2014 Asian Games

Bidding

Two cities bid for the Games. Both New Delhi (India) and Incheon (South Korea) submitted their formal bid on December 2, 2006 in Doha, Qatar.

The vote was held on April 17, 2007 at the Marriott Hotel in Kuwait City, Kuwait, during the OCA's general assembly. During the final presentation prior to voting, Incheon made a new offer, raising USD$20 million funds to support the countries that are yet to win a medal in the Games. It also offered free flight tickets and accommodation to all the participants, while India did not make any changes to its offer. All 45 members voted, with voting held in secret ballot. Around 4 p.m. local time, it was announced that Incheon won the rights. Though the vote results were not released, it was revealed that Incheon won by 32–13.

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 and argued that it was better if the money allocated by India's government for organizing the sporting event was spent on building facilities for the poor. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president revealed that India's Sports Minister remarks against hosting the Games was the main reason for New Delhi's loss. The IOA delegation also added that the bids evaluation committee was concerned about pollution and traffic in Delhi. Delhi offering US$200,000 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.

Slogan

Unveiled on September 16, 2010, "Diversity Shines Here" is the official English slogan of the Games. It represents and highlights the significance of Asia’s wonderful diversity in history, cultures, and religions. The official slogan in Korean: "평화의 숨결, 아시아의 미래" (Hepburn: pyeonghwaui sumgyeol, asiaui milae) literally means "Breath of Peace, Future of Asia".

Marketing

Three Spotted seal siblings were unveiled on November 4, 2010 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 in accordance with the theme of the main venue. The prototype was taken from Baengnyeong Island. According to the organizers, the mascots were chosen as symbolic to the future peace between South Korea and North Korea.

The official emblem was also revealed on the same day, represented by a wing consisting of a string of the letter "A", for "Asia", with a shining sun at its upper left, symbolizing the Asian people holding hands in the sky.

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.

On September 27, 2012, Swiss watchmaker company Tissot was named as the official timekeeper of the Games.

The official album was released by Universal Music was released on June 20, 2014, which featured "Only One", performed by JYJ as the official theme song of the Games.

Venues

There are 49 competition venues and 48 training facilities that will be used during the Games. Among the 49 competition venues, ten venues featured in six cities of Gyeonggi Province while another two featured in Chungju and Seoul. The rest of the venues featured in eight district and a county inside the metropolitan city of Incheon. Ten venues were constructed for the Games. The Games also consist athletes and media villages that provide over 3,300 units and 9,560 rooms for athletes and media persons.

The main stadium, known as Incheon Asiad Main Stadium, has an all-seater capacity of 61,074 seats, with 30,000 seats are variable after the Games. The US$400 million stadium, originally planned for 70,000 seats, was designed by Populous, who has also 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.

Transport

Incheon Subway's construction period was shortened rather than planned 2018 completion. Due to the increasing popularity of Incheon International Airport during the Games, the immigration procedures were improved to better convenience the passengers.

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 Games inside. It symbolises the city as the hub of Northeast Asia.

Costs

The cost of the Games was estimated at approximately 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 the construction of venue 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.

However, a report in April 2012 suggested the city was under pressure on its financial due to uprising debt.

The IAGOC saved US$34 million after agreeing to reduce from 15,000 to 2,025 athletes to be provided free of charge for transportation and accommodation.

Torch relay

The torch was revealed in October 2013, with the design motif based on the official bird of Incheon Metropolitan City, the Crane, with the blue internal cylinder of torch signifying the sky and the ocean of Incheon. Another four colors (green, yellow, red, violet) were designed 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 was lit outside the host country. For the first time also, the Games hosted by South Korea's city to have international torch relay as Weihai, a city in Shandong province of the People's Republic of China, was only the another city hosted the torch relay on August 12, 2014.

The domestic lighting ceremony was held at Manisan on Ganghwa Island on August 12, 2014. The domestic relay begin from August 13, 2014 and travel through 70 cities for 5,700 km until the opening ceremony.

Calendar

In the following calendar for the 2014 Asian Games, each blue box represents an event competition, such as a qualification round, on that day. The yellow boxes represent days during which medal-awarding finals for a sport were held, which numeric representing the number of finals that were contested on that day. On the left the calendar lists each sport with events held during the Games, and at the right how many gold medals were won in that sport. There is a key at the top of the calendar to aid the reader.

