Asian Winter Games Explained

Asian Winter Games
Abbreviation:	AWG
Formation:	1986 Asian Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan
Recurrence:	Four years
Last:	2017 Asian Winter Games in Sapporo-Obihiro, Japan
Next:	2025 Asian Winter Games in Harbin, China
Purpose:	Multi-sport event for nations on the Asian continent

The Asian Winter Games (AWG) is an international multi-sport event held every four years for members of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) which features winter events. The Japanese Olympic Committee first suggested the idea of holding a winter version of the Asian Games in 1982. Their efforts were rewarded when they were finally given hosting rights for the first edition that was held in Sapporo in 1986, as the city had the infrastructure and expertise gained from hosting of the 1972 Winter Olympics.

From having only seven member nations of the Olympic Council of Asia taking part in the first edition, the number of nations competing in the Winter Asiad has consistently grown. In the 2007 Asian Winter Games in Changchun, 27 out of the 45 members fielded a record number of competitors, while all 45 NOCs sent delegations for the first time ever in Winter Asian history.

Although games in Lebanon in 2009 were considered, they did not take place and were cancelled.^[1] After the 2017 Asian Winter Games in Sapporo, the next edition is scheduled to be held in Harbin in 2025.

The 2021 Winter Asian Games were scheduled to be held, but due the COVID 19 pandemic, were eventually canceled.^[2]

List of Asian Winter Games

Edition	Year		Host nation	Opened by			Nations	Competitors	Sports	Events	Top-placed team
1	1986	Sapporo			1 March	8 March	7	293	7	35		^[3]
2	1990	Sapporo		Emperor Akihito	9 March	14 March	9	310	6	33		^[4]
3	1996	Harbin		President Jiang Zemin			17	453	8	43		^[5]
4	1999	Gangwon		President Kim Dae-jung			14	798	7	43		^[6]
5	2003	Aomori		Crown Prince Naruhito			17	641	11	51		^[7]
6	2007	Changchun		President Hu Jintao			25	796	10	47		^[8]
7	2011			President Nursultan Nazarbayev			26	843	11	69		^[9]
8	2017			Crown Prince Naruhito			32	1,147	11	64		^[10]
9	2025			TBD	7 February	14 February			11	64
10	2029			TBD

• At the 2017 Games, the Olympic Council of Asia invited athletes from Oceania. Two countries from the region (Australia and New Zealand) accepted the invitation and their athletes competed along with 30 NOCs from Asia.

Sports

See main article: Asian Winter Games sports.

Sport Years All 2011 All All 2003–2007, since 2017 1986, since 1996 1996, since 2003 All All 2003, 2011-2017 2025 2011 2003–2007, since 2017 All

Medal count

See main article: article and All-time Asian Winter Games medal table.

See also

• Winter Olympic Games

External links

• 2025 Asian Winter Games official website
• Olympic Council of Asia

Notes and References

1. Web site: The skiers of Lebanon . 2005-06-04 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20230709013446/https://www.smh.com.au/world/the-skiers-of-lebanon-20050604-gdlg1d.html . 2023-07-09 . live .
2. Web site: 2021 동계아시안게임 사실상 무산…병역 혜택 사라질 듯 . 2020-08-25 . SBS 뉴스 . ko.
3. Web site: 1st AWG Sapporo 1986. Olympic Council of Asia. 22 July 2010.
4. Web site: 2nd AWG Sapporo 1990. Olympic Council of Asia. 22 July 2010.
5. Web site: 3rd AWG Harbin 1996. Olympic Council of Asia. 22 July 2010.
6. Web site: 4th AWG Gangwon 1999. Olympic Council of Asia. 22 July 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100613092236/http://ocasia.org/Game/GameParticular.aspx?GPCode=4. 2010-06-13. dead.
7. Web site: 5th AWG Aomori 2003. Olympic Council of Asia. 1 February 2003. https://web.archive.org/web/20111208112853/http://www.ocasia.org/Game/GameParticular.aspx?GPCode=5. 2011-12-08. dead.
8. Web site: 6th AWG Changchun 2007. Olympic Council of Asia. 28 January 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20110522120614/http://www.ocasia.org/Game/GameParticular.aspx?GPCode=6. 2011-05-22. dead.
9. Web site: 7th AWG Astana-Almaty 2011. Olympic Council of Asia. 30 January 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20101108024747/http://www.ocasia.org/Game/GameParticular.aspx?GPCode=7. 2010-11-08. dead.
10. Web site: 8th AWG Sapporo 2017. Olympic Council of Asia. 19 February 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20101107080130/http://www.ocasia.org/Game/GameParticular.aspx?GPCode=8. 2010-11-07. dead.