The 2014 Asian Games, officially known as the XVII Asian Games () and also known as Incheon 2014, were a pan-Asian multi-sport event held from 19 September to 4 October 2014 in Incheon, South Korea.
On 17 April 2007, Incheon was awarded the right to host the games, defeating Delhi, India and was the third city in South Korea after Seoul (1986) and Busan (2002). The games were held from 19 September to 4 October 2014, although several pre-competitive events began between 14 and 19 September 2014. Approximately 9,501 athletes participated in the event which featured 439 events in 36 sports. It was opened by the President of South Korea, Park Geun-hye at the Incheon Asiad Main Stadium.
The final medal tally was led by China, followed by the host South Korea and Japan, while Cambodia won its first-ever Asian Games gold medal. During the games, 14 world and 27 Asian records were broken. Japanese swimmer Kosuke Hagino was announced as the most valuable player (MVP) of the Games. Though there were several controversies, the Games were deemed generally successful with their low hosting cost and with the rising standard of competition amongst the Asian nations.
Bidding process
New Delhi and Incheon submitted their formal bid by the official deadline, 30 June 2005. A 5-member evaluation committee of the Olympic Council of Asia, headed by then vice-president of the association Celso Dayrit inspected New Delhi from 9 to 11 November 2006 and Incheon from 12 to 14 November 2006.
+2014 Asian Games bidding resultsCityNOCRound 1Incheon32New Delhi13
The vote was held on 17 April 2007 in Kuwait City, Kuwait during the 26th Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) General Assembly. During the final presentation before voting, Incheon made a new offer, raising US$20 million in funds to support countries that had yet to win a medal in the Games. It also offered free flight tickets and accommodation to all participants; India, however, made no changes to its offer. All 45 members voted, with voting held in secret ballot. Later that day, it was announced that Incheon won the rights. Though the vote results were not released, it was revealed that Incheon won by 32 to 13.
It was widely felt that Delhi's lack of enthusiasm to host the event was the primary reason for its loss. Then Union Sports Minister of India, Mani Shankar Aiyar, spoke strongly against Delhi hosting the games, arguing that the money allocated by India's government to the sporting event would be better spent on building facilities for the poor. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president said that India's Sports Minister's remarks against hosting the Games was the main reason for New Delhi's loss. The IOA delegation added that the evaluation committee was concerned about pollution and traffic in Delhi. Delhi's offer of US$2 million to each team for games support against Incheon's offer of US$20 million to all 45 nations participating in the event could also have contributed to the defeat. Unlike Delhi, Incheon emphasized the high-tech facilities that would be available to the athletes.
Development and preparations
Costs The cost of the Games was estimated at US$1.62 billion, with the Korean government and Incheon government covering 19% and 78.9% respectively. Of the total budget, some US$1.39 billion was used for construction of venues and infrastructure, while approximately US$11 million covered the building and maintenance of training grounds. Around US$103 million was allocated for road and transportation projects.
A report in April 2012, however, suggested the city was under financial pressure from increasing debt.
The Incheon Asian Games Organising Committee (IAGOC) saved US$34 million after agreeing to reduce from 15,000 to 2,025 athletes to be provided free transportation and accommodation.
Volunteers The volunteer program of Incheon 2014 Asian Games began on 1 November 2013 with a target to recruit 13,500 volunteers. As of 16 March 2014, 25,827 applications were received and 21,237 applicants were selected for training.
Torch relay
The torch was revealed in October 2013, with a design motif based on the Crane, the official bird of Incheon Metropolitan City. The torch's blue internal cylinder signified the sky and the ocean of Incheon. Another four colors (green, yellow, red, violet) were intended to represent the five regions of Asia.
The torch was lit at Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi, India on August 9, 2014. This marked the first time the torch had been lit outside the host country, and that Weihai, a city in Shandong Province of the People's Republic of China, had hosted the relay, on August 12, 2014.
The domestic lighting ceremony was held at Manisan on Ganghwa Island on August 12, 2014. The domestic relay begin August 13, 2014 and traveled through 70 cities for 5,700 km. to reach the opening ceremony.
Marketing
Emblem The official emblem was also revealed on the lighting ceremony, representing a wing configuration of the letter "A", for "Asia", with a shining sun at its upper left, symbolizing the Asian people holding hands in the sky.
Mascot
On November 4, 2010, three Spotted seal siblings were unveiled as the official mascots of the Games in Songdo Island, Incheon. The three seals, known as "Barame (바라메)", "Chumuro (추므로)" and "Vichuon (비추온)", meaning wind, dance and light in Korean, were chosen under the theme of the main venue. The prototype was taken from Baengnyeongdo. According to the organizers, the mascots were chosen to symbolise the future peace between South Korea and North Korea. Vichuon is the eldest of the three siblings, Barame is the second eldest, while Chumuro is the youngest and the only girl among the three siblings.
Medals The medal design was approved by OCA on August 19, 2013. It features a pentagon-shaped symbol representing the five ports of Incheon — Airport, Seaport, Teleport, Leisureport, and Businessport, with the emblem of the Games inside. It symbolises the city as the hub of Northeast Asia.
