2019 Military World Games

The 2019 Military World Games (Chinese: 2019年世界军人运动会; pinyin: nián shìjiè jūnrén yùndònghuì), officially known as the 7th CISM Military World Games, (Chinese: 第七届世界军人运动会; pinyin: dì qī jiè shìjiè jūnrén yùndònghuì) and commonly known as Wuhan 2019, was held from October 18–27, 2019, in Wuhan, Hubei, China.[2][3]

VII Military World Games
Host cityWuhan, Hubei, China
MottoMilitary Glory, World Peace (Chinese: 创军人荣耀 筑世界和平; pinyin: Chuàng jūnrén róngyào zhù shìjiè hépíng)
Nations>140
Athletes9,308
Events316 events in 27 sports
OpeningOctober 18, 2019 (2019-10-18)
ClosingOctober 27, 2019 (2019-10-27)
Opened byCCP General Secretary and PRC President Xi Jinping[1]
Athlete's OathYuan Xinyue
Judge's OathWen Keming
Main venueWuhan Sports Center
Websiteweb.archive.org/web/20200126043946/https://en.wuhan2019mwg.cn/ (archived)
Summer
Winter

The 7th Military World Games was the first international military multisport event to be held in China. The event was also the nation’s largest military sports event ever with 9,308 athletes from 109 countries competing in 329 events and 27 sporting disciplines.[4][5] The multisport event included 25 official and 2 demonstrative sports. Six sport disciplines such as badminton, tennis, table tennis, women's boxing, and men's gymnastics made their debuts in the event.[6]

The Military World Games was also the second biggest international sport event to be held in 2019. The Games were organized by the Military Sports Commission of China, Ministry of National Defense of the People's Republic of China, and the military commands (Army in accordance with CISM regulations and the rules of the International Sports Federations[7] ). For the first time in the history of the Military World Games, an Olympic village was set up for the athletes prior to the commencement of the Games.[8] The village was officially opened for the athletes following the flag-raising ceremony.[9]

Host nation China sent a delegation consisting of 553 participants for the games, which marked the record number of participants to represent a nation at a single Military World Games.[10] Around 230,000 volunteers were recruited for the event.[11]

Bidding

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Following the conclusion of the 2015 Military World Games, China won the bid to host the Games for the first time.[12]

Venues

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The event was held in 35 venues.[12] The Wuhan Sports Center hosted a soccer competition for both men and women held from October 16–27.[13]

Houhu block

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Wuhan Five Rings Sports Center

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VenueSportCapacity
StadiumAthletics (Track and field)30,000
GymnasiumTable tennis7,559
NatatoriumLifesaving1,090

Others

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VenueSportCapacity
Aeronautical Pentathlon Flying Contest VenueAeronautical Pentathlon (Flying Contest)n/a
Mulan Lake Campus of PLA Naval University of EngineeringNaval Pentathlon (Lifesaving, Utility Swimming, Obstacle Race, Seamanship Race and Amphibious Cross-Country Race)1,300
Air Force Early Warning Academy VenuesAeronautical Pentathlon (Air Pistol Shooting, Swimming, Fencing, Basketball and Obstacle Race)1,000
Wuhan National Fitness CenterSoccer8,400
Hankou Culture and Sports CenterSoccer8,756
Wuhan GymnasiumTaekwondo2,430

Zhuankou block

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Wuhan Sports Center

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VenueSportCapacity
StadiumOpening and closing ceremonies58,000
GymnasiumWomen's Volleyball12,000
NatatoriumSwimming, Diving3,500

Others

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VenueSportCapacity
Jianghan University GymnasiumMen's Volleyball2,300
Hannan Municipal AirportParachutingn/a
Tianwaitian Golf CourseMen's golfn/a
Wuhan Business University NatatoriumModern Pentathlon (Swimming)514
Wuhan Business University GymnasiumModern Pentathlon (fencing)2,185
Wuhan Business University Equestrian VenueEquestrian, Modern pentathlon (Riding and Laser-Run)2,120
Hanyang District Beach Volleyball CenterWomen's Beach Volleyball1,160
Caidian National Defense ParkArchery2,110
Shooting (25/ 50 m Pistol/ Rifle, Trap/ Skeet)3,600
Main Media CenterBroadcast, Pressn/a

