Seven keywords to understand the history of the Asian Games

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1. Far East

If we want to trace the origin of the Asian Games, we cannot fail to mention the "Far Eastern Games".

In January 1911, E. Brown, president of the Philippine (then a U.S. colony) athletic association, was appointed by E. Brown. S· Brown visited China and Japan and offered to organize a regional sports organization in the Far East, with one of the three countries taking turns to host the Games every two years.

This proposal was approved by China and Japan, and the three parties subsequently established a regional sports organization called the "Far East Olympic Committee". After two years of preparation, on February 1, 1913, the first Far East Games opened in Manila, the capital of the Philippines.

Please note one detail: China was still the Qing Dynasty when it participated in the preparation, and by the time it was held, it was already the Republic of China.

In the first Far East Games held in 1913, only three countries participated, the host Philippines finally took the first place in the overall score, China for the first time to participate in international sports events won the second place, and Japan ranked last.

In May 1915, the Second Far East Games was held at Shanghai's Hongkou Casino (now Lu Xun Park), and more than 2,000 Chinese and foreign guests came to the opening ceremony alone.

The Chinese delegation, sitting at home, played bravely in this Games and won the first place in the overall score. It is worth mentioning that at this Games, the Chinese football team defeated the Philippines to win the championship - considering the overall football level in Asia at that time, this championship can be equivalent to the continental championship.

"Declaration" originally reported on the Second Far Eastern Games

The fifth Far East Games returned to Shanghai, and the scale of the athletes' meeting has expanded a lot: not only China, Japan and the Philippines participated, India, Siam (Thailand), Malaysia, Java (Indonesia) also sent their own teams, and the original "Far East Olympic Association" was also recognized by the International Olympic Committee - it can be said that the "Far East Games" has initially formed the prototype of the "Asian Games".

By the time of the Eighth Shanghai Far Eastern Games in 1927, more than 50,000 spectators had been attended by the opening ceremony, and more than 500 athletes from various countries had been sent, including 164 delegations from China.

If this trajectory continues, the "Far Eastern Games" will inevitably gradually become a sports event for the whole of Asia, but the subsequent development is not the same.

Shanghai's Times featured a special edition of the 9th Far East Games

The 9th Tokyo Far East Games in 1930 was the last Far East Games in which countries could maintain apparent harmony. Four years later, the 10th Far East Games in Manila became the swan song of this event:

At that time, the "918 Incident" had already occurred, and the Japanese side demanded that the charter be amended to allow the puppet Manchukuo to participate as an independent sovereign state, and China firmly opposed it. In the absence of the Chinese representative, the Japanese side forced the Philippine representative to sign and adopt the resolution.

At this point, the Far Eastern Games no longer had the significance and necessity of holding them, and they were dissolved.

2. Struggle

With World War II and Asia devastated, many countries realized that a sporting event was needed to lift spirits and unite together.

This time, it is India, which has recently gained independence, who has come forward to take the lead. Under conditions of extreme material scarcity, India hosted the first Asian Games in New Delhi on March 4, 1951, a year later than scheduled.

Eleven Asian countries signed up for the Games, and the People's Republic of China, which had just been founded, received an invitation but missed the registration time, and finally Wu Xueqian led a courtesy delegation to observe and study on site.

The emblem of the first New Delhi Games is "Red Sun", and the following 11 consecutive links represent 11 participating countries and regions

However, as long as any sporting event has attention, it is impossible to get rid of politics.

The political struggle outside the arena began at the first Asian Games.

Pakistan and India were clashing over Kashmir at the time, so they refused to send a delegation to participate; South Korea was caught up in the Korean War and could not send a delegation; The organizing committee did not invite the republics of Vietnam and the Soviet Union in Asia to participate; Iran sent a team to participate, but did not send a single female athlete.

The first Asian Games ended successfully. But from the second to the sixth, the so-called "Asian Games" fell into a huge embarrassment - the People's Republic of China, the world's most populous and the most extensive in Asia, never sent a delegation to participate.