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony started at 18:00 local time on September 19, 2014. The performance was directed by the film director Im Kwon-taek with playwright and actor Jang Jin, with entertainer Kim Seong-ju and KBS emcee Yun Su-yeong were the host of the ceremony. It was attended by President of South Korea, Park Geun-hye, 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, which was covered in four acts, from "Asia long time ago", "Asia meeting through the sea", "Asia as family and friends", and "Asia as one and future joining with today", displayed the Korea past and future with digital technology. Other performers included Chinese pianist Lang Lang, soprano Sumi Jo, JYJ, Exo, and Psy, who wrapped up the ceremony with a performance of Gangnam Style.

Sports

The 2014 Games featured 28 Olympic sports that will 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 finalized on December 9, 2010 at the OCA's executive board meeting in Muscat, Oman. This resulted in six other sports: roller sport, board games (chess, go, xiangqi), cue sports, softball, dancesport and dragon boat, which were 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 incorporated with baseball as one sport while soft tennis is under the discipline of tennis. For the first time, compound archery, mixed relay triathlon, judo team events were introduced.

The changes in the non-Olympic sports featured at the Asian Games were influenced by discussions with organizers, who had suggested the removal of cricket from the program because they felt too few countries played it and because they lacked the infrastructure to host it. However, the OCA disputed the proposed removal of cricket, citing its popularity and viewer interest.

Closing ceremony

The closing ceremony was held at 07:00 pm local time on October 4, 2014. The theme of the ceremony is "Our Cherished Memories of Incheon". The sequence of events featured the performances of National Dance Company of Korea, Gugak Center Dance Troupe and Kukkiwon.

The ceremony also included the segment from the next Asian Games host city, Jakarta and Palembang. It starts with "The Colours of Jakarta", featured a Javanese dance known as Ronggeng. It followed by "The Spirit of South Sumatra", featured Malay dance accompaniment of Rampak Nusantara drums. IOC member Rita Subowo and Governor of South Sumatra, Alex Noerdin received the Games flag for the 2018 Games.

The K-Pop stars wrapped up the closing ceremony, featured CNBLUE, Big Bang and Sistar.

Medal table

China led the medal table for the ninth consecutive time. Cambodia won their first Asian Games gold medal in taekwondo. A total of 37 NOCs won at least one medal, and 28 NOCs won at least one gold medal. 8 NOCs failed to win any medal at the Games.

The top ten ranked NOCs at these Games are listed below. The host nation, South Korea, is highlighted.

Participating nations

All 45 members of the Olympic Council of Asia participated, this including North Korea, who initially threatened to boycott the Games after disputes with South Korea over administrative issues concerning its delegation of athletes and officials. Saudi Arabia was the sole NOC not to 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.

Concerns and controversies

Prior to the Games, there were several controversies over finances, lack of public interest, transportation shortages for journalists, and several administrative decisions regarding the opening ceremony and gala show. Organizers were able to generate more interest but there were a few hundred empty seats in the 61,000-capacity stadium at the start of the opening ceremony. Organizers also supplied more shuttle buses for the late-night shifts at the request of various international media organizations.

In addition, the OCA and FIBA failed to compromise on a couple of policies, causing one team to boycott the event and forcing three teams to find replacement players. The Qatari women's basketball team withdrew from the Games when FIBA reaffirmed its ban on hijab, citing safety concerns. Basketball became the only sport to enforce a hijab ban in the Games. On the other hand, OCA policy on naturalized players contradicted the eligibility rules set by FIBA. The OCA disqualified US-born players Quincy Davis, Andray Blatche, and Aaron Haynes from the Chinese Taipei, Filipino, and South Korean teams.

During the Games there were several controversies, mostly revolving around poor officiating. The vast majority of poor judging allegations occurred in boxing, highlighted by the controversial semifinal loss of Indian lightweight boxer Laishram Sarita Devi against eventual silver medalist Park Jina of South Korea. The judging of the match, Sarita Devi's refusal to accept the bronze medal, and her questionable behavior at the medal ceremony received widespread international attention and sparked numerous debates. The high volume of controversial boxing decisions led to accusations against the judges for widespread incompetence and host favoritism. Criticisms of the new scoring system have also been brought up. Shooting, and wrestling saw initial rulings by officials being overturned following appeals.

Some 1,920 samples from 1,600 athletes were tested during the Games. Six athletes tested positive for banned substances and were sent home from the Games, including two gold medalists that were stripped of their medals.