Politics of the Busan Asian Games

PRAVDA.Ru recently reported on the trouble the South Korean military structures experienced when North Korea decided to send its team to the XIV Asia Games in Busan. Indeed, the Korean law “On security” strictly prohibits the presentation of North Korean national symbols. However, the Olympic principles won this time: North Korean flags were flying in the places where athletes lived and on the sporting grounds.

However, as it turned out, the flag dispute was nothing compared to what was to come next when the North Koreans scored victories and, as provided by the Olympic regulations, their national anthem was to be played. The North Korean anthem sounded nine times over the sixteen days of the Asian Games, and the national flag was raised 33 times when North Korean athletes won first, second, or third places.

The mass media has reported cases when the most vigilant law enforcement officials in Busan arrested, as they say, “those whose popularized the national symbols of communist North Korea.” However, nobody could prevent a so-called “propaganda action” when a North Korean athlete won the women’s marathon on the second to last day of the Games and made an extra lap around the stadium with the national flag (in the picture). To tell the truth, South Korea welcomed North Korean athletes and fans rather heartily. Seoul’s newspaper Korea Times informed that the audience cheered North Korean success as well. Moreover, the participation of North Korean athletes added special importance to the Games. That is why, as the Korea Times supposes, the world’s mass media also paid special attention to the games: the Busan press-center attracted 6,000 thousand journalists, which was unprecedented!

The games were also very positive from a sporting point of view: several world records were broken (in weight lifting, shooting, swimming). As was expected, athletes from “the three sports giants,” Japan, South Korea, and China, dominated the games (they won 44, 92, and 150 gold medals, respectively, of the total number of 419). China’s success is impressive; however, we should keep in mind that the country won 183 gold medals at the XI games held in Beijing 12 years ago. What is especially remarkable is that the number of sporting events was smaller at that games.

Leaders of the Chinese team say that mostly young athletes, having no international experience, were sent to the Busan Games. These athletes will represent China at the Olympic Games in Athens (2004) and in Beijing (2008). However, there is one more reason: athletes from former Soviet republics in Central Asia also participated in the Asian Games this time; they won 143 medals, including 37 gold ones.

If we want to consider the prospects of the Central Asian (former Soviet) sports contingent, we necessarily should pay attention to political problems. The prospects directly depend upon the attitude of the Central Asia’s leadership toward the Russian diaspora. Think of it this way: let’s recall the names of the Central Asian athletes who won medals at the XIV Asian Games: Tatyana Yeremenko from Kyrgyzstan and Igor Perikeyev from Turkmenistan won gold medals; Valery Borisov, Grigory Yegorov, and Sergey Filimonov from Kazakhstan were also winners. No surprise, but the majority of the winners belong to the so-called Russian minority living in the former Soviet republics in Central Asia.

Andrey Krushinsky PRAVDA.Ru Beijing China

Translated by Maria Gousseva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/10/14/48371.html

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