The 20th Asian Games opened Saturday, Sept. 19, at Paloma Mizuho Stadium in Nagoya, Japan, with a moment fans won’t forget and a lodging situation athletes have been talking about for weeks.
The opening ceremony
Emperor Naruhito declared the Games open, and delegations from 45 nations and territories marched in, with host Japan last, SportsWorldNews reported. Afghanistan entered first, according to the Tehran Times. The ceremony’s theme was “Harmonic Heartbeat,” and fireworks closed the show.
The cauldron was lit jointly by hammer throw champions Shigenobu Murofushi and his son Koji, SportsWorldNews reported. Koji Murofushi won the Olympic hammer throw title at the 2004 Games in Athens. The Tehran Times reported that the stadium had a significant number of empty seats early in the ceremony.
Where athletes are sleeping
There is no traditional athletes’ village. According to Al Jazeera, about 2,000 athletes and officials are staying in wooden, shipping-container-style huts at Nagoya’s Garden Pier, thousands more are on the Costa Serena cruise ship, and the rest are in hotels.
Organizers say they chose that route to avoid leaving a costly facility behind. “We don’t want to leave a white elephant after the games here,” an official said, according to the Associated Press via the Korea Times. Officials also said: “It was not easy discussions, but it was also not a compromise.”
Several countries have voiced dissatisfaction with the lodging, and basketball players said their beds were too short, the AP reported. Al Jazeera cited “undersized beds and cramped conditions” and reported that South Korea’s men’s football team was taken to a baseball stadium instead of its training venue, delaying a session by about 30 minutes. Earlier this month, hundreds of athletes staying in the containers were briefly evacuated during record rainfall in Nagoya, Al Jazeera and the AP reported.
What’s next
The Games run through Oct. 4, with more than 11,000 athletes from 45 nations competing in 43 sports, according to Al Jazeera. The first gold medals were scheduled for Sunday in triathlon, swimming and teqball, SportsWorldNews reported.