Motto Unveiled on September 16, 2010, "Diversity Shines Here" was the official English motto of the Games, celebrating the significance of Asia's wonderful diversity in history, cultures, and religions. The official slogan in Korean, "" (RR: ), literally means "Breath of Peace, Future of Asia".
Promotion
The six official posters for the Incheon Asian Games were released on March 31, 2011. The design represents the 28 Olympic sports categorized into five groups: racquet sports, ball sports, water sports, athletic sports and weight class. In various ways, the values and philosophy of the 17th Asian Games is represented in these posters.
Merchandising
Organisers began selling merchandise in July 2012. IB Worldwide was the exclusive online merchandiser of the event's licensed products.
Music
The official album was released by Universal Music on June 20, 2014, which featured "Only One", performed by JYJ as the Games' official theme song.
Venues
The Games had 49 competition venues and 48 training facilities. Among the competition venues, ten were in six cities of Gyeonggi Province while another two were in Chungju and Seoul. The rest of the venues were in eight districts and a county inside metropolitan Incheon. Ten venues were constructed for the Games. The Games also provided over 3,300 units and 9,560 rooms for athletes and media personnel.
The main stadium, known as Incheon Asiad Main Stadium, had a seating capacity of 61,074 seats, with 30,000 seats variable after the Games. The US$400 million stadium, originally planned for 70,000 seats, was designed by Populous, which had designed several event venues around the world, including the Olympic Stadium of the 2012 Summer Olympics. The groundbreaking ceremony was held on June 28, 2011, in Yeonhui-dong. Construction began in June 2011 and finished in July 2014.
An athletes' village was built at Guwol, Namdong District, which had 2,220 units in 22 apartment buildings to accommodate around 14,500 athletes and officials.
Transport
Incheon Subway's construction period was shortened from a planned 2018 completion. Due to the increasing popularity of Incheon International Airport during the Games, immigration procedures were improved for passenger convenience.
The Games
Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony began on September 19, 2014, at 18:00 local time. The performance was directed by film director Im Kwon-taek with playwright and actor Jang Jin, entertainer Kim Seong-ju and KBS host Yun Su-yeong as voiceovers of the ceremony. It was attended by President of South Korea Park Geun-hye who opened the games, President of International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach, Tokyo Governor Yōichi Masuzoe and also Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok.
Actors Jang Dong-gun and Kim Soo-hyun led the performance, consisting of four acts: "Asia long time ago", "Asia meeting through the sea", "Asia as family and friends", and "Asia as one and future joining with today", displaying the Korean past and future with digital technology. Other performers included Chinese pianist Lang Lang, the soprano diva Sumi Jo, along the k-pop stars JYJ, Exo, and Psy, who wrapped up the ceremony with a performance of his world hit song Gangnam Style.
Unlike in the 2002 Asian Games opening ceremony, South Korea as host marched separately from neighbor North Korea in the parade of nations.
Sports The 2014 Asian Games featured 28 Olympic sports that would be contested at the 2016 Summer Olympics. In addition, eight non-Olympic sports were featured: baseball, ten-pin bowling, cricket, kabaddi, karate, sepak takraw, squash and wushu. The list was finalised on December 9, 2010, at the OCA's executive board meeting in Muscat, Oman. This resulted in dropping six other sports: roller sport, board games (chess, go, xiangqi), cue sports, softball, dancesport and dragon boat, which had been held in previous Games being dropped from the list. The list was approved on July 13, 2011, during the 30th annual general assembly in Tokyo as softball was incorporated with baseball as one sport while soft tennis came under the discipline of tennis. For the first time compound archery, mixed relay triathlon, and judo team events were introduced.
Changes to the non-Olympic sports featured at the Asian Games were influenced by discussions with organizers, who suggested cricket's removal from the program, as they felt too few countries played it and that they lacked the infrastructure to host it. The OCA disputed the proposed removal of cricket, however, noting its popularity and viewer interest.
2014 Asian Games Sports ProgrammeAquatics
Baseball
Slalom Sprint
BMX Mountain Bike Road Track
Dressage Eventing Jumping
Artistic Rhythmic Trampoline
Tennis
Volleyball
Participating National Olympic Committees All 45 members of the Olympic Council of Asia participated, including North Korea, which initially threatened to boycott the Games after disputes with South Korea over administrative issues about its delegation of athletes and officials. Saudi Arabia was the sole NOC to not send female athletes to the Games.
Below is a list of all the participating NOCs; the number of competitors per delegation is indicated in brackets.
Participating National Olympic Committees(hosts)
Number of Athletes by National Olympic Committees (highest to lowest) IOC Country Athletes CHN 894 KOR 833 JPN 718 THA 518 IND 515 HKG 476 TPE 420 KAZ 415 UZB 291 IRI 282 MAS 277 KUW 258 QAT 251 MGL 234 SIN 230 NEP 203 KSA 202 VIE 196 PAK 188 INA 186 PRK 150 PHI 150 MDV 142 BAN 136 MAC 135 KGZ 117 LAO 102 JOR 97 OMA 93 TJK 92 UAE 85 SRI 80 TKM 80 AFG 69 BRN 69 MYA 64 IRQ 63 PLE 56 LIB 41 YEM 34 TLS 33 SYR 30 CAM 20 BHU 16 BRU 11
Calendar