The 17th Incheon Asian Games wrapped up its 16-day journey on October 4.

Set ablaze on September 19, the flame -- interspersed with streams of water to symbolize the harmony of Asia's 4.5 billion people -- was extinguished at 9:30 p.m. on October 4.

Remembering in their mind their cherished final moments, all the athletes and spectators gathered at the stadium and pledged to meet four years later in Jakarta, Indonesia, the next host nation of the Asian Games.




The first part of the ceremony began with a countdown. At 7:00 p.m., the Rainbow Chorus, a group of some 30 children from ten different Asian countries, put on the first show of the ceremony. It was followed by performances from the National Dance Company, musical troupes from the National Gugak Center and a performance by the Kukkiwon's taekwondo demonstration team. A video was also played on the big screen to showcase the sweat and tears of the athletes over the past 16 days of competition.




As the second half of the ceremony began, Korean medalists entered the stadium holding a gigantic national flag. Athletes and participants from all 45 participating nations came after, to join in the parade, garnering enthusiastic cheers from the spectators. Also in the second half, a video shows the coaches and staff who had become one with the athletes, sharing in the joys and sorrows of every moment of the games.









This year's games saw 15,000 professional athletes and staff from 45 Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) countries competing in 36 sports for 439 medals.

During its 16-day run, as well as five preliminary days for the football competition, there were many surprising results, not only in the medals table but also in new world records and Asian records. This year's athletes broke 17 world records and 34 Asian records, tying four records. It is a result worthy of notice when compared with the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games where there were only three new world records and 12 new Asian records.

A number of individual athletes came under the limelight, too. The MVP Award of the Incheon Asian Games was awarded to Japanese swimmer Hagino Kosuke.

Hasan Mahboob, a Bahraini long-distance runner, snatched the gold medal in the men's marathon, the third-time for him to win in the Asian Games. He previously won two gold medals in the 10,000 meter competition at the Asian Games in Doha in 2006 and in the 5,000 meter competition in the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou.

In addition, the organizers were careful to emphasize the core values of the games, "joint harmony and friendship." In particular, the organizers' Vision 2014 project was implemented to help support underdeveloped countries' sports teams. All in all, the games saw a surprising result this year, in that there were 37 medal countries, the highest number of any Asian Games.

Sorn Seavmey, a 19-year-old Cambodian and among the Vision 2014 participants, won the gold medal in the women's 73 kilogram taekwondo competition, the first gold medal in 60 years for her country.



Finally, the OCA flag was handed over to Indonesia who will be the host nation of the 2018 Asian Games.

By Lee Seung-ah
photos: Jeon Han
Korea.net Staff Writers
slee27@korea.kr