Guanggu block

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VenueSportCapacity
Wuhan Sports University GymnasiumBoxing3,800
Hongshan GymnasiumMen's Basketball8,000
Optics Valley International Tennis CenterTennis (demonstration)13,722
East Lake Greenway Marathon and Road Cycling VenuesAthletics (marathon) and Cycling (road)n/a
Wuhan Vocational College of Software and Engineering GymnasiumWrestling1,353
Huazhong University of Science and Technology Optics Valley GymnasiumWomen's Basketball6,316
Yishan Golf CourseWomen's Golfn/a
Wuhan University of Technology GymnasiumJudo5,212
Ordnance NCO Academy, Army Engineering University of PLA VenuesCross-Country and Military Pentathlon (Obstacle swimming)2,280
East Lake Sailing and Open Water Swimming VenuesSailing and Open Water Swimmingn/a
East Lake Hi-Tech Development ZoneShooting (300 m Rifle), Military Pentathlon (Shooting, Throwing, Obstacle Run)n/a
Hubei Olympic Center GymnasiumMen's Gymnastics (demonstration)5,294
Wuhan University Student Sports CenterBadminton8,031
Qingshan District Beach Volleyball CenterMen's Beach Volleyball1,116

Huangjiahu block

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VenueSportCapacity
Jiangxia District Liangzihu Lake Triathlon VenueTriathlonn/a
Jiangxia District Orienteering Venues:
Bafenshan
Dahuashan
Qinglongshan
Tianzishan
Orienteering, Aeronautical Pentathlon (Orienteering)n/a
Wuhan City Polytechnic GymnasiumFencing2,433
Athletes VillageAthletes Villagen/a

Opening ceremony

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General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping attends the opening ceremony
Opening ceremony of the 2019 Military World Games

The opening ceremony was held on 18 October 2019 and the event was officially opened by the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping.[14][15] An extravaganza titled "Torch of Peace" was performed during the opening ceremony highlighting the main motto of the event.[16]

Prior to the opening ceremony, a light show was set to be staged in the Yangtze River in Wuhan. It featured a screen made up of millions of small LED lights installed on bridges and buildings along the bank of the Yangtze River.[17] The torch relay for the event was held on 16 October 2019 with the participation of 100 torchbearers. Liao Hui, 2008 Olympic gold medalist in weightlifting, began the torch rally while hammer thrower Zhang Wenxiu concluded the torch relay.[18] Flag raising ceremony was also held on 16 October 2019.[19]

Mascot

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The emblem and mascot along with the website were unveiled on 24 November 2017 by Ministry of National Defense of China. The mascot, named Bingbing, was designed based on the Chinese sturgeon.[7]

Marketing

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An online store and 21 franchised retail stores were newly opened in order to promote the sales of licensed items.[20]

Sports

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The competition involved 28 sports.[21]


Demonstration sports

Records

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On 20 October 2019, China's Lu Pinpin broke the world record in the women's 500 m obstacle swimming course classified under the military pentathlon with a record timing of 2 minutes and 10.9 seconds.[22][23]

Overall, 82 records were broken during the nine day multisport event.[24]

Controversies

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Cheating

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China's orienteering teams originally captured a gold and a silver medal in women as well as a silver in men. They were all disqualified by the International Orienteering Federation after it was found out that they had been cheating through access to secretly marked paths, and received external assistance thus gaining major unfair advantage over other competitors.[25] A common protest was also held by the competitors from Russia, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Poland, and Austria accusing the Chinese team for gaining major unfair advantage in the competition.[26]

