EOA Olympiad 2021 (Completed)

EOA Summer Olympiad 2021
Kaohsiung, Formosan Republic

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2021 Summer Olympic Games

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Official logo of the 2021 Olympiad

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Host city: Kaohsiung, Formosa

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Motto: Lift Your Heads Toward the Sky (出頭天)

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Nations: 8

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Events: 347 in 34 sports

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Opening: 1 June 2021

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Closing: 22 June 2021

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Opened by: President Josh Clanton

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Stadium: Formosa National Stadium

The 2021 Summer Olympics (Formosan: 2021 年夏季奧運會), also known as Kaohsiung 2021 (高雄 2021), was an international multi-sport event held from 1 June to 22 June, 2021 in Kaohsiung, Formosa. The event marked the first time that the Formosan Republic has hosted an Olympic Games, and the fourth time the Games have been held in East Asia. Thousands of athletes from 8 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated in nearly 350 events, outlined in detail on the Olympic Results and Medal Table dispatch.

The 2021 Games saw the introduction of a number of new disciplines, including 3x3 basketball, freestyle BMX, and madison cycling. Efforts were made to ensure gender parity in all competitions, with several new mixed team and women's events added to the Olympic program. The sports of karate, polo, motorcycle racing, sport climbing, surfing, and skateboarding made their Olympic debuts, while baseball and softball will return for the first time since 2008. These competitions were staged across 27 venues in Kaohsiung proper, as well as four satellite venues throughout the island of Formosa. The centrepiece of the Games was Banping Olympic Park in Zuoying District, home to Formosa National Stadium, the Athlete's Village, and the Olympic Media Center.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted to select the host city several years in advance of the Games, from a pool of several candidates. The final ballot saw the Formosa Olympic Committee (台灣奧委會) and Kaohsiung narrowly defeat competing bids from Berlin, in the Cybusian Empire, and Santa Catalina, the capital city of the Wagain Empire. Berlin had previously hosted the Summer Olympics once before, in 1936, while Santa Catalina has never been selected as host city.

Kaohsiung is the cultural and economic centre of southern Formosa. Affectionately referred to as the 'Harbor Capital' (港都) by locals, Kaohsiung is a major global seaport bordered by the warm South China Sea to the west and south and the Chungyang Mountain Range to the northeast. The city's pleasant year-round climate, excellent transportation links, and low cost of living have encouraged rapid growth in tourism in recent years. Some of the city's many attractions, showcased as part of the Olympic development agenda, include Sizihwan, Cijin Island, Lotus Pond, Love River, and Yushan National Park. Following the Games, many of the new facilities and infrastructure upgrades will be maintained in their Olympic form, as part of a long-term strategy to market Kaohsiung as a premier international sports and leisure destination.

Preparation

Infrastructure

The 2021 Olympic Games utilized a mixture of newly-constructed venues, existing and historic sites, and temporary facilities, some of them in well-known locations such as Sizihwan Bay and Kaohsiung Harbor. The nucleus of the Kaohsiung Olympics was Banping Olympic Park, a 371-acre multi-venue campus situated between Mount Banping nature preserve in the east and the Formosan Naval Academy in the west. Just to the south is the picturesque Lotus Pond, a popular urban retreat framed by the Spring and Autumn Pavilions, the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas, Chi Ming Palace, and the Kaohsiung Confucian Temple, among numerous other historic landmarks.

In addition to an international broadcasting centre and Olympic village with housing for thousands of athletes and coaches, Banping Park hosted five newly-constructed venues beside the existing Formosa National Stadium. Nicknamed the 'Dragon Stadium' (龍體育場) for its elegant curvilinear design, the arena was designed by celebrated Japanese architect Toyo Ito, and is surrounded on all sides by an urban eco-park. The first stadium in the world built with integrated photovoltaic panels, it is capable of meeting 70% of its electricity needs through renewable solar power. It is expected to host both the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as men's and women's football and the track and field portions of the athletics competition.

Other permanent venues in the Banping cluster include the Olympic Gymnastics Centre, Olympic Aquatics Centre, Olympic Velodrome, and the Olympic Dojang, which hosted the popular taekwondo tournament. Zuoying Coliseum, which hosted the basketball and handball events, is expected to be converted into a league-calibre arena for Kaohsiung's professional basketball team. All of Banping Olympic Park is within walking distance of the National Stadium station on the Kaohsiung Metro's red line. The proximity of public transit options allows athletes and spectators alike the ability to seamlessly travel between Banping and downtown Kaohsiung, as well as the city's harbor and international airport.

There are four venues which, by necessity, were located outside the boundaries of Kaohsiung City. Penbay International Circuit, used for the motorcycle racing competition, is located in nearby Pingtung County. Wushantou Reservoir, which housed the rowing and the canoe sprint disciplines, is in a mountainous area of neighbouring Tainan City. Further afield is Donghe Beach, considered the finest surfing destination in Formosa, and Ta Shee Country Club, whose acclaimed course hosted the men's and women's golf events.

Torch Relay

The 2021 Summer Olympic torch relay ran from late January 2021 and ended with the opening ceremony in Kaohsiung in early June. After being lit in a small ceremony in Olympia, as per centuries of tradition, the torch was transported by hand to the Greek capital of Athens, where it was formally transferred from the previous Olympic city of Rio de Janeiro to Kaohsiung. The torch was then briefly displayed at Banping Park before embarking on the international leg of its five-month torch relay, transiting between various world cities for all to see in preparation for the event. By early March, the torch had made its way back to the island of Formosa, where it was relayed across the island from city to city by over 1,500 torch bearers, passing by various landmarks and culturally significant locations along the way.

