2011 Asian Winter Games

The 2011 Asian Winter Games was a multi-sport event that was held in Astana and Almaty, Kazakhstan, that began on January 30, 2011, and ended on February 6, 2011. It was the first time that Kazakhstan hosted such a large event since independence from the Soviet Union.[3] The documents for the hosting city were signed in Kuwait on March 4, 2006.[4]

VII Asian Winter Games
Host cityAstana & Almaty, Kazakhstan
MottoUnity of purpose ‒ unity of spirit! (Kazakh: Мақсаты бірдің - рухы бір)
Nations participating26[1]
Athletes participating843[1]
Events69 events in 5 sports
Opening ceremonyJanuary 30
Closing ceremonyFebruary 6
Officially opened byNursultan Nazarbayev
President of Kazakhstan [2]
Officially closed byTimothy Fok
Vice President of the Olympic Council of Asia
Athlete's OathNurbegen Zhumagaziyev (short track ice skating)
Judge's OathKeith Gee Kay Fong
Torch lighter7 Well known Kazakh athletes.
Main venueAstana Arena (Opening)
Baluan Sholak Palace of Culture and Sports (Closing)
WebsiteOfficial website
Part of a series on

Preparation

Costs

Kazakh Minister of Sports Temirkhan Dosmukhambetov notes the 726 million USD for construction and renovation comes from the 2008 state budget. The Olympic village, on the other hand, will be financed by private investors. Overall, Kazakhstan is spending over $1.4 billion to get the area ready to host the games.[5]

Venues
Shymbulak was the site of alpine skiing events
Medeo during the final of the bandy tournament
Ski Jump centre in Almaty, built for the Games.

Astana Mayor Imangali Tasmagambetov announced venues being built include a multipurpose Sports Palace which will seat up to 15,000 spectators, a ski jump complex, a biathlon stadium, and an athlete village.

Upgrades to existing venues included modernizing the Central Stadium, the B. Sholak Sports Palace, Medeo Skating Rink, and Shimbulak Ski Resort. The ski area was increased fivefold from the current 5 km to 65 km. In 2008 a gondola lift from Medeo Skating Rink to Shymbulak Ski Resort was planned to be completed, however, only in the summer of 2010 construction really started and was under serious time pressure. The Medeo Skating rink is an outdoor rink located in the Tian Shan Mountains, about a 30-minute drive away.[5]

In 2008, both Medeo and Shymbulak Ski Resort were rebuilt in preparation for the Games. Vladimir Smirnov, deputy head of the national ski federation, said that the resort would soon be one of the largest in the world, which would increase the chances of a successful bid to host the Olympics.[6]

Location Venue[7] Sports Capacity
Astana Astana Arena Opening ceremony 30,000
Alau Ice Palace Speed skating 8,773
Kazakhstan Sports Palace (arena 1) Ice hockey 5,050
Kazakhstan Sports Palace (arena 2) Ice hockey 1,200
Saryarka Velodrome Short track speed skating, figure skating 8,000
Almaty Baluan Sholak Sports Palace Ice hockey, closing ceremony 5,000
Medeo Bandy 8,500
Sunkar International Ski Jumping Complex Ski jumping 9,500
Shymbulak Alpine Sport Resort Alpine skiing 3,000
Soldatskoe Valley Cross Country Skiing and Biathlon Stadium Biathlon, cross-country skiing, ski orienteering 6,200
Tabagan Sport and Recreation Complex Freestyle skiing 2,250

Infrastructures

Upgrades to the Almaty airport were finished by December 2008; transport issues are also being reviewed. Millions of KZT are being earmarked for work on main transportation corridors, overpasses, a ring road as well as investment in light rail transit between Talgar, Almaty, and Kaskelen. The plan also included purchases of city passenger buses, taxis, and possibly the construction of a subway.[8]

Almaty also upgraded its power supply network of substations and transmission lines. Expansion and reconstruction of heating systems was also recommended. A portion also got into environmental stabilisation.[8]

Torch relay

The flame of the Games was officially lit at Kuwait Towers, Kuwait City on January 11, 2011.[9][10] The relay was officially start in Almaty on January 12, 2011 and span around the cities in Kazakhstan for 16 days before arrive at the opening ceremony on January 30, 2011.[11]