COVID-19 claims

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According to a report by Radio Free Asia, a number of athletes reported experiencing symptoms reminiscent of COVID-19 around the time of the games. French pentathlon champion Élodie Clouvel said that she, her boyfriend, and other French athletes were affected. Matteo Tagliariol and five roommates experienced breathing difficulties. Raphael Stacchiotti and some Swedish athletes also reported illnesses.[27] Five athletes from the United States returned home early with a diagnosis of Malaria. No laboratory testing was performed on sick athletes in Wuhan.[28] Jacques Reis, et al. wrote that the games were possibly a superspreader event.[29]

Conspiracy theories emerged in China that the SARS-CoV-2 virus originated in the United States and was brought to China by an American participant in the Military World Games. One version of the conspiracy theory states that the virus was created by the CIA.[30][31] Lijian Zhao, a spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, claimed the virus originated in the United States.[32] A U.S. Army athlete who attended the games was accused of being "patient zero" of the novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, and was harassed on social media, despite never having symptoms or testing positive.[33] A coronavirus public health exercise in the United States called Event 201 was held at the same time as the games, and this is sometimes cited by conspiracy theorists as further evidence of misconduct.[34]

Participating nations

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It was reported that 109 nations took part in the event, including athletes from Russia. In September 2019, the International Association of Athletics Federation approved athletes from Russia with the Authorized National Athlete (ANA) status to take part at the event.[35] However, the All Russia Athletics Federation remained silent on the participation of its athletes. The State of Palestine participated in the event, but Israel did not.[36]

List of participating nations

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9,308 athletes from 110 countries participated in the games:[37][38][39]

List of Participating Nations

Below is a list of the 110 participating nations (the number of competitors per delegation is indicated in brackets)

Calendar

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 OC Opening ceremony ● Event competitions 1 Gold medal events CC Closing ceremony
October16th
Wed
17th
Thu
18th
Fri
19th
Sat
20th
Sun
21st
Mon
22nd
Tue
23rd
Wed
24th
Thu
25th
Fri
26th
Sat
27th
Sun
Events
CeremoniesOCCC
Aeronautical pentathlon145
Archery325
Athletics881276445
Badminton156
Basketball22
Boxing51015
Cycling2226
Diving334212
Equestrian22
Fencing22222212
Football112
Golf224
Judo77216
Lifesaving66618
Military pentathlon426
Modern pentathlon2215
Naval pentathlon426
Open water swimming2215
Orienteering2248
Parachuting1265418
Sailing22
Shooting127324625
Swimming9899742
Table tennis11226
Taekwondo444416
Triathlon55
Volleyball Beach volleyball24
Indoor volleyball11
Wrestling455418
Daily medal events222936425146374013316
Cumulative total225187129180226263303316
Para archery123
Para athletics1068529
Gymnastics11338
Tennis145
Senior triathlon33
October16th
Wed
17th
Thu
18th
Fri
19th
Sat
20th
Sun
21st
Mon
22nd
Tue
23rd
Wed
24th
Thu
25th
Fri
26th
Sat
27th
Sun
Events


Medal table

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  *   Host nation (China)

