Asian Geographic - 08.2018

Sukarno then went on to create the

short-lived Games of the New Emerging

Forces (GANEFO) to directly challenge the

Olympics. The openly political event was

financially backed by China, deliberately

excluded America and Western Europe,

and was initially seen as a serious threat to

the Olympics’ premier position in sporting

prestige. But at GANEFO’s inaugural Jakarta

games, so many of the roughly 50 participating

nations sent athletes of sub-Olympic standard

that it was clear the Asian states still had their

below Players of the
Japanese women’s ice
hockey team ahead of
a match against South
Korea at the 2017 Asian
Winter Games

feature | aSian gameS

eyes on the Olympic prize, writes Chris

Connolly in the essay “The Politics of the

Games of the New Emerging Forces”. The final

nail in the coffin was the inability of Egypt,

North Korea and China to host subsequent

GANEFOs, and these games were never

mentioned again.

With Sukarno deposed, Indonesia – under

US-backed Suharto – was reinstated by the

International Olympic Committee (IOC) in

time to attend the 1970 Olympics in Tokyo,

while mainland China won the rights to

DATA SOURCES: BRITANNICA, INSIDE THE GAMES, TOPEND SPORTS,
STEFAN HUEBNER, DJIUGO, FAN HONG, NEW YORK TIMES, GOLNAZ
ESFANDIARI/RADIO FREE EUROPE RADIO LIBERTY, REUTERS,
THE SPORT DIGEST, INSIDE THE GAMES, RT, BUSTLE

PHOTO © KYODO NEWS/GETTY IMAGES