2022 Asian Games
The 2022 Asian Games, officially the 19th Asian Games and also known as Hangzhou 2022, were a continental multi-sport event which was held from 23 September to 8 October 2023 in Hangzhou, China. The games marked the 110th anniversary since the creation of the first continental event, starting with the 1913 Far Eastern Championship Games.
Originally scheduled to take place from 10 to 25 September 2022, on 6 May 2022 the Games were postponed to 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The new dates were announced on 19 July 2022, with the Games remaining branded as Hangzhou 2022. Hangzhou was the third Chinese city to host the Asian Games, after Beijing in 1990 and Guangzhou in 2010.
Bidding process
The Chinese Olympic Committee confirmed that Hangzhou in Zhejiang province submitted a proposal to apply for the event and was the only city to complete all necessary steps to participate in the process who ended on end of August 2015. Hangzhou was officially awarded as the host city on 16 September 2015 in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, during the 34th OCA General Assembly.Development and preparations
Marketing
Emblem
The emblem of the Games, "Surging Tides", was unveiled during a ceremony at the headquarters of the Hangzhou Culture Radio Television Group on 6 August 2018; it is designed to resemble a traditional hand fan from Zheijang, a running track, the Qiantang River tidal bore, and radio waves. The organising committee stated that the emblem was meant to reflect "the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics gathering momentum in the new era", and "the unity, solidarity and development of the OCA."Mascots
The three mascots of the Games, Congcong, Lianlian and Chenchen, known collectively as the "Memories of Jiangnan" whose name derives from the Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi's famous sentence "When I recall Jiangnan, Hangzhou brings back most of my memories." were unveiled on 3 April 2020. They are depicted as robotic superheroes originating from the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City, the West Lake and the Grand Canal respectively.Congcong derives its name from the Cong jade pendant unearthed from the Archeological Ruins. Its body is coloured yellow, representing earth and bumper harvest and its head resembles mythical beast facial patterns. It is described as determined, sincere, kind-hearted, athletic and passionate.
Lianlian derives its name from the lotus leaves in the West Lake. Its body is coloured green, representing life and nature and its head resembles lotus leaf decorated with the Three Pools Mirroring the Moon, a scenic view of the West Lake, and the icon of Internet. It is described as pure, kind, lively, cute, elegant and hospitable.
Chenchen derives its name from the Gongchen Bridge, a landmark structure in the Hangzhou section of the Grand Canal. Its body is coloured blue, representing science and technology and its head resembles Qiantang River's tide with Gongchen Bridge. It is described as brave, intelligent, optimistic and enterprising.
Motto
The official motto of the 2022 Asian Games, "Heart to Heart, @Future" was announced on 15 December 2019 to mark 1,000 days before the opening ceremonies. The motto is intended to symbolise the connectivity that the Asian Games create between the countries of Asia.Medals
On 15 June 2023, the 100-day countdown to the 19th Asian Games, the medal design named "Shan Shui" was released. Its design was inspired by Jade Cong in the Liangzhu Culture. The obverse featured the Games edition logo, misty hills, the city, a rippling lake and undulating mountains, while the reverse featured the Asian Games Sun Emblem and the name of the event in Chinese and English.During the medal ceremonies, medalists were also presented bouquets named "Fruits of Triumph", which consisted of five flowers – rice ears, lotus seedpods, moth orchids, Longjing tea branches and sweet osmanthus branches arranged in a vase inspired by a huagu, a long-stemmed, broad-lipped vessel produced in the Southern Song Imperial Kiln. The vase itself is made of wood and crafted using Dongyang wood carving techniques, one of the nation's intangible cultural heritage. Its mouth is decorated with wave patterns resembling rivers and mountains of Zhejiang Province and the Games' mascots.
Music
The official theme song of the Games, "With You and Me", was released along with its music video on April 27, 2023. It is performed by Angela Zhang, Jackson Wang, Sunnee and JC-T. The song was selected through a global song contest and was originally created by a production team from Thailand, Nadao Music. The original title of the song is "Let's Celebrate" or "เพื่อนกัน " in Thai and was sung by Ice Paris, Billkin, PP Krit and Nana Sawanya.Asian Games-themed train
On 16 May 2023, the train number 19045 of Hangzhou Metro Line 19 named Asian Games started operation. The train displays the Hangzhou Asian Games Logo at the front of the train, and the whole train as well as seats and handrails are colored in purple. This is also the only train in this line that provides OLED start train window system. These Asian Games elements are permanent. Besides, in Hangzhou Metro, Line 1, Line 2, Line 4 and Line 5 will also provide Asian Games-themed trains.In July 2023, the Asian Games-themed Fuxing train came into appearance. The train is themed Runze Jiangnan, using the purple as main color, painting slogans, motto and logos of Hangzhou Asian Games. During the Asian Games, the train will provide operation services between Hangzhou and Ningbo, Wenzhou, Jinhua, Shaoxing and Huzhou.
On 1 August 2023, the "Jincai" Asian Games themed train of Jinhua Rail Transit started at Jinhua Railway Station.
On 26 August 2023, the Asian Games train of Wenzhou Rail Transit Line S1 started operation, which is in purple as the main color, with Asian Games elements including mottos and slogans.
