| V Far Eastern Championship Games | |
|---|---|
| Host city | Shanghai, China |
| Date(s) | May and June 1921 |
| Participation | 3 nations |
| Events | 18 |
At the 1921 Far Eastern Championship Games , the athletics events were held in Shanghai, China in May and June. [1] A total of 18 athletics events were contested at the competition. The five-mile track race was held for the first time, replacing the road race over the same distance that featured at the previous edition. Lighter implements were adopted for the shot put in comparison to the international standard. [2]
The 1921 Far Eastern Championship Games was the fifth edition of the regional multi-sport event, contested between China, Japan and the Philippines, and was held from 30 May to 3 June in Shanghai, Republic of China. A total of eight sports were contested over the course of the five-day event. India, Malaya, Siam (Thailand), Ceylon and Java were all invited to participate at the games, but did not do so due to the expense of sending teams to Shanghai.
Shanghai is one of the four municipalities under the direct administration of the central government of the People's Republic of China, the largest city in China by population, and the largest city proper in the world, with a population of 26.3 million as of 2019. It is a global financial center and transport hub, with the world's busiest container port. Located in the Yangtze River Delta, it sits on the south edge of the estuary of the Yangtze in the middle portion of the Eastern China coast. The municipality borders the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the south, east and west, and is bound to the east by the East China Sea.
The Philippines won over half the available gold medals and were the most successful team in the athletics programme. Japan managed five golds and also nine silver medals in the sport. China performed poorly in comparison, receiving only six medals in total, although half of these were gold medals. Japan had most success in tracks events, particularly in middle- and long-distance running, where it completed a medal sweep. China won its four individual medals in field and combined track and field events. The Philippines had a top-two finisher in all but four events. [2]
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Situated in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of about 7,641 islands that are categorized broadly under three main geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The capital city of the Philippines is Manila and the most populous city is Quezon City, both part of Metro Manila. Bounded by the South China Sea on the west, the Philippine Sea on the east and the Celebes Sea on the southwest, the Philippines shares maritime borders with Taiwan to the north, Japan to the northeast, Vietnam to the west, Palau to the east, and Malaysia and Indonesia to the south.
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asian continent and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea in the south.
Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least eight kilometres (5 miles). Physiologically, it is largely aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength.
Fortunato Catalon defended both his sprint titles, maintaining his domination of the discipline since the 1917 games. Antonio Alo, another Filipino, was the only other person to defend a title from the 1919 event with a games record victory in the pole vault. Tu Jungtang was China's outstanding athlete as he won an unusual discus throw and pentathlon double.
Fortunato Catalon was a Filipino track and field sprinter.
Sprinting is running over a short distance in a limited period of time. It is used in many sports that incorporate running, typically as a way of quickly reaching a target or goal, or avoiding or catching an opponent. Human physiology dictates that a runner's near-top speed cannot be maintained for more than 30–35 seconds due to the depletion of phosphocreatine stores in muscles, and perhaps secondarily to excessive metabolic acidosis as a result of anaerobic glycolysis.
At the 1917 Far Eastern Championship Games, the athletics events were held in Tokyo, Japan in May. A total of eighteen events were contested in the men-only competition. The javelin throw was contested for the first time and a ten mile run was included for the first and only time as the sole long-distance running event. Japan won most of the individual track medals, while China and the Philippines were the most successful in the field events section.
Katsuo Okazaki, the winner of the mile run and 880-yards runner-up, later represented Japan at the 1924 Summer Olympics and went on to become the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs. [3]
Katsuo Okazaki was a Japanese sportsman, diplomat and political figure. He served as the Japanese foreign minister in the 1950s. He was also the final – and only Japanese – chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council.
The mile run is a middle-distance foot race.
The 1924 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the VIII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1924 in Paris, France.