And this 20-year struggle revolves around the question: Who represents China?

In 1952, the American Brundage, then president of the International Olympic Committee, helped the so-called "Republic of China" sports organizations entrenched in Taiwan to join international organizations such as football, basketball, athletics, and weightlifting, and the Asian Games Federation also accepted the "Republic of China" as a member, which caused strong protests from the People's Republic of China.

Brundage. He was President of the International Olympic Committee from 1952 to 1972. During this period, he made many positive and beneficial explorations and contributions to the Olympic cause, but also made some mistakes. In 1934, Brundage, then a member of the International Olympic Committee, led a team to Nazi Germany and finally concluded that Berlin could host the Olympic Games, so that the 1936 Berlin Olympics were held in the shadow of the Nazis. In 1954, Brundage, who had become president of the International Olympic Committee, apologized for his actions that year.

The Second Asian Games in 1954 and the Third Asian Games in 1958 were held in Manila, Philippines and Tokyo, Japan, respectively. Both countries were part of the "sphere of influence" of the United States and did not have diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China at that time, so they both invited the "Republic of China" to participate - in protest, the People's Republic of China refused to participate.

There is a saying that the host country has not established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. The fourth Asian Games in Jakarta in 1962 made the struggle completely open – the host country, Indonesia, established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China in 1950, and the two countries had friendly relations.

China had already withdrawn from the IOC in 1958, but Indonesia's invitation to Taiwan's participation in the Asian Games would still be a serious international political issue. Zhou Enlai, then Premier of the Chinese government, and Foreign Minister Chen Yi wrote to Indonesian President Sukarno respectively, solemnly stating China's position.

But Indonesia is also caught in a dilemma at this time:

On the one hand, of course, they did not want to offend the friendly country China, and at that time they also wanted to recover the disputed Western Illian Islands, which needed China's position. But on the other hand, Taiwan, which was a member of the Asian Games federation at the time, was not invited to participate in the Asian Games, which not only did not comply with the regulations, but also could not be explained by the International Olympic Committee.

President Sukarno considered for a long time and finally informed the Chinese side through relevant channels:

We will invite Taiwanese to participate, but rest assured, we have a way to make them unable to come.

As a result, although the Taiwanese side received the invitation, they were told by the Indonesian side that their ID card technology was wrong and they could not enter Indonesia. By the way, Indonesia did not invite Israel to participate for religious reasons.

But Indonesia has also paid a heavy price:

Due to the failure of Taiwan and Israel to participate, IOC President Brundage announced before the opening of the conference that he would not recognize the fourth Asian Games and withdrew his sponsorship of the Asian Games (in February of the following year, he announced that "Indonesia will be banned from participating in the Olympic Games from time to time"). The Asian Games Federation and the International Weightlifting Federation followed suit, the former also not recognizing the event, the latter announced that if weightlifters participated in the Asian Games, they would not be able to participate in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and subsequent international weightlifting events – an announcement that led directly to the eventual cancellation of weightlifting competitions at the Asian Games.

The incident also prompted Asian countries such as Indonesia and China to reinvent the wheel, and later hosted the "Emerging Forces Games".

Emblem of the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta

The next two Asian Games, in 1966 and 1970, were held in Bangkok, Thailand, and China did not participate for the same reason.

In 1971, China resumed its permanent seat in the United Nations, and two years later, the Asian Games Federation passed a resolution expelling Taiwan's so-called "Republic of China" and restoring the legitimate seat of the People's Republic of China.

Thus, at the 7th Asian Games in Tehran in 1974, the Chinese delegation finally appeared.

The return of the Chinese delegation marks the end of the "political dispute" outside the Asian Games, but it also officially announces:

Regarding the competitive sports competition in the arena, the curtain officially began.

3. Fight for hegemony

Since the first Asian Games, Japan has been a well-deserved Asian sports hegemon.

