The 17th Incheon Asian Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies will be held at Incheon City Suh-gu Incheon Asiad Main Stadium

The 17th Incheon Asian Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies will be held at Incheon City Suh-gu Incheon Asiad Main Stadium.

The 17th Incheon Asian Games will be a festival for 450 million Asians and will be held from September 9 to October 4.

The 17th Incheon Asian Games will be held from September 9 to October 4 at Incheon City Ilwon. 45 nations (about 13,000 athletes and board members and about 7,000 press members) will participate in 36 events amidst the cheers and celebrations of 450 million Asians.

This competition’s slogan is “The breath of peace, the future of Asia” and offers the opportunity to share each Asian nation’s brilliant and diverse history, culture, tradition, religion, etc. in one place and also pursue peace through friendship and harmony. The slogan signifies the hope that the Asian countries become one to shine and build Asia’s future together and, through the Games, hopes to foster local as well as national economies while contributing to the international city brand value, national integration, improve self-esteem, and promote national athletics. 

The 36 events include swimming, archery, track, badminton, basketball, boxing, canoeing, cycling, equestrian, fencing, soccer, golf, gymnastics, handball, hockey, yudo, pentathlon, rowing, rugby, yacht, marksmanship, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, baseball, bowling, cricket, kabaddi, karate, sepaktakraw, squash, wu shu, among others.

The Games’ emblem signifies that, through the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, Asians will establish harmony and friendship and spread a message of hope throughout the world beyond Asia. Asia’s initial “A” is represented as the shape of an individual and is dynamically represented as Asians holding hands in the shape of wings. The emblem is the OCA symbol as well as the bright sun, which represents the Asian Games and has the meaning of flying toward the bright sun together toward a bright future of everlasting progress.

This competition’s mascots “Baramae, Chumero, Bichuon” are the spotted seals that inhabit Baengnyeongdo Island. The spotted seal was designated as the 331st national heritage in 1982 and was listed as an endangered species in the 2nd degree in 2005. It is also protected as a national protected species in China and swims freely in the western sea around the Northern Limit Line. It has been selected as representing Incheon and also symbolizes the 2014 Asian Games’ slogan “the breath of peace, the future of Asia.”

The 17th Incheon Asian Games’ opening and closing ceremonies will be hosted in the Incheon Asiad Main Stadium and is located in Incheon City Suh-gu (Incheon Suh-gu Bongsoo main street 806). It began construction in June 2011 and was completed this past April. The total surface area is 631,975 ㎡ and the stadium’s surface area is 113,620 ㎡. It will seat 61,818 and spans from a basement level to the 4th floor. The stadium has a track for various track and field events, a soccer field that meets international standards, and is surrounded by supplementary stadiums including a cricket field with a surface area of 1,415㎡.

The main stadium’s exterior was designed with the motif of the dance of light and wind. The 2 roofs look wind-swept and spread north/south and the façade is represented as transparent and open as light is softly diffracted. The curves signify the Korean traditional dancing steps of Seungmoo. Additionally, the main stadium’s building is land and solar power operated and is a verified environmentally friendly construction that uses renewable energy. Harmony with nature was emphasized as the west side of the stadium has an echo canal which connects the Simgok stream and Gongchon stream as well as a biotope, which is a small ecological habitation space.

The opening ceremony will be held on September 19 (Friday) at 6pm at Suh-gu  Incheon Asiad Main Stadium with the theme “Meeting Asia’s future” and aptly expresses Korean values. Highly-esteemed director Im Kwon-taek will be the general manger and director Jang Jin, the “vault of ideas,” will participate to create a fantastical show. We invite everyone to join Korea’s best entertainers, as the ceremony will not only be a spectacle but also an Asian music festival and an Asiad street and diverse cultural ceremony with endless sights to see.

The closing ceremony will be held on October 4 with the theme “Asia will now remember Incheon” and be a place of celebrating together the successful Games though videos of the passionate athletes as well as taekwondo and other Korean traditional shows, official ceremonies, performances by K-pop singers such as Big Bang.

For more specific information and schedules, please check the Incheon Asian Games official homepage (http://www.incheon2014.kr/index). Please support the 17th Incheon Asian Games, the festival of 450 million Asians.

Additionally, Incheon City Suh-gu will connect various stadiums in the area for tourism and host various experiencing/viewing festivals as well as a sports tourism “Suh-gu city tour” buses to enjoy the Incheon Asian Games (learn about the Suh-gu city tour buses at ☞ http://noulnori.net/760).

Image origin: 17th Incheon Asian Games official homepage

Questions: 2014 Incheon Asian Games organizing committee ☎458-2014