to compete when Taiwan was invited. North Korea wanted to field a separate team from South Korea but were not yet members of the Asian Games Federation and were expected to compete as part of a unified Korean team. The Japanese spent over $40 million on their new stadium, and lost money on the games, but were able to restore some of the international goodwill that had been lost in the region during the preceding decade of war. Mainland China, however, at the conclusion of the games broke off sporting relations with Japan over the issue of the participation of Taiwan.

The 1962 Asian Games, Jakarta, Indonesia

The games of 1962 were awarded to Jakarta, Indonesia, by a narrow 22–20 vote of the Asian Games Federation and with pessimism that Indonesia’s complete lack of facilities and experience in organizing events of this kind would doom the games.The political tensions between mainland China and Taiwan resurfaced as a theme of these games in 1962, as did the issue of Israel’s participation. Indonesia, having no diplomatic relations with either Taiwan or Israel, refused visas to both countries, excluding them from entering the country for the games. China, one month before the games were to begin, placed a great amount of diplomatic pressure on Indonesia to influence the decision concerning Taiwan. The Taiwanese protested and attempted to gain the support of other countries in a boycott if Taiwan was not invited to the games. During the week prior the games, with all of the nations except Taiwan and Israel in Jakarta, and the Indonesian government unwilling to budge, India’s G. D. Sohndi, one of the original founders of the Asian Games, attempted to remove the official sanction from the games and have them called the Jakarta Games and not the Asian Games.
On 26 August, two days after the opening ceremony, a statement was issued to the press that the games would not be recognized as the Asian Games but would be called the Jakarta Games. The international federations for basketball and weightlifting immediately removed their sanction for those sports and the tournaments were canceled.Two days later the Asian Games Federation met again and reversed the decision, insisting the games had full sanction and setting up a committee to look into the issues with Taiwan and Israel.
In February of 1963, Sohndi, as part of the executive committee of the International Olympic Committee, moved to have sanctions placed against Indonesia and have them suspended from the Olympic movement. This led Indonesia to attempt to establish the Games of the New Emerging Forces (GANEFO) in protest, which were to be an ongoing alternative to the Olympic Games.The GANEFO games were held once, in Jakarta in 1963, and a smaller Asian GANEFO was held in 1966 in Cambodia, before the protest movement lost momentum. Israel and Taiwan were both invited back to the 1966 Asian Games held in Bangkok, Thailand, but the games were not considered to be well organized. One spectator died in a stampede of fans attempting to get in to the opening ceremony.

The main stadium of Thammasart University, Rangsit, Thailand, the locale for the Asian Games. Source: istockphoto.com/palmbook.

The 1970 Asian Games, Bangkok, Thailand

South Korea had been selected to host the 1970 games but ongoing domestic problems forced the Koreans to decline. Bangkok graciously offered to host the games for the second time in a row.

The 1974 Asian Games, Tehran, Iran

In 1974 in Tehran, Iran, the Asian Games were especially controversial when the political issues of Taiwan and Israel again became hot topics.The Asian Football Federation finally voted to eliminate Israel from all future football competitions at the games. Other nations boycotted Israel’s participation in other sports, the Arab nations, North Korea, Pakistan, and China refusing to participate with Israel in tennis, fencing, basketball, and football. On the matter of Taiwan’s participation, the international governing bodies of swimming (FINA, Federation Internationale de Natation) and athletics (IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations) ruled opposite of one another on the issue.The IAAF said Taiwan could compete, while FINA voted against their inclusion, voting to include China instead, and in the end Taiwan did not participate.
The 1974 games saw accusations of professionalism against six boxers from Thailand and two drug suspensions handed out against weightlifters from North Korea and Japan.

The 1978 Asian Games, Bangkok, Thailand

Bangkok,Thailand, once again stepped in to rescue the games in 1978 after Islamabad, Pakistan, pulled out as host. Israel was expelled entirely from the Asian Games Federation and Bangladesh, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar were accepted as new members of the federation.

The 1982 Asian Games, New Delhi, India

In 1982 in New Delhi, police arrested more than seven hundred people three days before the games opened, fearful that Akali Sikh activists might try to disrupt the games.Ten thousand extra police were on hand for security during the games, which took place without incident. For the first time Japan was not atop the medals table; China had outscored the Japanese with sixty-one gold medals to Japan’s fifty-seven gold medals.
The games organizing body was renamed in December of 1982 from the Asian Games Federation to the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).

The 1986 Asian Games, Seoul, South Korea

Security was increased for the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul, South Korea. North Korea refused to participate in the games and gave indications that that they might attempt to disrupt the events. Five days before the games opening, a large bomb exploded inside Seoul’s Kimpo Airport, killing five and injuring thirty-six. The South Korean government closed down five schools and universities during the games in an attempt to stop student demonstrations.

