INDONESIA

Indonesia readies for the region’s Olympics – the 18th Asian Games

August 18, 2018

Twin hosts Jakarta and Palembang appear to be sailing toward the 18th Asian Games, also known as Asiad, without the distractions of scandals. The Asiad footprint stretches Asia to include the Middle East, a region once called the Near East.

Scandals about unpreparedness and corruption prefaced the Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics in 2016, and doping tainted the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014. In contrast, Asiad 2018 headlines reflect nothing more than perturbation about construction site chaos.

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) organizes the Games every four years in one of its 45 member countries.

The country of 13,000 islands last hosted the Games in 1962. The Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta will host the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the athletics. Eleven of the sports will be held at the Jakabaring Sports City in Palembang. The complex includes the Athletes’ Village and has been used to host international multi-sport games before, including the 26th South East Asian (SEA) Games in 2011.

OCA is expecting some 10,000 participants for the Asian Games 2018. New events among the 40-plus sports include rock climbing and bridge.

The statistics on everything from the size of the Games to the number of competitors vary according to the source, but they support the information that China vastly leads the medal count. According to InsideTheGames, China topped the medal table at Incheon 2014 with 151 golds, 109 silvers and 85 bronzes. It hosted the Asian Games in Beijing in 1990 and Guangzhou in 2010.

The OCA groups: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Bahrain, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Palestine, North Korea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria, Thailand, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Timor Leste, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen.

#22523 Published: February 23, 2018