The 2017 Asian Winter Games (Japanese: 2017アジア冬季競技大会, romanized: 2017 Ajia tōkikyōgitaikai) was the 8th edition of the Asian Winter Games. They were hosted in Sapporo and Obihiro in Hokkaido, Japan. These Games were originally scheduled for 2015, however, in the Olympic Council of Asia's general assembly in Singapore on 3 July 2009, the committee decided to move the Games to one year before the Winter Olympics moving forward. The games began on 19 February with the opening ceremony (the curling and hockey events begin the day before) and ended with the closing ceremony on 26 February.[1]
On 31 January 2011, Sapporo was awarded the right to host the Games. The decision was announced at the OCA's general assembly during the 2011 Asian Winter Games in Astana, Kazakhstan.[2] The bid was announced by Mayor Fumio Ueda on 15 January 2011, with no other bidding city.[4] The total cost is expected to be ¥3.5 billion.[5]
Development and preparation
Venues
The Hotel Nikko North and Obihiro served as the athlete's village for the speed skating competitors
Athletes village
Athletes and officials staying at the games stayed at hotels in Sapporo and Obihiro (for speed skating). There was no traditional dedicated village that was built for the games.[6]
Main Media Center
The Main Media Center (MMC) housed both the International Broadcasting Center (IBC) and the Main Press Center (MPC). These were housed at the Sapporo Convention Center.[6]
Competition venues
The Miyanomori Stadium hosted part of the ski jumping competitionTsukisamu Gymnasium hosted part of the hockey competitions
A total of 13 venues were scheduled to be used for the games. Some of the venues were also used during the 1972 Winter Olympics. All venues were located within the Sapporo region, except the speed skating venue which was in Obihiro.[7]
Figure Skating, Short Track Speed Skating, Closing Ceremony
Medals
The medal design was revealed on December 21, 2016. The medals were cut using diamonds and the three stars on them are curved to look like ice. The three stars are meant to represent athletes as "Stars of Hope". The diamond-cut surface is also meant to represent the fresh air in the winter along with the snow and ice seen across Hokkaido.[8][9] The medals are 55 millimetres (2.2 in) in diameter and 4.5 millimetres (0.18 in) thick. The three kind of medals also weight differently, with the gold (109.1 grams (3.85 oz)) weighing the most, followed by silver (107.1 grams (3.78 oz)) and finally bronze (87.9 grams (3.10 oz)).[10]
Tickets
The pre-sale of tickets for select events and the opening ceremony started on September 12, 2016, while tickets went on general sale for all events on November 14, 2016.[11] Alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, snowboard parallel events, speed skating and the third division of the men's hockey tournament were free admission. Tickets start around ¥500. The most expensive tickets at ¥9,000 are to the closing ceremony.[12][13] With a month to go till the start of the games, only 30% of tickets were sold. The only event to be sold out at that time was the men's halfpipe competition in snowboarding, which resulted in more tickets being released for the event.[14]
Torch relay
Sapporo's Odori Park hosted the torch lighting ceremony
The torch was lit on February 5 at the Sapporo Snow Festival being held at the Odori Park located in central Sapporo. The ceremony involved a lighting ritual presentation made by the Ainu people, indigenous from Hokkaido island . The relay in itself only lasted one day (on February 6), with the closing of the day seeing the Kamuinomi, which was one of main rituals of the Ainu people. The ritual involved praying for the success of all the athletes taking part in the games. From February 7 to the 17th, the flame be split and then displayed at the City Halls of both Sapporo and Obihiro, as well as the 10 ward offices of Sapporo. The main cauldron was in on front of the Sapporo City Hall and also used for the 1972 Winter Olympics torch relay local celebrations, until one hour before the Closing Ceremony, on February 26,when the games main cauldron was relighted.[15][16]
The opening ceremony of the games took place on 19 February at the Sapporo Dome. The show included a special performance by Japanese pop band Dreams Come True.[13] In addition to the traditional protocol elements, this ceremony was marked by innovative elements such as the schedule and the holding of two award ceremonies that had to be brought forward due to the Games calendar among the cultural elements that the Ainu people was invited to be part.[6][17]
Closing ceremony
The closing ceremony of the games took place on 26 February at the conclusion of the men's event in the figure skating. The ceremony was held at the Makomanai Ice Arena and also included an exhibition gala by some of the figure skaters who took part in competition.[12]
After competing at the last edition of the games, Afghanistan, Bahrain and Palestine did not compete here. On the other hand, after missing the last edition, both Macau and Pakistan competed here. Bahrain originally entered a men's ice hockey team but later withdrew, after the government did not approve of the expense of sending the team to the games, amidst a drop in oil prices.[20]
In September 2016, it was announced athletes from Oceania were invited to compete.[21][22] Countries from Oceania are however listed separately as they are not deemed as official competitors, but are considered as invited guest athletes (therefore they are not eligible for medals).[22]
The Kuwait Olympic Committee was suspended in October 2015, due to political interference. Therefore, the athletes from the country is scheduled to compete under the Olympic flag as Independent Olympic Athletes.[23][24]
The numbers in parentheses represents the number of participants entered.
Competitions will start the day before the opening ceremony on the 18th, and ending with the figure skating men's free program and closing ceremony. The full schedule can be seen below.[25]
The official mascot of the 2017 Asian Winter Games is named Ezomon. Ezomon is modeled after a very special type of flying squirrel only found in the Hokkaido region of Japan. Ezomon sports a red scarf and a blue cape with the logo of the 2017 Asian Winter Games on it.[27]
Sponsors
There are three tiers of sponsorship for the games, plus the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) sponsors.[28][29]
One of the athletes hotels is the APA Hotel in Sapporo. The founder and president of this hotel chain, Toshio Motoya, who is a strong supporter of political and historical view aligned with those of Japan's right wing. For example, Motoya claimed that "Japanese aggression, the Nanking Massacre, and comfort women" were "fabricated stories" or "fictitious". His book is available in each of the guest rooms at the hotel. This created controversy, particularly in China, which caused the games organizers to ask the hotel to take appropriate actions and remove them from guest rooms.[30][31] The Organizing Committee will gain exclusive access over the hotel from February 12, and an organization committee official said, "we can decide what is removed and placed in the guest rooms so that we don’t place any items that offend athletes, from not only China, but also any other nation”.[32] Eventually both South Korea and China requested that their athletes stay at a different hotel, and the organizing committee obliged by changing their accommodations to the Sapporo Prince Hotel.[33][34]
Scheduling
This event is being held around World and other major championships of some of the sports being contested. Included in this is the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2017 being held in St. Moritz, Switzerland, till 19 February (the opening of the games). Due to this some teams including among others Lebanon, have decided to not send their best team.[35] The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2017 in Lahti, Finland will also happen during the games (between February 22 and March 5) which has caused Iran to not send a cross-country skiing team at all.[36] Also, the reason cited for low ticket sales, is that many top athletes chose to focus on the world championships of their various disciplines.[14]
^ abc"Sports Technical Handbook"(PDF). www.koreacurling.co.kr/. Sapporo Organizing Committee for the 8th Asian Winter Games. Archived from the original(PDF) on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
^"Venues". www.sapporo2017.org/. Sapporo 2017 Organizing Committee. Archived from the original on 2016-12-30. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
^"Sapporo 2017 Schedule"(PDF). www.sapporo2017.org/. SAWOG 2017 (Sapporo Asian Winter Games Organizing Committee). Archived from the original(PDF) on 2017-01-01. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
^"Sponsors". www.sapporo2017.org. SAWGOG 2017 (Sapporo Asian Winter Games Organizing Committee). Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