Date City[12] Length Number of
torchbearers
January 12 Almaty 11.7 km 80[11]
January 13 Taraz 12 km [13] 60[14]
January 14 Shymkent
January 15 Kyzylorda
January 16 Aktau
January 17 Atyrau
January 18 Oral
January 19 Aktobe
January 20 Kostanay
January 21 Petropavl
January 22–23 Kokshetau
January 24 Pavlodar
January 25–26 Oskemen
January 27 Taldykorgan
January 28–29 Karagandy
January 30 Astana

Sports Events

Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of medal events contested in each sport.[15]

Olympic sports Bobsleigh, Luge, Skeleton, Snowboarding, Curling and Nordic Combined will not be contested.

Bandy and Ski Orienteering were included for the first time in the Games, while curling and snowboarding was excluded from the list, ski jumping returns to the Games, after not being contested in the last Games in Changchun.

Participating NOCs

[16]

26 countries have registered to take part and they are listed below, this is an increase of 1 from the 2007 games. Bahrain, Qatar and Singapore made their debuts,[17] while Macau and Pakistan did not compete after competing in 2007.

Non-Competing nations

One country only sent officials.

Calendar

In the following calendar for the 2011 Asian Winter Games, each blue box represents an event competition, such as a qualification round, on that day. The yellow boxes represent days during which medal-awarding finals for a sport were held.

 OC Opening ceremony  ● Event competitions  1 Event finals  CC Closing ceremony
January / February 2011 28th
Fri		 29th
Sat		 30th
Sun		 31st
Mon		 1st
Tue		 2nd
Wed		 3rd
Thu		 4th
Fri		 5th
Sat		 6th
Sun		 Gold
medals
Alpine skiing 2 2 2 6
Bandy ● ● ● 1 1
Biathlon 1 1 1 2 1 1 7
Cross-country skiing 2 2 2 2 2 2 12
Figure Skating ● 1 3 4
Freestyle skiing 2 2 2 6
Ice hockey ● ● ● ● ● 1 ● ● 1 2
Short track speed skating 2 2 4 8
Ski jumping 1 1 1 3
Ski orienteering 2 2 2 2 8
Speed skating 2 2 2 2 2 2 12
Total gold medals 14 11 12 7 8 10 7 69
Ceremonies OC CC
January / February 2011 28th
Fri		 29th
Sat		 30th
Sun		 31st
Mon		 1st
Tue		 2nd
Wed		 3rd
Thu		 4th
Fri		 5th
Sat		 6th
Sun		 Gold
medals

Broadcasting

International Games Broadcast Services (IGBS), a joint venture between Host Broadcast Services and IMG Media, served as the host broadcaster of the games. The joint venture previously served as the host broadcaster of the 2006 Asian Games under the name Doha Asian Games Broadcast Services (DAGBS).[44][45][46]

Medal table

Kazakhstan won the same number of gold medals on the first day of the competition as it did in the entire 2007 games, topping the medal table for the first time. Iran and Kyrgyzstan won their first ever Asian Winter Games medals, Iran in ski orienteering and alpine skiing and Kyrgyzstan in bandy. Eight countries won medals the most ever at an Asian Winter Games.

Irby, the official mascot of 2011 Asian Winter Games

  *   Host nation (Kazakhstan)

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Kazakhstan (KAZ)*32211770
2 Japan (JPN)13241754
3 South Korea (KOR)13121338
4 China (CHN)11101435
5 Mongolia (MGL)0145
6 Iran (IRI)0123
7 Kyrgyzstan (KGZ)0011
 North Korea (PRK)0011
Totals (8 nations)696969207

Stamps
  • Stamps of Kazakhstan, 2010
  • Stamps of Kazakhstan, 2010
  • Stamps of Kazakhstan, 2010
  • Stamps of Kazakhstan, 2010

References
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    Preceded by
    Changchun    		 Asian Winter Games
    Astana and Almaty
    VII Asian Winter Games (2011)    		 Succeeded by
    Sapporo
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