| Figure skating at the 1996 Asian Winter Games | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Venue | Heilongjiang Skating Hall |
Figure skating at the 1996 Winter Asian Games took place in the city of Harbin, China with four events contested. This edition of the Winter Asiad marks the return of the sport after a ten-year absence. The previous Asian Winter Games were held in Sapporo, Japan.
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men's singles | Guo Zhengxin  China | Zhang Min China | Li Xia China |
| Women's singles | Chen Lu China | Tatiana Malinina  Uzbekistan | Fumie Suguri  Japan |
| Pairs |  China Zhao Hongbo Shen Xue |  Kazakhstan Andrey Kryukov Marina Khalturina | China Liu Bingyang Sun Bao |
| Ice dancing | Kazakhstan Dmitriy Kazarlyga Elizaveta Stekolnikova | Japan Hiroshi Tanaka Aya Kawai | China Cao Xianming Zhang Weina |
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China (CHN) | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| 2 | Kazakhstan (KAZ) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | Japan (JPN) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 |  Uzbekistan (UZB) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals (4 entries) | 4 | 4 | 4 | 12 | |
A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organized teams of athletes from (mostly) nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of international significance was the Olympic Games, first held in modern times in 1896 in Athens, Greece, and inspired by the Ancient Olympic Games, one of a number of such events held in antiquity. Most modern multi-sport events have the same basic structure. Games are held over the course of several days in and around a "host city", which changes for each competition. Countries send national teams to each competition, consisting of individual athletes and teams that compete in a wide variety of sports. Athletes or teams are awarded gold, silver or bronze medals for first, second and third place respectively. Each game is generally held every four years, though some are annual competitions.
The 1st Asian Winter Games were held from March 1 to 8, 1986 in Sapporo, Japan. The Japanese Olympic Committee first suggested the idea of having a continent-wide winter version of the Asian Games in 1982. With Sapporo's expertise and infrastructure available after successfully hosting the 1972 Winter Olympics, the Olympic Council of Asia General Assembly in Seoul in 1984 decided to give Japan the privilege of hosting the first ever Asian Winter Games. Participating in a total of 35 events in seven sports were 430 athletes and officials from seven countries.
The 2nd Asian Winter Games were held from March 9 to 14, 1990, in Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan. India was originally scheduled to host the second edition of the games, but due to technical and financial difficulties it gave up its hosting rights to Japan in 1989. The 2nd Winter Asiad saw three NOCs participating in the games for the first time: Chinese Taipei, Iran and the Philippines.
The 3rd Asian Winter Games were held from February 4 to 11, 1996 in Harbin, Heilongjiang, China. North Korea's Samjiyon was the original host for the games scheduled in 1995, but withdrew in August 1992. After the withdrawal, South Korea and then China submitted bids respectively. The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) decided to elect the host cities for these 3rd games and the next 4th games simultaneously. On December 2, 1993, The OCA announced that the 3rd games would be held in China in 1996 and the 4th games would be held in South Korea in 1999.
The 5th Asian Winter Games took place from February 1 to 8, 2003 in Aomori Prefecture, Japan.
The 6th Asian Winter Games were held in Changchun, Jilin, China from January 28 to February 4, 2007. The Winter Games are a celebration of Winter sports in Asia. This was the second time that China hosted the Asian Winter Games; the first was in Harbin, Heilongjiang in 1996.
The 2011 Asian Winter Games was a multi-sport event that was held in Astana and Almaty, Kazakhstan, that began on January 30, 2011, and ended on February 6, 2011. It was the first time that Kazakhstan hosted such a large event since independence from the Soviet Union. The documents for the hosting city were signed in Kuwait on March 4, 2006.
The South Asian Games, formerly known as the South Asian Federation Games, is a quadrennial multi-sport event held among the athletes from South Asia. The governing body of these games is South Asia Olympic Council (SAOC), formed in 1983. Currently, the SAOC comprises 7 member countries, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan participated 4 times in the SAF Games since 2004, but left the SAOC after participating in the 2016 edition and joined CAOC.
Kelly Clark is an American snowboarder who won halfpipe gold at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Clark was born in Newport, Rhode Island. She started snowboarding when she was 7 years old, began competing in 1999, and became a member of the US Snowboard team in 2000. On January 25, 2019, at the Winter X Games in Aspen, she announced her retirement from the sport.
The Commonwealth Winter Games was a multi-sport event comprising winter sports, last held in 1966. Three editions of the Games have been staged. The Winter Games were designed as a counterbalance to the Commonwealth Games, which focuses on summer sports, to accompany the Winter Olympics and Summer Olympic Games.
Ice hockey at the 1996 Asian Winter Games took place in the city of Harbin, China. The spot for the North Korea team, which did not participate, was filled with Kazakhstan's entry into this Winter Asiad. This edition also marks the introduction of women's ice hockey event to the Winter Asian Games.
Figure skating at the 1999 Winter Asian Games took place in the Yongpyong Indoor Ice Rink, Yongpyong, Gangwon, South Korea with four events contested.
Liberty Skis Corporation is one of the ski industry's largest independent ski manufacturers, and a leader in the manufacture of carving, touring, powder, and twin-tip skis, used primarily for a style of skiing known alternately as newschool skiing or freeskiing. Founded in 2003 by James Satloff and Dan Chalfant, Liberty Skis has grown to be one of the largest independent ski manufacturers worldwide, with shops and distributors in the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia.
Ice hockey was featured as part of the 2003 Asian Winter Games.
The Asian Para Games, also known as Para Asiad, is a multi-sport event regulated by the Asian Paralympic Committee that's held every four years after every Asian Games for athletes with physical disabilities. Both events had adopted the strategy used by the Olympic and Paralympic Games of having both games in the same city. However, the exclusion of Asian Para Games from Asian Games host city contract meant that both events ran independently of each other. The Games are recognized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and are described as the second largest multi-sport event after the Paralympic Games.
The Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games is a pancontinental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. It is organised by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and consists of Indoor and martial arts events with TV broadcasting potential, some of which were not contested at the Asian Games and Asian Winter Games Programs and are not Olympic sports.
Republic of Korea has competed at every celebration of the Asian Games except the 1951 Asian Games, including hosting the Summer Games in 1986, 2002, and 2014 and the Winter Games in 1999.
Figure skating was featured as part of the 2011 Asian Winter Games at the Saryarka Velodrome in Astana, Kazakhstan. Events were held on between the third and fifth of February 2011. Skaters competed in four disciplines: men's singles, ladies' singles, pairs, and ice dance.
Speed skating at the 2011 Asian Winter Games was held at Alau Ice Palace in Astana, Kazakhstan. The twelve events were scheduled for January 31 – February 6, 2011.
