Looking back at the past and present life of the Asian Games——

The Asian Games began with the "Far Eastern Games"

The Chinese Legion twice set a record on its doorstep

Yangcheng Evening News reporter Zhou Fangping

The 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou will be held from September 9 to October 23 this year. Since the first Asian Summer Games were held in 10, the Asian Games have gone through a history of 8 years. What is less well known is that the origin of the Asian Games goes back to the "Far East Games" in 1951.

The predecessor of the Asian Games was the "Far Eastern Games"

The Far East Games, formerly known as the "Far East Olympic Games", was a regional international competition initiated and participated in by the Philippines, China and Japan in 1911, alternately in Manila, Philippines, Shanghai, China, and Osaka, Japan. Among them, the second Far East Games was held from May 1915 to 5, 15 at Shanghai's Hongkou Casino (now Lu Xun Park), "this great sports opened a wonder unprecedented in China since ancient times" ("Declaration" May 22, 1915). In the months leading up to the games, the press published frequent articles about the Games, and the last two editions were attended by India, Indonesia and Viet Nam.

The Far East Games is the world's earliest intercontinental international competition, because the level of sports in West Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia was still very low, so the "Far East Games" represented the sports level of the whole of Asia, and was regarded as the predecessor of the later "Asian Games".

The Far Eastern Sports Association and the Far Eastern Games were officially recognized by the IOC in 1920. In order to coordinate with the Olympic Games, the Far Eastern Games were held every 1927 years after 3, and after 1930 it was decided to hold them every 4 years.

In 1949, the Olympic Council of Asia (then known as the Far Eastern Olympic Association) was established to promote sports cooperation and exchanges in the Asian region. Yubel, then president of the Far East Olympic Association, came up with the idea of creating the Asian Games.

In March 1951, the first Asian Games were held in New Delhi, India, with a total of 3 athletes from 11 countries and regions participating. The Asian Games are considered to be the Olympic Games of the Asian region, and athletes from all over the world compete fiercely in different sports. The successful holding of this competition laid the foundation for the Asian Games and laid a solid foundation for future Asian Games.

Since 1951, 18 Asian Games have been held, Thailand is the country that has hosted the most Asian Games, a total of four, South Korea has hosted three times, India, Indonesia, Japan and China have held two each, of which the upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games will be the third time for China.

China joined the Olympic Council of Asia in 1973 and participated in the seventh Asian Games in Tehran, Iran, the following year. This was the first time that the Chinese delegation appeared in the Asian Games, and ended up in the third place among the 25 participating delegations in the medal table. In 3, at the 1982th Asian Games held in New Delhi, India, the Chinese delegation topped the medal table of the Asian Games for the first time.

Youth memories of the Asian Games in Beijing and Guangzhou

The Asian Games have visited China twice in history, in Beijing in 1990 and Guangzhou in 2010. While the two Asian Games were successfully held, the Chinese delegation also made historic achievements.

The 11th Asian Games was held in Beijing, China from September 1990 to October 9, 22. This is the first comprehensive international sports competition held by China, and 10,7 sports delegations from 37 countries and regions that are members of the Olympic Council of Asia participated in the Asian Games.

In addition to the sun's rays in the emblem of the Olympic Council of Asia, the emblem of the Beijing Asian Games is composed of the "A" character with the majestic Great Wall. The Great Wall is a symbol of ancient Chinese civilization, and "A" is an abbreviation for English Asia. The mascot is taken from the national treasure giant panda and named "Panpan". Interestingly, in order to avoid possible misreading, domestic newspapers issued a statement at the time that the panda "Panpan" was a male giant panda.

At that Asian Games, the Chinese delegation on the doorstep won 183 gold medals, almost double the total number of gold medals from rivals Japan and South Korea, and occupied the top of the medal table without suspense. The keywords such as Asian heroism, panda panpan, Asian Games lottery, and team exercise are all youth memories of the post-70s and post-80s Asian Games.

The 16th Asian Games was held from November 2010 to November 11, 12 in Guangzhou, China (co-hosted by Shanwei, Foshan and Dongguan), the second city in China to host the Asian Games after Beijing. There are 11 events, including 27 Olympic and 42 non-Olympic events.

The emblem design scheme designed by designer Zhang Qiang, which symbolizes the "Yangcheng" Guangzhou, became the emblem of the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games. The mascot is composed of five sheep, named "Axiang", "Ahe", "Aru", "Ayi" and "Le Sheep", which together are "peaceful and happy", and also convey the concept of "harmony and passion" of this Games. At the opening ceremony in Haixinsha, diving Olympic champion He Chong received the flame and, with the assistance of two children, lit the torch of the Asian Games in the traditional way of lighting Chinese firecrackers.

During the 16-day competition, the Chinese delegation won 199 gold medals, 119 silver medals and 98 bronze medals, ranking first for the eighth consecutive time in the total number of gold medals and the total number of medals. Among them, the total results of 199 gold medals and 416 medals broke the record of 20 gold medals set at the Beijing Asian Games 183 years ago, and also set new records for the Asian Games, continuing to consolidate the position of Asian hegemony. (Yangcheng Evening News)