Since the third Asian Games, the total number of gold medals in the gold medal table of the Japanese delegation has been at least 50 more than the second place, and the total number of gold medals in the fifth and sixth Asian Games has been 66 gold medals ahead of the second place - it feels like it is not a competition of the same magnitude at all.

This situation was not broken until the seventh Asian Games in Tehran, when the Chinese delegation participated.

The 1974 Asian Games in Tehran featured 16 events and 3,100 athletes from 25 countries and regions, the largest number of participants in any Asian Games. China sent a delegation of 269 people to compete in 14 events.

Chinese shooter Su Zhibo won the first gold medal for the Chinese delegation in the men's self-gun slow fire event, and the whole team won a total of 103 medals in 33 gold, 44 silver and 26 bronze at that Asian Games, ranking second in the gold medal table and medal table.

Although the number of gold medals is still far from the 72 gold medals of the first-place Japanese delegation, considering that the Chinese delegation is participating in the Asian Games for the first time, it is quite difficult to achieve such results. And this achievement of the Chinese delegation also attracted the attention of the Japanese media: be vigilant! Chinese athletes are trying to catch up!

The Chinese delegation appeared at the opening ceremony of the 1974 Asian Games in Tehran

By the 8th Asian Games in Bangkok in 1978, China and Japan were once again close: Japan won 70 gold medals, ranking first with 177 medals, and China won 51 gold medals, ranking second with 151 medals.

It is worth mentioning that the third-placed South Korean delegation won only 18 gold medals, and the total number of medals was 69, which was far behind - the pattern of Japan-China hegemony is already beginning to appear in Asia.

But some so-called "patterns" collapsed as soon as they were formed.

In 1982, the Asian Games returned to New Delhi, India, which was the starting point of the Asian Games and the beginning of Japan's sports "domination in Asia" - but this time, another new "hegemon" was born:

The Chinese delegation won the same total number of medals as the Japanese team at this Asian Games: 153, but the number of gold medals was 61, four more than the Japanese team, and it topped the throne of Asian sports dominance for the first time.

From returning to the Asian Games to reaching the top, China took only eight years.

Chinese athletes at the 1982 New Delhi Games

After the New Delhi Games, the Japanese were not convinced, they were brewing revenge four years later, and China tasted the first taste for the first time, and did not dare to slack, taking Japan as the biggest competitor in Asia, and began another cycle of training and preparation.

But no one expected that at the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul four years later, it was not Japan that threatened China's dominance in Asian sports, but the host South Korea.

The 1986 Asian Games were regarded by the host country South Korea as a preview of hosting the 1988 Olympic Games, so it was particularly important. The Asian Games surpassed all previous editions in terms of scale and participating athletes, and the intensity of competition was unprecedented: more than 200 people broke the Asian Games record, breaking two world records and drawing two world records.

At the Asian Games, the nascent Sino-Japanese hegemony was quickly broken by the host South Korea (of course, South Korea is also very good at taking advantage of some of the hosts' home field advantage): Yu Wei, who won 15 gold medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, was far ahead of the gold medal table from the start, with Japan and South Korea clinging to second and third places, but far behind China in gold medals.

But three days before the competition, the South Koreans suddenly burst into flames, winning 29 gold medals in one fell swoop, including two gold medals in table tennis over the Chinese men's and women's teams, bringing the number of gold medals to 92 at once — the same as the Chinese delegation.

Liu Nankui, a 18-year-old South Korean "talented boy" who was only 18 years old, was born at the Seoul Asian Games, defeated Jiang Jialiang and other Chinese celebrities one after another, won the men's singles championship in table tennis, and led the team to win the men's team championship as the main team. Two years later, at the age of 20, Liu Nankui became the first men's singles champion after table tennis entered the Olympic event at the Seoul Olympics.

On the last day of the competition, South Korea was boiling and the whole country was concerned: the South Korean delegation surpassed the Chinese team with 221 medals in the total number of medals - which means that even if the final gold medal count is equal, the South Korean team can take the Asian sports dominance for the first time with the advantage of the number of medals.

On the last day of competition, there were three events left: the men's final, and the men's and women's 4X100m dash relays.

