IOC President attends digitally innovative and impressive opening ceremony of the Asian Games Hangzhou 2022
IOC President Thomas Bach visited the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou 2022, which were declared open on Saturday (23 September) by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who had welcomed the IOC President for a meeting ahead of the Games (see full story here) and for a state banquet.
Thomas Bach witnessed the impressive opening ceremony in front of 80,000 spectators in the lotus-shaped stadium. The two-hour ceremony was full of digital innovation and showcased the ancient history of Hangzhou, which is in Zhejiang Province, in a very creative way. With the technical innovations including a digital torchbearer, who lit the flame together with Olympic swimming champion Wang Shun in an unprecedented way, the opening ceremony also celebrated Hangzhou as a hub of China’s tech industry, which includes IOC TOP Partner Alibaba.
“This opening ceremony was a perfect combination of digital innovation and human gracefulness,” said the IOC President. “Congratulations to China on this inspiring event.”
Some 12,400 athletes from 45 National Olympic Committees are participating in the 19th Asian Games, which feature 40 sports and 481 events and had to be postponed by a year due the COVID-19 pandemic. Ahead of the opening ceremony, the IOC President met athletes in the Asian Games village to discuss the development of the Olympic Movement, and held a series of other meetings. He was accompanied during his stay by the IOC Members in China, Yu Zaiqing, Li Lingwei and Zhang Hong.
“The Asian Games will set new standards. We will see a great number of new sports. We will see an organisation that is making use of all the digital expertise of China and Hangzhou, in particular what the Alibaba headquarters has to offer. We will see Games organised in a sustainable way with a reduction of the carbon footprint and extensive waste management, and overall they will be Games that the athletes enjoy,” Thomas Bach added.
He was welcomed to the Games by the Acting President of the Olympic Council of Asia, Randhir Singh with whom he discussed the preparations for the Games after his arrival. During his stay in Hangzhou, he had a dinner with all the IOC Members and International Sports Federation presidents present on the eve of the Games.
The IOC President also attended the opening ceremony for China House at these Games. There he was welcomed by Gao Zhidan, President of the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC), with whom he had lunch. Host China has a team of 886 athletes at the Games, including 36 Olympic champions. Bach also went to the opening of the Hangzhou 2023 Olympic Expo in the World Tourism Museum, which is being organised in collaboration with the Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage (OFCH). IOC Member KhunyingPatama Leeswadtrakul, who chairs the IOC’s Culture and Olympic Heritage Commission, accompanied the IOC President during the ceremony and his visit to the exhibition.
The visit to Hangzhou also gave the IOC President the opportunity to meet the newly appointed Chairman of Alibaba Group, Joe Tsai. With him he emphasised the continuing excellent cooperation with Alibaba, the digital transformation of sport and the impact Artificial Intelligence will have on sport. Bach also paid a visit to the Alibaba showcase in the Asian Games village.
During his tour of the village, the IOC President met volunteers and athletes from more than 40 participating NOCs.
In his discussion with the athletes he was accompanied by IOC Athletes’ Commission (AC) Vice-Chair Seung Min Ryu and member Zhang Hong. Amongst the participants was a female Afghan athlete who now lives abroad and is one of 17 athletes from Afghanistan taking part in the Games. She thanked the IOC President for the help the IOC has been offering and continues to offer the Olympic community of Afghanistan, and said: “Please don’t leave us alone. Please keep supporting and having us.”
Thomas Bach explained how, since the beginning of the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, the IOC has supported the athletes and their entourage, in particular women, and the challenges the IOC is facing now with fewer and fewer countries offering humanitarian visas for Afghanis. The IOC also continues to discuss with the Taliban the rights of women in the country and their access to sport. The IOC’s work is greatly supported by the IOC Member in Afghanistan, Samira Asghari.
Ahead of the opening ceremony, the IOC President also met the Prime Minister of Korea, Han Duck-soo. They discussed the preparations for the upcoming Winter Youth Olympic Games Gangwon 2024, which will be held from 19 January to 1 February 2024. The Prime Minister said his government will do its best to promote the Games and make them successful.
The preparations for the upcoming Olympic Games Paris 2024 were among the topics discussed by the IOC President with Yuan Bingzhong, Vice-President of the Xinhua news agency, which is recognised by the IOC as one of four international agencies at the Olympic Games. The agency plans to send 200 journalists to the Games.