Nations participating 15 Closing ceremony 11 February | Athletes participating 453 Opening ceremony 4 February | |
Officially opened by Jiang ZeminPresident of China | ||
The 3rd Asian Winter Games were held from February 4 to 11, 1996 in Harbin, China. North Korea (in Samjiyeon) was originally scheduled to host the games in 1995, but was not able to honour its commitment. The International Olympic Committee's decision to hold the Winter and Summer Olympic Games two years apart affected the schedule of the 3rd edition of the Winter Asiad, as it had to be moved to 1996 in order to avoid being held at the same time as the 1994 Winter Olympics in Norway. Several NOCs, including Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, participated in the games for the first time after gaining independence from the Soviet Union, expanding the number of participating countries to 17.
Contents
Mascot
The 1996 Winter Asiad mascot is Doudou, a character inspired by the pea plant.
Sports
A total of 43 events in eight medal sports were held in the Third Winter Asian Games. Figure skating was reinstated and Freestyle skiing was added to the program.
Demonstration sport only:
Participating nations
Names are arranged in alphabetical order by their IOC country codes.
Medal table
Host nation