The night before, the Chinese delegation had met nervously overnight to discuss the situation: the South Korean men's team, with the advantage of the host, should have no suspense to win the championship, and China must win both gold medals in athletics to ensure the first place in the gold medal table.

On the last day of competition, the South Korean men's team won without suspense, but the Chinese women's team also won the gold medal in the women's 4X100m sprint, and the total number of gold medals in both China and South Korea rose to 93 - depending on the men's 4X100m sprint final.

At that time, the Chinese men's sprinting team was led by Zheng Chen, who was the Asian record holder (10.28 seconds), but at that Olympics he withdrew from the 100-meter race due to a muscle strain, and on the one hand, he also tried his best to protect the gold medal in the men's 4X100 meter.

The fourth-baseman Zheng Chen stubbornly rushed with injuries after taking the baton, eventually beating Japan to cross the line first, while China also won the Asian record in 39.17 seconds, locking the total number of gold medals at 94 - beating the South Korean team and once again defending the Asian sports dominance.

The Chinese 4X100m sprint relay team receives the award, and Zheng Chen is the first from the right

In this Asian Games, 90% of the gold medals were divided among the delegations of China, South Korea and Japan, and East Asia completely overwhelmed West Asia.

But this is also the second and third place, the closest Asian Games to the first place Chinese delegation.

4. Beijing

In 1990, China welcomed the largest continental sports event since the founding of the People's Republic of China: the 11th Asian Games.

(Regarding this Asian Games, there has been a text description in the public name of "Mantou Said" before, but I would like to say it again here).

The Chinese government submitted its bid in 1983, successfully bid in 1984, established the Asian Organizing Committee in 1985, and then began to break ground on a series of projects to welcome the Asian Games: the Olympic Sports Center, the Asian Games Village and a large number of overpasses, roads and supporting projects, with a total investment of more than 2 billion yuan, which is the largest construction in Beijing since the construction of the Great Hall of the People and other "ten major buildings" in the 50s.

Opening ceremony of the Beijing Asian Games

In 1990, when the economic situation was not optimistic, the Chinese government wanted to carry out such a large-scale project construction, and the "family bottom" was quickly in a hurry: a reckoning, the final funding gap was still 600 million yuan. As a result, there is another "first" in the history of sports in New China: the Asian Games sports lottery began to be issued nationwide. Scratching a 1 yuan face value lottery ticket, whether it wins or not, is a contribution to the Asian Games - many ordinary people have won the lottery, or donated the prize money to the Asian Games Organizing Committee.

Beijing Asian Games Sports Lottery

In addition to buying sports lottery tickets, there was also a donation campaign across the country. From celebrities to ordinary people, everyone comes up with a contribution from the heart.

Yan Haixia, a fifth-grade primary school student in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province at the time, read in the newspaper an article by Zhang Baifa, then vice mayor of Beijing, calling on the people of the whole country to donate to the Asian Games. She stuffed the 1.6 yuan she usually saved in an envelope, and she didn't know who to send it to, so she wrote "Uncle Zhang Baifa received" and sent it out. Later, this donation was sent to the organizing committee several times, and the lucky Yan Haixia was later invited to attend the opening ceremony of the Asian Games.

However, for Zhang Baifa, who is in charge of the infrastructure project of the Asian Games, the problem of funds has not been solved enough, and the key is to complete the construction of Asian Games venues on time. At that time, he made a solemn oath in front of the NPC deputies:

"If I can't complete the Asian Games project as scheduled, I will jump from the 208-meter-high Jingguang Tower, the highest point in Beijing."

Back at the headquarters, Zhang Baifa quickly passed on the pressure, and he said to the 7 deputy commanders:

"If you want to jump off the building, you jump first, and I will jump after you jump."

Zhang Baifa later became the torchbearer for the Beijing Olympics

The Beijing Asian Games finally opened as scheduled. At the opening ceremony, the Vice President of the Olympic Council of Asia delivered a speech. This was supposed to be done by the president of the Olympic Council of Asia, but it was no longer possible - the same Prince Fahd who fought to the last minute in Iraq's invasion of Kuwait is the president of the Olympic Council.