Look of the Games
On 21 October 2020, the core graphics and colour system were announced as part of the 2022 Asian Games branding, respectively themed as "Meeting the World" and "Harmony of Colours". The core graphics draw inspiration from silk, one of the main cultural elements of Hangzhou as key linking point on the Maritime Silk Road. The colour system consists of six colours – "Rainbow Purple", "Glowing Red", "Mist White", "Laurus Yellow", "Glimmering Blue", and "Lake-and-Mountain Green", which represent Hangzhou as a livable city of pellucid waters and lush mountains, and a vibrant city embracing innovation and sports. It is inspired by lines from one of China's most famous poet Su Shi from Song dynasty, "If the West Lake was the Great Beauty, she would look beautiful whether in light or heavy make-up".Torch relay
On 10 September 2021, the final torch design of the 2022 Asian Games called "Eternal Flame" was unveiled. It has an overall height of 730 millimetres and a net weight of 1.2 kilograms. The torch base resembles eight water veins, which symbolising the evolution of civilisation and representing the eight major river systems in Zhejiang, the torch body features naturally intertwined dermatoglyphic fingerprint patterns specific to the Liangzhu Culture, the torch head resembles Jade Cong, while the burner nozzle resembles the earliest oracle bone inscription of the Chinese character "琮". The overall body design made up of profile curve resembles firewood in hand.The flame was lit in the Archaeological site of Liangzhu on 15 June 2023 and reproduced their rites. The physical torch relay started on 8 September 2023 at West Lake, and traveled across 11 prefectures covering 1.507,10 km across Zhejiang province.
A digital torch relay programme, the first of its kind in the history of the Games, was launched globally on 27 November 2022 and began the same day as the actual torch relay.
Venues
44 venues were used for the Games, including 30 existing facilities and 14 newly constructed venues. Of these 44 venues, 30 are within Hangzhou and its districts, while other 14 are in four neighbouring prefectures: Deqing, Jinhua, Ningbo, Shaoxing and Wenzhou. A new high-speed rail line was constructed between Hangzhou and Huzhou for the Games.Ceremonies
Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony was held on 23 September 2023 evening in Hangzhou Sports Park Stadium in Hangzhou, China. The ceremony was directed by Sha Xiaolan, one of assistant directors of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. It was attended by the Chinese leader Xi Jinping, some Asian foreign leaders including Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and the President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach.Closing ceremony
The closing ceremony was held on 8 October 2023 in Hangzhou Sports Park Stadium; it included a cultural presentation, closing remarks, and the formal handover to Aichi Prefecture, in Japan as hosts of next edition in 2026.The Games
Sports
On 8 April 2019, the Olympic Council of Asia initially announced that the Games would feature 37 sports, including the 28 "core" Olympic sports that would contested at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, as well as events in other non-Olympic sports. This led to the addition and change in events such as marathon swimming and the groups competition in rhythmic gymnastics in place of the team event.On 12 September 2019, baseball/softball, karate, and sport climbing were added to the programme. On 18 December 2020, it was announced that esports and breakdancing would be added, expanding the Games to 61 disciplines in 40 sports.
The esports programme at the 2022 Asian Games included seven medal events and two demonstration events in robotics and virtual reality. Competitions were held in Arena of Valor, Dota 2, Dream of the Three Kingdoms 2, ''EA Sports FC Online, League of Legends, PUBG Mobile, and Street Fighter V. Hearthstone'' was originally to be included, but was dropped from the programme after NetEase ended its licensing agreement in China with Blizzard Entertainment at the beginning of 2023.
Changes at the sporting events compared to 2018:
- Five sports were removed after their allocation to other Olympic Council of Asia events: Bowling, Jet ski, Paragliding, Pencak silat, Sambo.
- Another 6 sports had a change in the number of events: Mountain biking, Track cycling, Bridge, Rowing , Taekwondo, Weightlifting.
- 11 Sports with added events : Archery, Boxing, Dragon boat, Karate, Modern pentathlon, Roller sports, Sailing, Shooting, Squash, Table tennis, Wushu.
- 3 Sports with change in number of events: Kurash reduced from 14 to 7 finals, Canoe Sprint increased from 10 to 12 finals and the Mixed Team Speed Relay was added in place of the each gender relay.
- Athletics: Mixed team 35 kilometres race walk was added and Men's 50 kilometres walk removed.
- Competitive sports : Esports, Archery, Breaking, Athletics, Triathlon, Equestrian, Modern Penthathlon, Cycling Road, Cycling Track, Cycling MTB, Cycling BMX Racing, Weightlifting, Gymnastics TP, Gymnastics RH, Gymnastics AR, Xiangqi, Chess, Bridge, Go, Shooting, Skateboarding, Roller Skating, Wushu, Sport Climbing.
- Ball sports : Football, Basketball 5-5, Basketball 3-3, Indoor Volleyball, Beach Volleyball, Handball, Badminton, Table Tennis, Softball, Hockey, Golf, Hard Tennis, Soft Tennis, Squash, Sepaktakraw, Cricket, Baseball, Rugby Sevens.
- Adversary sports : Boxing, Taekwondo, Wrestling, Judo, Ju-jitsu, Kurash, Fencing, Kabaddi, Karate.
- Water sports : Water Polo, Dragon Boat, Canoe Slalom, Canoe Sprint, Rowing, Sailing, Diving, Artistic Swimming, Marathon Swimming, Swimming.
| 2022 Asian Games Sports Programme |
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