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  China (CHN)*1336442239
2  Russia (RUS)515357161
3  Brazil (BRA)21313688
4  France (FRA)13202457
5  Poland (POL)11153460
6  Germany (GER)10152045
7  North Korea (PRK)981532
8  Bahrain (BHR)91717
9  Uzbekistan (UZB)87520
10  Ukraine (UKR)5131533
11  Italy (ITA)4121228
12  Kazakhstan (KAZ)43512
13  Belarus (BLR)42814
14  Iran (IRI)42511
15  Switzerland (SUI)41813
16  South Korea (KOR)3101124
17  Norway (NOR)2428
 Slovenia (SLO)2428
19  Egypt (EGY)2259
20  Kenya (KEN)2125
 Morocco (MAR)2125
22  Turkey (TUR)2035
23  Romania (ROU)1438
24  Mongolia (MGL)1359
25  Hungary (HUN)1315
26  Czech Republic (CZE)1258
27  India (IND)1124
28  Belgium (BEL)1113
29  Latvia (LAT)1102
30  Lithuania (LTU)1012
31  Bulgaria (BUL)1001
 Namibia (NAM)1001
 Tunisia (TUN)1001
34  Finland (FIN)0426
35  United States (USA)0358
36  Austria (AUT)0314
37  Algeria (ALG)0257
38  Azerbaijan (AZE)0246
39  Dominican Republic (DOM)0235
40  Slovakia (SVK)0213
41  Qatar (QAT)0202
42  Thailand (THA)0156
43  Canada (CAN)0123
 Sri Lanka (SRI)0123
 Sweden (SWE)0123
46  Oman (OMA)0112
 Syria (SYR)0112
 Vietnam (VIE)0112
49  Denmark (DEN)0101
 Ecuador (ECU)0101
 Estonia (EST)0101
 Saudi Arabia (KSA)0101
 Tanzania (TAN)0101
54  Serbia (SRB)0033
55  Venezuela (VEN)0022
56  Albania (ALB)0011
 Armenia (ARM)0011
 Barbados (BAR)0011
 Greece (GRE)0011
 Indonesia (INA)0011
 Ireland (IRL)0011
 Kuwait (KUW)0011
 Luxembourg (LUX)0011
 Pakistan (PAK)0011
 Rwanda (RWA)0011
 Spain (ESP)0011
Totals (66 entries)3163163891021

Source:[40][41]

Note: Para Athletics, Para Archery, Gymnastics, Tennis and three Senior Triathlon events not counted in medal table.[a]

  1. ^ The United States won a gold medal in the women's senior division triathlon and a silver medal in the mixed senior team.[42] Since the two triathlon medals were awarded in the over 40 division, they were not counted in the official medal tally.[42]

