Multi-sport event in Astana and Almaty, Kazakhstan
The
2011
Asian Winter Games
(
Kazakh
:
2011 жыл?ы ?ыс?ы Азия ойындары
,
romanized:
2011 jıl?ı qısqı Aziya oyındarı
) 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]
Preparation
[
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]
Costs
[
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]
Kazakh Minister of Sports Temirkhan Dosmukhambetov notes the US$726 million 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
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]
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
[8]
|
Freestyle skiing
|
2,250
|
Infrastructures
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]
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.
[9]
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.
[9]
Torch relay
[
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]
| This section needs to be
updated
.
Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.
(
February 2011
)
|
The flame of the Games was officially lit at
Kuwait Towers
,
Kuwait City
on January 11, 2011.
[10]
[11]
The relay officially started in Almaty on January 12, 2011, and span around the cities of Kazakhstan for 16 days before arriving at the
opening ceremony
on January 30, 2011.
[12]
Sports Events
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]
Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of medal events contested in each sport.
[16]
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
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]
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.
[18]
Non-Competing nations
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]
One country only sent officials.
Calendar
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]
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
|
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).
[45]
[46]
[47]
Medal table
[
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]
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.
*
Host nation (
Kazakhstan
)
Stamps
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]
-
Stamps of Kazakhstan, 2010
-
Stamps of Kazakhstan, 2010
-
Stamps of Kazakhstan, 2010
-
Stamps of Kazakhstan, 2010
References
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]
External links
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]