The 2019 Military World Games (Chinese: 2019年世界军人运动会; pinyin: nián shìjiè jūnrén yùndònghuì), officially known as the 7th CISM Military World Games, (Chinese: 第七届世界军人运动会; pinyin: dì qī jiè shìjiè jūnrén yùndònghuì) and commonly known as Wuhan 2019, was held from October 18–27, 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei, China.[2][3]
The 7th Military World Games was the first international military multisport event to be held in China. The event was also the nation’s largest military sports event ever with 9,308 athletes from 109 countries competing in 329 events and 27 sporting disciplines.[4][5] The multisport event included 25 official and 2 demonstrative sports. Six sport disciplines such as badminton, tennis, table tennis, women's boxing, and men's gymnastics made their debuts in the event.[6]
The Military World Games was also the second biggest international sport event to be held in 2019. The Games were organized by the Military Sports Commission of China, Ministry of National Defense of the People's Republic of China, and the military commands (Army in accordance with CISM regulations and the rules of the International Sports Federations[7] ). For the first time in the history of the Military World Games, an Olympic village was set up for the athletes prior to the commencement of the Games.[8] The village was officially opened for the athletes following the flag-raising ceremony.[9]
Host nation China sent a delegation consisting of 553 participants for the games, which marked the record number of participants to represent a nation at a single Military World Games.[10] Around 230,000 volunteers were recruited for the event.[11]
Bidding
Following the conclusion of the 2015 Military World Games, China won the bid to host the Games for the first time.[12]
The opening ceremony was held on 18 October 2019 and the event was officially opened by the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping.[14][15] An extravaganza titled "Torch of Peace" was performed during the opening ceremony highlighting the main motto of the event.[16]
Prior to the opening ceremony, a light show was set to be staged in the Yangtze River in Wuhan. It featured a screen made up of millions of small LED lights installed on bridges and buildings along the bank of the Yangtze River.[17] The torch relay for the event was held on 16 October 2019 with the participation of 100 torchbearers. Liao Hui, 2008 Olympic gold medalist in weightlifting, began the torch rally while hammer thrower Zhang Wenxiu concluded the torch relay.[18] Flag raising ceremony was also held on 16 October 2019.[19]
Mascot
The emblem and mascot along with the website were unveiled on 24 November 2017 by Ministry of National Defense of China. The mascot, named Bingbing, was designed based on the Chinese sturgeon.[7]
Marketing
An online store and 21 franchised retail stores were newly opened in order to promote the sales of licensed items.[20]
Overall, 82 records were broken during the nine day multisport event.[24]
Controversies
Cheating
China's orienteering teams originally captured a gold and a silver medal in women as well as a silver in men. They were all disqualified by the International Orienteering Federation after it was found out that they had been cheating through access to secretly marked paths, and received external assistance thus gaining major unfair advantage over other competitors.[25] A common protest was also held by the competitors from Russia, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Poland, and Austria accusing the Chinese team for gaining major unfair advantage in the competition.[26]
COVID-19 claims
According to a report by Radio Free Asia, a number of athletes reported experiencing symptoms reminiscent of COVID-19 around the time of the games. French pentathlon champion Élodie Clouvel said that she, her boyfriend, and other French athletes were affected. Matteo Tagliariol and five roommates experienced breathing difficulties. Raphael Stacchiotti and some Swedish athletes also reported illnesses.[27] Five athletes from the United States returned home early with a diagnosis of Malaria. No laboratory testing was performed on sick athletes in Wuhan.[28] Jacques Reis, et al. wrote that the games were possibly a superspreader event.[29]
Conspiracy theories emerged in China that the SARS-CoV-2 virus originated in the United States and was brought to China by an American participant in the Military World Games. One version of the conspiracy theory states that the virus was created by the CIA.[30][31] Lijian Zhao, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, claimed the virus originated in the United States.[32] A U.S. Army athlete who attended the games was accused of being "patient zero" of the novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, and was harassed on social media, despite never having symptoms or testing positive.[33] A coronavirus public health exercise in the United States called Event 201 was held at the same time as the games, and this is sometimes cited by conspiracy theorists as further evidence of misconduct.[34]
Participating nations
It was reported that 109 nations took part in the event, including athletes from Russia. In September 2019, the International Association of Athletics Federation approved athletes from Russia with the Authorized National Athlete (ANA) status to take part at the event.[35] However, the All Russia Athletics Federation remained silent on the participation of its athletes. The State of Palestine participated in the event, but Israel did not.[36]
List of participating nations
9,308 athletes from 110 countries participated in the games:[37][38][39]
List of Participating Nations
Below is a list of the 110 participating nations (the number of competitors per delegation is indicated in brackets)
Note: Para Athletics, Para Archery, Gymnastics, Tennis and three Senior Triathlon events not counted in medal table.[a]
^The United States won a gold medal in the women's senior division triathlon and a silver medal in the mixed senior team.[42] Since the two triathlon medals were awarded in the over 40 division, they were not counted in the official medal tally.[42]
^"Military World Games opens in Wuhan, ushering in new era". Xinhua News Agency. October 18, 2019. Archived from the original on October 19, 2019. Retrieved October 18, 2019. Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), attends the opening ceremony of the 7th Military World Games in Wuhan...
^Xiao (肖), Yijiu (艺九) (October 18, 2019). "第七届世界军人运动会在武汉开幕_图片频道_新华网". www.xinhuanet.com. Archived from the original on August 14, 2020. Retrieved June 21, 2021. 10月18日，新华社记者肖艺九摄：巴勒斯坦代表团在开幕式上入场。 当日，第七届世界军人运动会开幕式在武汉体育中心举行。"Photo of Team Palestine by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xiao Yijiu：October 18th，the Palestinian delegation entering the venue at the opening ceremonies of the 7th Military World Games taking place in the Wuhan Sports Center."
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