During his tenure, Prince Fahd advocated for China to host the 1990 Asian Games. Because international public opinion at that time believed that Beijing was not safe, he brought his wife and daughter to visit Beijing as a gesture to encourage Beijing to host the largest international sports event since the founding of New China. In order to address the opening ceremony, he also studied Chinese.

At the entrance ceremony of the athletes at the opening ceremony, representatives of Kuwaiti athletes who had lost their "country" entered the ceremony, and many Chinese spectators at the scene gave a standing ovation.

Prince Fahd

In the memories of many old Beijingers, the 1990 Beijing Asian Games attracted no less national attention than the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. In the streets and alleys, everyone hummed Liu Huan and Wei Wei's "Asian Heroic Wind", and even when someone blew their hair high and bulging in a small hair salon, they would sing the phrase "the mountain is a high head". Many people still think that this song is the theme song of the Beijing Asian Games, but it is not, the theme song is "Burn, Torch".

Liu Huan and Wei Wei singing "Asian Heroes"

Many buses in Beijing at the time hung a small blackboard with the words "Today's Medal Table" to record the achievements of Chinese athletes that day, and every time the conductor updated the numbers with chalk, the carriages were greeted with cheers. But over time, that enthusiasm has waned — not because it's unpatriotic, but because it's coming to realize that, at least in Asia, Chinese athletes are like probing for gold.

At this Asian Games, the Chinese delegation won a total of 183 gold medals (the second place South Korean delegation won 54 gold medals), 341 medals, riding the gold medal table and medal table.

Since then, no country in Asia has been able to shake or even approach the first position of the Chinese delegation.

5. Alarm bells

In 1994, the 12th Asian Games were held in Hiroshima, Japan – the first time the Games had not been held in the capital of the host country.

The final gold medal table was unstinting: the Chinese delegation was once again far ahead with 125 gold medals, easily finishing first.

But in fact, it was supposed to be 137 gold medals, and 12 gold medals were eventually stripped away.

The flashpoint of the matter is swimming.

Although the Japanese delegation has been further and further left behind by the Chinese team in the gold medal table of the previous three Asian Games, they are very proud, at least in the swimming event – Japan has always been the dominant swimmer in Asia.

But since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Chinese women's swimming has emerged with "five golden flowers", Japan's swimming has been greatly threatened. At the World Swimming Championships in Rome, before the opening of the 1994 Asian Games, the Chinese women's swimming team was even more invincible, pocketing 12 of the 16 gold medals.

The momentum continued into the Hiroshima Asian Games, when the Chinese swimming team swept three-quarters of the gold medals, beating the Japanese swimming team to the ground.

Opening ceremony of the Hiroshima Asian Games

But before the Chinese people were excited for too long, the surprising news came: Japan had a series of evidence of doping by the Chinese swimming team, and asked FINA to conduct flight drug tests on Chinese athletes.

In November of that year, the results of drug tests were announced: seven Chinese athletes participating in the swimming competition at the Asian Games were found to be taking the illegal drug synthetic steroids, including four athletes who won gold at the World Championships. As a result, all 12 gold medals won by these seven athletes at the Asian Games were stripped and awarded to Japanese athletes who finished second.

Because of this incident, Chen Yunpeng, the head coach of the Chinese swimming team, resigned, and coach Wang Lin was transferred. And this incident is undoubtedly equivalent to dropping an atomic bomb in the world sports - the media of the swimming powerhouses of the United States and Australia, which were originally crushed by China, immediately declared: "This is the biggest drug scandal detected in the history of modern sports!" ”。

In the world's top ten sports events rated by national news agencies at the end of 1994, "Chinese swimming drug incident" ranked in the top three. In 1995, the Chinese swimming team was directly banned from participating in the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships. Since then, Chinese swimming has been watched with "colored glasses" in the world swimming scene for at least ten years.

