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 edit

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

Venues edit

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 edit

Wuhan Five Rings Sports Center edit

Venue Sport Capacity
Stadium Athletics (Track and field) 30,000
Gymnasium Table tennis 7,559
Natatorium Lifesaving 1,090

Others edit

Venue Sport Capacity
Aeronautical Pentathlon Flying Contest Venue Aeronautical Pentathlon (Flying Contest) n/a
Mulan Lake Campus of PLA Naval University of Engineering Naval Pentathlon (Lifesaving, Utility Swimming, Obstacle Race, Seamanship Race and Amphibious Cross-Country Race) 1,300
Air Force Early Warning Academy Venues Aeronautical Pentathlon (Air Pistol Shooting, Swimming, Fencing, Basketball and Obstacle Race) 1,000
Wuhan National Fitness Center Soccer 8,400
Hankou Culture and Sports Center Soccer 8,756
Wuhan Gymnasium Taekwondo 2,430

Zhuankou block edit

Wuhan Sports Center edit

Venue Sport Capacity
Stadium Opening and closing ceremonies 58,000
Gymnasium Women's Volleyball 12,000
Natatorium Swimming, Diving 3,500

Others edit

Venue Sport Capacity
Jianghan University Gymnasium Men's Volleyball 2,300
Hannan Municipal Airport Parachuting n/a
Tianwaitian Golf Course Men's golf n/a
Wuhan Business University Natatorium Modern Pentathlon (Swimming) 514
Wuhan Business University Gymnasium Modern Pentathlon (fencing) 2,185
Wuhan Business University Equestrian Venue Equestrian, Modern pentathlon (Riding and Laser-Run) 2,120
Hanyang District Beach Volleyball Center Women's Beach Volleyball 1,160
Caidian National Defense Park Archery 2,110
Shooting (25/ 50 m Pistol/ Rifle, Trap/ Skeet) 3,600
Main Media Center Broadcast, Press n/a

Guanggu block edit

Venue Sport Capacity
Wuhan Sports University Gymnasium Boxing 3,800
Hongshan Gymnasium Men's Basketball 8,000
Optics Valley International Tennis Center Tennis (demonstration) 13,722
East Lake Greenway Marathon and Road Cycling Venues Athletics (marathon) and Cycling (road) n/a
Wuhan Vocational College of Software and Engineering Gymnasium Wrestling 1,353
Huazhong University of Science and Technology Optics Valley Gymnasium Women's Basketball 6,316
Yishan Golf Course Women's Golf n/a
Wuhan University of Technology Gymnasium Judo 5,212
Ordnance NCO Academy, Army Engineering University of PLA Venues Cross-Country and Military Pentathlon (Obstacle swimming) 2,280
East Lake Sailing and Open Water Swimming Venues Sailing and Open Water Swimming n/a
East Lake Hi-Tech Development Zone Shooting (300 m Rifle), Military Pentathlon (Shooting, Throwing, Obstacle Run) n/a
Hubei Olympic Center Gymnasium Men's Gymnastics (demonstration) 5,294
Wuhan University Student Sports Center Badminton 8,031
Qingshan District Beach Volleyball Center Men's Beach Volleyball 1,116

Huangjiahu block edit

Venue Sport Capacity
Jiangxia District Liangzihu Lake Triathlon Venue Triathlon n/a
Jiangxia District Orienteering Venues:
Bafenshan
Dahuashan
Qinglongshan
Tianzishan
Orienteering, Aeronautical Pentathlon (Orienteering) n/a
Wuhan City Polytechnic Gymnasium Fencing 2,433
Athletes Village Athletes Village n/a

Opening ceremony edit

 
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 edit

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 edit

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

Sports edit

The competition involved 28 sports.[21]


Demonstration sports

Records edit

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 edit

Cheating edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

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 edit

 OC  Opening ceremony  ●  Event competitions  1  Gold medal events  CC  Closing ceremony
October 16th
Wed
17th
Thu
18th
Fri
19th
Sat
20th
Sun
21st
Mon
22nd
Tue
23rd
Wed
24th
Thu
25th
Fri
26th
Sat
27th
Sun
Events
Ceremonies OC CC
  Aeronautical pentathlon 1 4 5
  Archery 3 2 5
  Athletics 8 8 12 7 6 4 45
  Badminton 1 5 6
  Basketball 2 2
  Boxing 5 10 15
  Cycling 2 2 2 6
  Diving 3 3 4 2 12
  Equestrian 2 2
  Fencing 2 2 2 2 2 2 12
  Football 1 1 2
  Golf 2 2 4
  Judo 7 7 2 16
  Lifesaving 6 6 6 18
  Military pentathlon 4 2 6
  Modern pentathlon 2 2 1 5
  Naval pentathlon 4 2 6
  Open water swimming 2 2 1 5
  Orienteering 2 2 4 8
  Parachuting 1 2 6 5 4 18
  Sailing 2 2
  Shooting 1 2 7 3 2 4 6 25
  Swimming 9 8 9 9 7 42
  Table tennis 1 1 2 2 6
  Taekwondo 4 4 4 4 16
  Triathlon 5 5
Volleyball   Beach volleyball 2 4
  Indoor volleyball 1 1
  Wrestling 4 5 5 4 18
Daily medal events 22 29 36 42 51 46 37 40 13 316
Cumulative total 22 51 87 129 180 226 263 303 316
  Para archery 1 2 3
  Para athletics 10 6 8 5 29
  Gymnastics 1 1 3 3 8
  Tennis 1 4 5
  Senior triathlon 3 3
October 16th
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 edit

  *   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 edit

References edit

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  8. ^ "Military World Games In China To Draw Over 9,300 Officers From 109 Countries - Organizers". UrduPoint. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
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  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)
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  13. ^ "Competition Venues". Archived from the original on October 20, 2019. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
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  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.

External links edit