The Games

Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony took place at Formosa National Stadium on 1 August 2021. The crowd in the stadium was estimated at 110,000, including multiple global leaders, with over three billion more tuning in on radio and television around the world. As mandated by the Olympic Charter, the proceedings combined the formal ceremonial opening of this international sporting event with an artistic spectacle meant to showcase the host nation's culture and history. The following overview was published by Formosan News Network (FNN), who covered the event live.

Sports

Official Event Program

At the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, nine sports were contested. Since then, the number has gradually risen to incorporate newer and more diverse forms of entertainment from around the world. The official programme for the 2021 Summer Olympics featured 347 individual events in 34 different sports, the most ever included at an Olympic Games. Ten of the 34 sports consist of multiple disciplines (an example being diving and swimming within aquatics), which may share a common heritage or core set of rules but otherwise operate independently, sometimes in different venues.

Medal Table

Over 4,000 athletes from all eight recognized National Olympic Committees (NOCs) qualified to compete in the Kaohsiung Olympics. Every nation acquired at least one of each of the three medal grades — bronze, silver, and gold — with the Timmian Confederation ultimately taking home the most medals overall.

Podium Sweeps

Of the hundreds of events contested at an Olympic Games, only a handful will witness podium sweeps, or instances in which one nation's athletes secure the gold, silver, and bronze medals in a particular competition. The achievement is considered especially challenging because no more than three athletes from one nation may qualify in an individual event, meaning every team member must walk away with an Olympic medal. Achieving a podium sweep is considered an indication of a nation's total mastery of a given discipline.

Event Calendar

Olympic events were scheduled to begin anywhere between 7:00 and 22:00 Taipei Standard Time, with time slots influenced largely by expected worldwide television ratings. Certain marquee events, such as single's tennis and men's football, were scheduled to occur during primetime hours to ensure maximum coverage.

Marketing & Broadcasting

By the end of 2019, more than 500 licensed Olympics merchandise stores were operating across Formosa. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Olympic merchandise was made exclusively available online, with more than 5000 products being available via the official Olympic committee website. With the exception of the Liông Gē and Hǔ Mèi merchandise, said products included apparel, key-chains, cups (& mugs), and commemorative chopsticks, and were available for purchase by customers from all over the world.

Various companies from across Formosa and the world demonstrated their support for the games in the lead-up to summer 2021. The two most notable domestic sponsors are Carrington Industries and the dataDyne Corporation, both of which became part of the Olympic Partner Program (TOP) and have each individually donated over NT$9 Billion (≈$325 Million USD) towards operational costs and construction. Other domestic sponsors of the games include the Evergreen Group, Foxconn, the CPC Corporation, Fubon Financial Holding Co., Ltd., Bank of Kaohsiung, Taiwan International Shipbuilding Corporation, and Hongda International Electronics Co., Ltd. (also known as the HTC Corporation). International partners included PDC Wagondia, Coca-Cola, General Electric, Omega, Visa, Samsung, and Toyota.

Mascots

The Kaohsiung Olympics Organizing Committee began accepting submissions for the official mascots of the Games throughout August 2017, with over 2,000 entries being received by the end of the month. Three shortlisted entries were unveiled at the Kaohsiung Municipal Qianzhenguomin Elementary School on 7 December later that year, with a poll being conducted between 11 December, 2017 and 22 February, 2018 by the children of Formosa to choose the winning entry, with each participating elementary school class (both within Taiwan and from across the globe) allocated one vote. The Minister of Cultural Affairs and Chair of the Mascot Selection Committee would explain the reasoning behind having elementary students choose the mascots by saying "Our children represent a future that the Kaohsiung Olympics want to embody through the Games, so we hope that many schools and classes will take this opportunity to help shape the Games for this future to become a reality."

The results were announced on 28 February, 2018, with the winning entry, a duo inspired by the famous Lónghǔ Tǎ temple in Kaohsiung, receiving over 100,000 votes, nearly more than double that of the second place entry (which had slightly over 60,000 votes). The pair was later named by the Organizing Committee on July 22, 2018 and given an official description behind their character shortly thereafter: Liông Gē (龍哥), a male dragon with green (occasionally red) scales and golden, flame-like hair, was described as being bold and extroverted, with a fiery and destructive personality that was counterbalanced by the more calm and caring demeanor of his companion. Hǔ Mèi (虎妹), a female tiger with silver/white fur and blue accents, was described as being a more timid and introverted individual, serving as an embodiment of purpose and patience, with a coiled power hidden deep within that could spring into action with transformative force at will. As the games crept ever closer, the Republic began placing both Liông Gē and Hǔ Mèi on buses and planes advertising the upcoming Olympics, as well as in various television commercials and online advertisements hyping up the event. In 2019, the pair were featured on all forms of merchandise in preparation for the next year's event, and even though the Olympics were delayed until 2021 due to the global outbreak of Covid-19, Liông Gē and Hǔ Mèi merch remained extremely popular within Taiwan by the time the games were underway.

Emblem

In late April 2016, the Formosan Republic unveiled the official emblem of the 2021 Summer Olympics to the world. It was based on the first Chinese character in the host city's name (高) and takes the form of a multicolored ribbon inspired by the design of the logo used during the 2005 Duisburg World Games. The aim of the design was to create an atmosphere of creativity and celebration, with the warm colors of orange and magenta above a green-and-blue bottom symbolizing the sun rising over the ocean and mirroring Kaohsiung as a passionate city with plenty of sunshine – a vibrant metropolis by the sea. The official slogan, "Lift Your Heads Toward the Sky" (Taiwanese Hokkien: 出頭天, romanized: Chhut-thâu-thiⁿ), was later revealed in June of that same year and was intended to serve as inspiration for the athletes to enter with hope in their hearts, to perform to the best of their abilities, and to have a positive outlook on the games regardless of the outcome.