But on the other hand, the "doping incident" of the Hiroshima Asian Games also sounded a wake-up call for Chinese sports, coupled with a series of subsequent incidents, finally made the State General Administration of Sports determined to invest huge funds and energy to start thoroughly investigating the doping incidents of various sports teams.

6. Guangzhou

On November 12, 2010, the 16th Asian Games opened in Guangzhou, China.

This is the second time China has hosted the Asian Games. Compared with the national craze of 1990, China, which already hosted the 2008 Beijing Olympics, has become completely more relaxed and confident this time.

This can be seen from the opening ceremony.

The opening ceremony of the Guangzhou Asian Games was held on Haixinzhou Island – setting a precedent for the world's first comprehensive large-scale sports event without a stadium.

This opening ceremony theatrical performance called "Set Sail" impressed everyone present, especially the "Sails of White Clouds", which was closely coordinated by more than 1,300 ground rope pullers and technical support personnel to cooperate with the performance of 180 air WIA flyers, which became a memory in the history of the entire opening ceremony of the Asian Games.

In this Asian Games, the Chinese delegation won a total of 199 gold medals and 416 medals, once again far ahead. But the focus of ordinary Chinese has long shifted from the pure number of gold medals, and they value the quality of some gold medals more.

At the Asian Games, 27-year-old Liu Xiang won the men's 110m hurdles championship with a time of 13.09 seconds, achieving the "three consecutive championships" of the Asian Games. Behind this seemingly easy result, Liu Xiang actually put in a huge effort - this is his first appearance at a major event after retiring from a Beijing Olympics injury, surgery and recovery. At that time, people thought that he had completely come out of the haze of Achilles tendon injury, but I am afraid that he himself would not have imagined that two years later he would go through a purgatory-like ordeal.

Liu Xiang after winning the Asian Games in Guangzhou

In addition to the results, ordinary Chinese people are also starting to pay more attention to the stories behind some of the arenas.

During the Guangzhou Asian Games, there was a photo that resonated with many people and has been circulating on the Internet even in the following years:

Iraqi badminton player Yala Azad, ranked 228th in the world, faced Hu Yun of Hong Kong, ranked 17th in the Asian Games.

Azad spent more than a dozen hours tossing and turning to arrive by plane, but only held out in front of Hu Yun for 27 minutes before losing 0-2 and being eliminated.

After the defeat, Azad silently sorted his bags on the sidelines alone, with no coach, no translator and no fans cheering him on. But he was satisfied:

"I am the only one in the Iraqi national badminton team, it doesn't matter if it's alone or not, I like badminton. This is my 8th international competition. The Asian Games is the biggest multi-sport I've ever competed in. ”

The same was experienced by Salhan, a 20-year-old judoka from Palestine. He lost less than 1 minute in the men's judo 60kg competition against South Korean Olympic champion Choi Min-ho.

Sarhan, who traveled a long way to compete, said in an interview with reporters after the race:

"I simply couldn't find a suitable training venue in Palestine or even join my teammates, but the Asian Games experience was so rare and it helped me improve my strength, which is difficult to achieve in Palestine."

When the Asian Games reached its 16th edition, more and more spectators and athletes seemed to have returned to the original intention of hosting this continental event:

Solidarity, friendship, peace, development.

7. Medals

Since the first edition in 1951, the Asian Games have been held 19 times so far.

In the overall medal table, China (1,437 in total, including the number of gold medals previously won by Chinese Taipei), Japan (1,037 and 985) with the most silver and bronze medals, and China (3,187) with the highest total medals, 133 more than Japan in second place.

The top 10 countries in the gold medal list are: China, Japan, South Korea, Iran, Kazakhstan, India, Thailand, Indonesia, North Korea, Chinese Taipei.

So far, nine Asian countries have never won a gold medal at the Asian Games: Afghanistan, Laos, Nepal, Brunei, Yemen, Palestine, Bhutan, Maldives, Timor-Leste – of which three countries have never won a medal.