Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games - CMGBS Broadcast Opening Sequence (Re-Upload)
Copyright (c) 2023 China Media Group
The Asian Games came back to China for the third time in the event's 72-year history, with Hangzhou - the Zhejiang capital city situated in the southern end of China's 1,764-kilometre Grand Canal - followed in the footsteps of China's capital Beijing in 1990 and Guangzhou in 2010. Its 19th iteration is labelled as the 'Smart Games' in the organizers' efforts to showcase Hangzhou's technological advancements in artificial intelligence.
However, this Asiad was initially scheduled to be held in 2022, but fears over a new variant of COVID-19 had prompted to push the games back by one year and then timetabling them to take place between 23 September to 8 October 2023. Reflecting the change to the schedule, Chinese organizers branded these games itself as simply the '19th Asian Games Hangzhou' - minus the year.
By numbers, Hangzhou 2022 was the record-breaking Asian Games in history as it garnered nearly 12,500 athletes from 45 countries around the continent. The games have featured 481 events in 40 sports across 61 disciplines, including eSports - which made its full debut as a medal event after appearing as a demonstration sport in the previous Asiad in Indonesia. Some sports also have qualifying opportunities for the following year's Paris Olympics.
Hosts China have collected 201 gold medals at these games, bettering their record of 199 set at Guangzhou in 2010 and then claiming the distinction of being the first nation to hit the 200-gold mark in a single Asiad. They are followed by Japan at second, with 188 medals overall - 52 were gold, and South Korea at third, with 190 medals of any color, but won 42 golds. At the same games, India finishes at fourth with 106 medals overall, enjoying its best ever medal haul that bested the previous benchmark of 70 achieved at the previous Asiad five years prior while crossing the 100-medal mark for the first time in its history.