The 1990 Asian Games, Beijing, China

One month after Iraq invaded Kuwait in August of 1990, the Asian Games opened in Beijing, China. Iraq was expelled from the games and was not allowed to participate. During the Iraqi invasion on 2 August 1990 Sheikh Fahad al Sabah, president of the Olympic Council of Asia and a member of the International Olympic Committee from Kuwait, was murdered. International businesses shied away from sponsoring the games because of the June 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. China dominated the medals table like no nation had before, winning 183 gold medals. The rest of the nations combined shared 127 gold medals.

The 1994 Asian Games, Hiroshima, Japan

The 1994 games in Hiroshima, Japan, were controversial again for the Chinese, with eleven Chinese athletes suspended for performance-enhancing drugs. South Korea had proposed that a unified North and South Korean team compete at these games, but North Korea rejected the offer for reasons connected to international inspections of its nuclear facilities.

The 1998 Asian Games, Bangkok, Thailand

Bangkok,Thailand, held the Asian Games in 1998, the fourth time since 1966 that the games were held in Thailand’s capital.Worries about Bangkok’s slow preparations began in 1995 and continued to 1997, with the OCA almost taking the games away from Bangkok. Bangkok eventually succeeded in pulling off a magnificent Asian Games. Monetary awards by various nations to their athletes were a visible part of the games. Singapore offered $154,000 for a gold medal, China $480. Despite the slogan “Friendship Beyond Frontiers,” the games were not without the usual political disturbances. Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan withdrew before the games began, Afghanistan citing economic difficulties and protesting the amounts the Thai organizers were charging to stay in the village.The Saudi Arabians withdrew in part because the Muslim holy month of Ramadan began during the last week of the games. Iraq was not present for the third games in a row, still banned for its aggression against Kuwait in 1990.
The Chinese embassy protested when Taiwanese flags were found flying in various locations around Bangkok. Because of the political disputes between China and Taiwan it was agreed before the games that only the flag of the National Olympic Committee of Taiwan could be flown. North Korea insisted that it march before South Korea during the opening ceremonies but the Thai hosts said that the Thai alphabet would be used and the South Korean delegation would march in fourth or fifth while North Korea would be approximately the thirtyfifth team to walk into the stadium.The teams were also separated in the village as much as possible.The North Koreans were challenged to prove the ages of their female gymnasts, which some nations thought were under the required age of sixteen years. After inspecting their passports the OCA allowed them to compete.
China, South Korea, Taiwan, and the host Thailand all protested decisions of the judges in the tae kwon do competition with sit-ins and near riots in the stands. Police were called in to restore order several times. Pakistani and Indian billiards players hotly debated proper behavior during their match play and the Chinese reported that a few of their table tennis players had been approached and offered bribes to throw their matches; all of them refused.
When India’s Jyotirmoy Sikhdar won India’s very first gold medal of the games, the hosts mistakenly began to play the Chinese national anthem, the anthem heard most often at the games. After Indians in the crowd began to boo, the hosts realized their mistake and apologized. The Indian anthem was then played, and later in the day played again as a further apology. Drug suspensions caused other medals to come under dispute. Fakruddin Taher of the United Arab Emirates was disqualified for illegal drug use after winning the silver medal in the 60-kilogram class in karate. The OCA ruled that the two bronze medal winners (there is no bronze medal bout and two medals are awarded) would both be given silver medals and the fifth and sixth place winners moved up and both awarded bronze medals. Only four athletes failed drug tests at the games.
At the games, the Asian nations discussed the possibility of boycotting the 2002 World Cup in football, because FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) had decided to reduce the number of qualifying positions for the Asian region from a possible four to two. If Korea and Japan were to go along with a proposed boycott this would put them in the most curious position of boycotting a tournament they would be hosting and organizing.

The 2002 Asian Games, Busan, South Korea

One legacy of the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, was that for the first time a team from North Korea had participated in a games in South Korea. North Korea’s national anthem and flag are normally banned by law in South Korea.These restrictions were set aside, in part, for the duration of the games.The flag could be waved, but only in official ceremonies, and by North Korean delegates in the stadium, not by spectators. South Korea even manufactured some North Korean flags for the first time.The anthem was played on official occasions, though South Korean military bands still refused to play the anthem.On the matter of China and Taiwan, Korean organizers, under pressure from China, arranged for Taiwan to march under a banner reading Chinese Taipei, using a phonetic Korean script, and not the usual Korean alphabetical order. This put them thirty-fifth in the parade, rather than second, and behind China. China also asked that the number of delegations be referred to as forty-four countries and territories, not forty-four countries, as China does not regard Taiwan, Hong Kong, or Macau as countries.
Badminton, boxing, bodybuilding, and tae kwon do were all hit with protests over officiating. Boxing judges were banned over questionable decisions. A large memorial wall, of athlete’s hands and signatures, cast in bronze, was to be created after the games, symbolizing the friendship of the games.

The Future
The 2006 Asian Games are scheduled to be held in Doha, Qatar, in December of 2006. Organizers have said that there will be no restrictions or dress codes for women at the games. Guangdong, China, was named as host of the 2010 Asian Games at OCA meetings in June 2004.

See also South East Asian Games