 | |
| Host city | Manila, Philippines |
|---|---|
| Motto | Ever Onward |
| Nations | 18 |
| Athletes | 970 |
| Events | 77 in 8 sports |
| Opening | May 1, 1954 |
| Closing | May 9, 1954 |
| Opened by | Ramon Magsaysay President of the Philippines |
| Athlete's Oath | Martin Gison |
| Judge's Oath | Antonio Delas Alas[1] |
| Torch lighter | Enriquito Beech[2] |
| Main venue | Rizal Memorial Stadium |
The1954 Asian Games (Filipino:Palarong Asyano 1954), officially known as theSecond Asian Games –Manila 1954, were amulti-sport event held inManila, Philippines, from May 1 to 9, 1954. A total of 970 athletes from 19AsianNational Olympic Committees (NOCs) competed in 76 events from eightsports. The number of participating NOCs and athletes were larger than the previous Asian Games held inNew Delhi in1951. This edition of the games has a different twist where it did not implement a medal tally system to determine the overall champion but a pointing system. The pointing system is a complex system where each athlete were given points according to their achievement like position in athletics or in swimming. In the end the pointing system showed to be worthless as it simply ranked the nations the same way in the medal tally system. The pointing system was not implemented in future games ever since.[3]Jorge B. Vargas was the head of the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation (now known asPhilippine Olympic Committee since 1976) and the Manila Asian Games Organizing Committee. With the second-place finish of the Philippines, only around 9,000 spectators attended the closing ceremony at theRizal Memorial Stadium.[4] The events were broadcast on radio live atDZRH andDZAQ-TV ABS-3 on delayed telecast.
The Games were formally opened byPresidentRamon Magsaysay on May 1, 1954, at 16:02local time. Around 20,000 spectators filled theRizal Memorial Stadium inMalate,Manila, for the opening ceremony. As requested by theIOC, the torch relay and lighting of the cauldron were excluded from the Opening Ceremony to preserve the tradition of theOlympic Games. The torch ceremony were returned at the 1958 Asian Games. The host however gave a solution by giving a special citation to the last athlete to enter the parade. The Philippines, as host, was the last country to enter the stadium. The flag bearer for the Philippines squad was Andres Franco, who won a gold medal in the 1951 Asian Games inhigh jump event, the sole gold medal of anyFilipino in the athletics events of the previous Asian Games.[5][6]
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The 1954 Asian Games featured eight sports divided into 10 events, aquatics included three events namely diving, swimming and water polo. This version of the Asian Games comprised more sports and events than the last one, as six sports and seven events were in the calendar of1951 Asian Games. Three sports—boxing,shooting andwrestling—made their debut, whilecycling was dropped out.[7]
Athletics(30) (details)
Basketball(1) (details)
Boxing(7) (details)
Diving(4) (details)
Football(1) (details)
Shooting(6) (details)
Swimming(13) (details)
Water polo(1) (details)
Weightlifting(7) (details)
Wrestling(7) (details)
National Olympic Committees (NOCs) are named and arranged according to their officialIOC country codes and designations at the time.
| ParticipatingNational Olympic Committees[8] |
|---|
|
| Non-participatingNational Olympic Committees |
|---|
| IOC Letter Code | Country | Athletes |
|---|---|---|
| PHI |  Philippines | 166 |
| VNM |  Vietnam | 165 |
| JPN |  Japan | 160 |
| ROC |  Republic of China | 140 |
| INA |  Indonesia | 85 |
| IND |  India | 69 |
| SGP |  Singapore | 54 |
| KOR |  South Korea | 52 |
| HKG |  Hong Kong | 47 |
| PAK |  Pakistan | 46 |
| BIR |  Burma | 34 |
| THA |  Thailand | 19 |
| AFG |  Afghanistan | 17 |
| CAM |  Cambodia | 12 |
| MAL |  Malaya | 9 |
| CEY |  Ceylon | 6 |
| ISR |  Israel | 4 |
| NBO |  North Borneo | 3 |
In the following calendar for the 1954 Asian 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. The numeral indicates the number of event finals for each sport held that day. On the left, the calendar lists each sport with events held during the Games, and at the right, how many gold medals were won in that sport. There is a key at the top of the calendar to aid the reader.
| OC | Opening ceremony | ● | Event competitions | 1 | Event finals | CC | Closing ceremony |
| May 1954 | 2nd Sun | yuui | 1st Sat | 3rd Mon | 4th Tue | 5th Wed | 6th Thu | 7th Fri | 8th Sat | 9th Sun | Gold medals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ceremonies | OC | CC | ||||||||||
 Athletics | 4 | 5 | 9 | 12 | 30 | |||||||
 Basketball | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | |||||
 Boxing | ● | ● | 7 | 7 | ||||||||
 Diving | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||||||
 Football | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | |||
 Shooting | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | ||||||
 Swimming | 1 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 13 | |||||||
 Water polo | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | |||||||
 Weightlifting | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 | ||||||||
 Wrestling | ● | ● | 7 | 7 | ||||||||
| Total gold medals | 4 | 13 | 10 | 15 | 5 | 10 | 20 | 77 | ||||
| May 1954 | 2nd Sun | 1st Sat | 3rd Mon | 4th Tue | 5th Wed | 6th Thu | 7th Fri | 8th Sat | 9th Sun | Gold medals |
Japan led the medal table, athletes from Japan won most medals, including most gold, silver and bronze. Host nation,Philippines finished second with 45 total medals (including 14 gold).[9]
The top ten ranked NOCs at these Games are listed below. The host nation, Philippines, is highlighted.
* Host nation (Philippines)
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Japan (JPN) | 38 | 36 | 24 | 98 |
| 2 | Philippines (PHI)* | 14 | 14 | 17 | 45 |
| 3 | South Korea (KOR) | 8 | 6 | 5 | 19 |
| 4 | Pakistan (PAK) | 5 | 6 | 2 | 13 |
| 5 | India (IND) | 5 | 4 | 8 | 17 |
| 6 | Republic of China (ROC) | 2 | 4 | 7 | 13 |
| 7 | Israel (ISR) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 8 | Burma (BIR) | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 9 | Singapore (SIN) | 1 | 4 | 4 | 9 |
| 10 | Ceylon (CEY) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 11–13 | Remaining | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Totals (13 entries) | 77 | 77 | 75 | 229 | |
| Preceded by | Asian Games Manila II Asiad (1954) | Succeeded by |
| Summer Games |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Winter Games | ||
| ||
