 | |
| Host city | Tokyo, Japan |
|---|---|
| Motto | Ever Onward |
| Nations | 20 |
| Athletes | 1,820 |
| Events | 112 in 13 sports |
| Opening | May 24, 1958 |
| Closing | June 1, 1958 |
| Opened by | Hirohito Emperor of Japan |
| Torch lighter | Mikio Oda |
| Main venue | National Stadium |
The1958 Asian Games, officially theThird Asian Games (Japanese:第3回アジア競技大会) and commonly known asTokyo 1958 (Japanese:東京1958), were amulti-sport event held inTokyo, Japan, from 24 May to 1 June 1958. It was governed by theAsian Games Federation. A total of 1,820 athletes representing 20 AsianNational Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated in the Games. The program featured competitions in 13 differentsports encompassing 97 events, including four non-Olympic sports,judo,table tennis,tennis andvolleyball. Four of these competition sports –field hockey, table tennis, tennis and volleyball – were introduced for the first time in the Asian Games.
This is the first time thatJapan hosted the Asian Games.
The Asian Games is a multi-sport event, much like the Summer Olympics (albeit on a much smaller scale), with participation exclusively forAsian countries. Thefirst edition was held in the capital city of India,New Delhi, in 1951, attracting 489 competitors from 11 nations.
The programme for the Tokyo 1958 Games included 13 differentsports divided into 97 events. Four of these sports – judo,[1] table tennis,[2] tennis[3] and volleyball[4] – were not on theofficial Olympic sports programme at that time.Badminton was added as a demonstration sport, which, from1962 onwards, became a regular competitive sport in the Asian Games.[5]Judo was another demonstration sport.
|
The tradition of torch relay, inspired by the Olympic Games, was introduced for the first time in the Asian Games in 1958.[6] The relay officially began from the main venue of theSecond Asian Games,Rizal Memorial Coliseum, inManila,Philippines. In the host nation, Japan, it was relayed fromOkinawa toKyushu Island. Okinawa was under theUnited States administration at that time. At the opening ceremony, the Games cauldron was ignited by the first Japanese Olympic gold medallist and the first Asian Olympic champion in an individual event,Mikio Oda.[6][7]
A record total of 1,820 athletes representing 20 member nations of theAsian Games Federation participated in the Games. The number of participating countries was also greatest in comparison to the first two editions of the Games.
The Thai delegation held a meeting on 22 May 1958 in Tokyo, and invitations were sent to the representatives ofMalaysia,Burma andLaos. The agenda of the meeting was to discuss the possibility of forming a regional multi-sport event on the lines of Asian Games for the countries ofSoutheast Asia. This way theSoutheast Asian Peninsular Games (SEAP Games), which later became the Southeast Asian Games, were established and the first SEAP Games were held inBangkok, Thailand, in1959.[8]
| IOC Letter Code | Country | Athletes |
|---|---|---|
| JPN |  Japan | 287 |
| PHI |  Philippines | 152 |
| ROC |  Republic of China | 136 |
| KOR |  South Korea | 120 |
| PAK |  Pakistan | 87 |
| IRN |  Iran | 83 |
| HKG |  Hong Kong | 80 |
| MAL |  Malaya | 80 |
| IND |  India | 79 |
| INA |  Indonesia | 66 |
| SGP |  Singapore | 54 |
| THA |  Thailand | 47 |
| BIR |  Burma | 36 |
| VNM |  South Vietnam | 32 |
| ISR |  Israel | 23 |
| CAM |  Cambodia | 12 |
| CEY |  Ceylon | 11 |
| AFG |  Afghanistan | 8 |
| NBO |  North Borneo | 8 |
| NEP |  Nepal | 7 |
The opening ceremony of the Tokyo 1958 Games was organised on 24 May 1958 at theNational Olympic Stadium. The ceremony, among other dignitaries and guests, included theEmperor of JapanHirohito,crown princeAkihito andShah of IranMohammad Reza Pahlavi. Around 70,000 people attended the opening ceremony.[9]
In the following calendar for the 1958 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 / June 1958 | 24 Sat | 25 Sun | 26 Mon | 27 Tue | 28 Wed | 29 Thu | 30 Fri | 31 Sat | 1 Sun | Gold medals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ceremonies | OC | CC | ||||||||
 Athletics | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 31 | ||||
 Basketball | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | |
 Boxing | ● | ● | ● | 10 | 10 | |||||
_pictogram.svg) Cycling – Road | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| Cycling – Track | ● | 1 | ● | 2 | 1 | 4 | ||||
 Diving | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||||
 Field hockey | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | ||||
 Football | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | ||
 Shooting | 1 | 2 | 1 | ● | 1 | 1 | 6 | |||
 Swimming | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 21 | |||||
 Table tennis | ● | ● | 2 | ● | ● | ● | 5 | 7 | ||
 Tennis | ● | ● | ● | ● | 2 | 3 | 5 | |||
_pictogram.svg) Volleyball | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 2 | 2 | ||
 Water polo | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | |||||
 Weightlifting | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | |||||
 Wrestling | ● | ● | 8 | 8 | ||||||
| Total gold medals | 8 | 11 | 19 | 16 | 18 | 12 | 24 | 4 | 112 | |
| May / June 1958 | 24 Sat | 25 Sun | 26 Mon | 27 Tue | 28 Wed | 29 Thu | 30 Fri | 31 Sat | 1 Sun | Gold medals |
Athletes from 16 countries won medals, leaving four countries without a medal, and 11 of them won at least one gold medal. Afghanistan, Cambodia, Nepal and North Borneo did not win any medal. The Japanese 4 × 100 metresmedley relay team ofKeiji Hase (backstroke),Masaru Furukawa (breaststroke),Manabu Koga (freestyle) andTakashi Ishimoto (butterfly) won the gold medal with a time of 4:17.2 andbroke the world record.[10]
The ranking in this table is consistent withInternational Olympic Committee convention in its publishedmedal tables. By default, the table is ordered by the number of gold medals the athletes from a nation have won (in this context, a nation is an entity represented by a NOC). The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next, followed by the number of bronze medals. If nations are still tied, equal ranking is given; they are listed alphabetically byIOC country code.
The top ten ranked NOCs at these Games are listed below. The host nation, Japan, is highlighted.
* Host nation (Japan)
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Japan (JPN)* | 67 | 41 | 30 | 138 |
| 2 | Philippines (PHI) | 8 | 19 | 21 | 48 |
| 3 | South Korea (KOR) | 8 | 7 | 12 | 27 |
| 4 | Iran (IRN) | 7 | 14 | 11 | 32 |
| 5 | Republic of China (ROC) | 6 | 11 | 17 | 34 |
| 6 | Pakistan (PAK) | 6 | 11 | 9 | 26 |
| 7 | India (IND) | 5 | 4 | 4 | 13 |
| 8 | South Vietnam (VNM) | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| 9 | Burma (BIR) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 10 | Singapore (SIN) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 11–16 | Remaining | 1 | 2 | 16 | 19 |
| Totals (16 entries) | 112 | 112 | 126 | 350 | |
| Preceded by | Asian Games Tokyo III Asiad (1958) | Succeeded by |
| Summer Games |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Winter Games | ||
| ||
