The “Asiad” journey from the Eastern Games to the Asian Games
The first multi-sport games in Asia were organized in 1913 in Manila under the name “Eastern Games”, then the name was changed in Shanghai in 1917 to the “Far Eastern Games” until 1938, while New Delhi hosted the “West Asian Games” in 1934. On the sidelines of the 1948 London Olympics, The heads of the Asian Olympic Committees proposed unifying all the games into a tournament called the Asian Games.
After a request from Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, the Asian Games Federation was established in 1949 in New Delhi, which hosted the first unified tournament in 1951 with the participation of 489 athletes from 11 countries. The second edition was held in Manila in 1954, and since then the Games have been held every 4 years.
Part of the opening of the Asian Games Village in Hangzhou (Asian Olympic)
In 1981, sports officials on the continent decided to change the name of their organization to the “Olympic Council of Asia,” and in 1982 its headquarters moved from India to Kuwait, and it was headed by Kuwaiti Sheikh Fahd Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah until 1990, then his son Ahmed Al-Fahd between 1991 and 2021.
Japan dominated the medal standings in the first editions, while South Korea participated in Manila 1954, after missing the first edition due to the inter-Korean war.
Emperor Hirohito opened the third session in Tokyo 1958 in front of 80,000 spectators to the sound of 21 cannon shots and the release of 5,000 doves.
China pledged to organize the best edition since the start of the Games in 1913 (Asian Olympic)
Indonesian opposition to Israel and Taiwan:
Indonesia opposed the participation of Taiwan and Israel in the 1962 Jakarta Games. The Asian Games Federation threatened it not to recognize the records recorded, and the International Association of Athletics Federations joined in. Taiwan, a founding member of the Asian Games Federation, filed a protest with the International Olympic Committee and demanded that it impose sanctions against Indonesia.
The International Olympic Committee agreed to Taiwan’s request and threatened to withdraw its recognition of the Games if Indonesia did not agree to grant visas to the Israelis and Taiwanese, but the host refused to yield to the Olympic Committee’s threat and maintained its opposition position. The Olympic Committee put its threat into action, expelling Indonesia from the Olympic family in 1963.
Israel and Taiwan returned to participate in the 1966 Bangkok edition, when riots occurred for the first time during the basketball semi-final between Korea and Thailand, where players clashed before the fight moved to the stands.
South Korea apologized for not hosting the sixth session in 1970, so Bangkok hosted it for the second time in a row.
Arab countries began to participate strongly in the early 1980s (Asian Olympic)
Participation of communist countries:
Communist Asian countries such as China, North Korea, and Cambodia participated for the first time in the 1974 Tehran Games, which hosted three thousand athletes.
Political differences reared their heads again, after Taiwan was expelled and North Korea was allowed to participate for the first time.
Iran allowed Israel to participate despite the opposition of the Arab countries, but the latter refused to participate in the tennis, fencing, basketball and football games in which Israel participated.
The Iraqi runner, Talib Al-Saffar, won the first Arab medal in the Games, which was a gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles race.
The eighth session was scheduled to be held in Pakistan in 1978, but the host country apologized for local reasons, and after several meetings, the Arab countries decided to provide assistance in order for Bangkok to organize the games.
The Arabs succeeded in keeping Israel out of the Games, while China refused Taiwan’s participation. China excelled in athletics competitions, while 25 gold medals in swimming contributed to Japan leading the final standings.
The final football match between South Korea and its northern neighbor was witnessed and ended in a goalless draw after extra time, with the two teams sharing the gold medal.
Part of the opening of the Asian Games Village in Hangzhou (Asian Olympic)
Era of Chinese control:
The New Delhi 1982 edition was the first under the supervision of the Olympic Council of Asia, and China put an end to Japan’s control for the first time by coming first with 61 gold medals ahead of Japan (57), beginning a Chinese era that is still ongoing.
Two years before the Summer Olympics, Seoul hosted the 1986 tournament, and included judo and taekwondo among the competitions, while softball, sepak takraw, wushu and kabaddi were included in the 1990 Beijing tournament.
In 1994, the capital of the host country was not represented for the first time, with Japan’s Hiroshima hosting the Games.
The new Soviet republics of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, as well as Cambodia participated.
China collected 129 gold medals in the 1998 Beijing Games, almost double what its direct competitor, South Korea, collected (65 gold medals).
In the 2002 Busan edition, the two Korean delegations entered under a unified flag of the Korean Peninsula for the first time at the Games and the second after the 2002 Sydney Olympics.
Hangzhou will be the scene of sports competitions in the Asian Games (Asian Olympics)
Doha is the first Arab host:
Qatar became the first Arab country to host the Asian Olympics in 2006, with the participation of about 13,000 athletes.
Arab athletes were active and, for the first time, crossed the barrier of 100 medals in various metals. Athletics was their beacon, winning 15 out of 37 gold medals.
Qatar topped the rankings of Arab countries with 9 gold medals.
In 2010, Guangzhou became able to compete to host one of the Olympic Games, and advanced over Beijing, which had organized the Olympics two years earlier.
South Korea’s results did not match its aspirations in the 2014 Incheon tournament. The organizational differences appeared large between what China presented four years ago and what Incheon witnessed.
Names maintained their superiority, including the giant Chinese swimmer Wang Sun, the Emirati runner Maryam Yousef Jamal (golds in the 1500 and 5,000 metres), Saudi Sultan Al-Habashi (retained the iron-ball gold for the third time in a row), in addition to the Kuwaiti thrower Fuhaid Al-Daihani, who was close to gold.
For the first time, two regions hosted the Games in 2018: Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia. The Games were originally awarded to Hanoi, Vietnam, but they withdrew in 2014 due to financial concerns. China topped the medal standings for the tenth session in a row, while the two Koreas won a joint gold medal for the first time in the dragon boat competition.
2023-09-17 08:59:31
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