Results

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References

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  2. ^ "7th CISM Military World Games". en.wuhan2019mwg.cn. Archived from the original on January 26, 2020. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
  3. ^ "Wuhan (CHN) 2019". www.milsport.one. Archived from the original on September 21, 2019. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
  4. ^ "7th Military World Games to be held in Wuhan in 2019". Xinhuanet. Archived from the original on February 24, 2018. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
  5. ^ "Military games to open Friday in China - China.org.cn". www.china.org.cn. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
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  7. ^ a b "Ministry of National Defense Holds MWG Press Conference in Wuhan - Latest news - 7th CISM Military World Games". en.wuhan2019mwg.cn. Archived from the original on March 6, 2019. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
  8. ^ "Military World Games In China To Draw Over 9,300 Officers From 109 Countries - Organizers". UrduPoint. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
  9. ^ "2019 Military World Games athletes' village officially opens". Xinhuanet. Archived from the original on October 11, 2019. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
  10. ^ "Chinese PLA to have largest delegation at Military World Games". Xinhuanet. Archived from the original on August 29, 2019. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
  11. ^ Games, The Organizing Committee of the 7th CISM Military World. "2019 Military World Games kicks off in central China's Wuhan". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved October 17, 2019.{{cite press release}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ a b "China gears up for Military World Games 2019". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
  13. ^ "Competition Venues". Archived from the original on October 20, 2019. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
  14. ^ 梁雨柔. "Highlights of opening ceremony of 7th CISM Military World Games in Wuhan". Xinhuanet. Archived from the original on October 19, 2019. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  15. ^ "Xi Jinping to open 2019 Military World Games- China.org.cn". www.china.org.cn. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  16. ^ "Xinhua Headlines: China offers friendship as 2019 Military World Games open". Xinhuanet. Archived from the original on October 19, 2019. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  17. ^ "Yangtze River light show to precede Military World Games". Xinhuanet. Archived from the original on September 21, 2019. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
  18. ^ "2019 Military World Games torch relay held in host city Wuhan". Xinhuanet. Archived from the original on October 16, 2019. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
  19. ^ 张涵. "Flag-raising ceremony held at 7th CISM Military World Games". Xinhuanet. Archived from the original on October 17, 2019. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
  20. ^ "Military World Games release officially branded art collections". Xinhuanet. Archived from the original on September 23, 2019. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
  21. ^ "7th CISM Military World Games". armedforcessports.defense.gov. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
  22. ^ "World Record Rewritten by Lu Pinpin in Military Pentathlon - Highlights - 7th CISM Military World Games". en.wuhan2019mwg.cn. Archived from the original on October 20, 2019. Retrieved October 20, 2019.
  23. ^ 代艳. "China's Lu breaks world record of obstacle race in military pentathlon at military games - Chinadaily.com.cn". www.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved October 20, 2019.
  24. ^ "Xinhua Headlines: Wuhan Military World Games set to leave a rich legacy". Xinhuanet. Archived from the original on October 27, 2019. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
  25. ^ "Chinese orienteering team disqualified for cheating at Military World Games". www.theguardian.com. October 24, 2019. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  26. ^ "Chinese team disqualified for cheating". CNN. October 25, 2019. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
  27. ^ "Coronavirus may have been spreading since Wuhan Military Games last October". Taiwan News. May 12, 2020. Archived from the original on May 17, 2020. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
  28. ^ Platto, Sarah; Wang, Yangqing; Zhou, Jinfeng. "History of the COVID-19 pandemic: Origin, explosion, worldwide spreading". Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2020.10.087. PMC 7834510.
  29. ^ Reis, Jacques. "Covid-19: Early Cases and Disease Spread". Annals of Global Health. doi:10.5334/aogh.3776. PMC 9524236.
  30. ^ "China's rulers see the coronavirus as a chance to tighten their grip". The Economist. February 8, 2020. Archived from the original on February 9, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  31. ^ Myers, Steven Lee (March 13, 2020). "China Spins Tale That the U.S. Army Started the Coronavirus Epidemic". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
  32. ^ Walden, Max (March 13, 2020). "Coronavirus began in US, not China, Chinese official suggests". Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
  33. ^ "Exclusive: She's been falsely accused of starting the pandemic. Her life has been turned upside down". CNN. April 27, 2020. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
  34. ^ Neuwirth, Rostam J. (April 13, 2021). "The Global Regulation of "Fake News" in the Time of Oxymora: Facts and Fictions about the Covid-19 Pandemic as Coincidences or Predictive Programming?". International Journal for the Semiotics of Law. 35 (3): 831–857. doi:10.1007/s11196-021-09840-y. ISSN 0952-8059. PMC 8043095. PMID 33867694.
  35. ^ "IAAF: Russian athletes with ANA status free to take part in 2019 Military World Games". TASS. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
  36. ^ Xiao (肖), Yijiu (艺九) (October 18, 2019). "第七届世界军人运动会在武汉开幕_图片频道_新华网". Xinhuanet. Archived from the original on August 14, 2020. Retrieved June 21, 2021. 10月18日,新华社记者肖艺九摄:巴勒斯坦代表团在开幕式上入场。 当日,第七届世界军人运动会开幕式在武汉体育中心举行。"Photo of Team Palestine by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xiao Yijiu:October 18th,the Palestinian delegation entering the venue at the opening ceremonies of the 7th Military World Games taking place in the Wuhan Sports Center."
  37. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 28, 2019. Retrieved October 19, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  38. ^ "The 7th CWG break records with New Elements". www.milsport.one. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  39. ^ "第七届世界军人运动会在武汉开幕_图片频道_新华网". Xinhuanet. Archived from the original on August 14, 2020. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  40. ^ Results - 7th CISM Military World Games Wuhan 2019 Official Website. Archived from the original at the Wayback Machine on 2019-11-03. Retrieved on 2020-03-25.
  41. ^ "Medal Standings". wuhan2019mwg.cn. Archived from the original on October 28, 2019. Retrieved October 28, 2019.
  42. ^ a b Sheftick, Gary, USA’s Coyle Wins Triathlon Gold at World Military Games in China Military.com. November 1, 2019.
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