1998 Asian Games

XIII Asian Games

Host city	Bangkok, Thailand
Motto	Friendship Beyond Frontiers (Thai: มิตรภาพไร้พรมแดน) Mitrp̣hāph rị̂ phrmdæn
Nations	41
Athletes	6,554 (4,454 men, 2,100 women)
Events	377 in 36 sports
Opening	6 December 1998
Closing	20 December 1998
Opened by	Bhumibol Adulyadej King of Thailand
Closed by	Vajiralongkorn Crown Prince of Thailand
Athlete's Oath	Preeda Chulamonthol
Judge's Oath	Songsak Charoenpong
Torch lighter	Somluck Kamsing
Main venue	Rajamangala National Stadium
Website	asiangames.th (archived)
Summer
← Hiroshima 1994 Busan 2002 →
Winter
← Harbin 1996 Gangwon 1999 →

Part of a series on
1998 Asian Games
Bid process Venues Marketing Concerns and controversies Torch relay Opening ceremony (flag bearers) Medal table (medalists) Closing ceremony Event calendar OCA NOCT BAGOC
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The 1998 Asian Games (Thai: เอเชียนเกมส์ 2541 or เอเชียนเกมส์ 1998), officially known as the 13th Asian Games (Thai: กีฬาเอเชียนเกมส์ครั้งที่ 13) and the XIII Asiad,^{[citation needed]}, or simply Bangkok 1998 (Thai: กรุงเทพมหานคร 1998), was an Asian multi-sport event celebrated in Bangkok, Thailand from December 6 to 20, 1998, with 377 events in 36 sports and disciplines participated by 6,554 athletes across the continent. The sporting events commenced on 30 November 1998, a week earlier than the opening ceremony. It is a last time that the multi-sport event would be held in Bangkok until the 2007 Summer Universiade.

Bangkok was awarded the right on September 26, 1990, defeating Taipei, Taiwan and Jakarta, Indonesia to host the Games. It was the first city to hosted the Asian Games for four times,but was the first time that the city make a bid to host. The last three editions it hosted were in 1966, 1970 and 1978 (in the latter two cases stepping in to prevent the Games from being cancelled due to problems with the elected hosts). The event was opened by Bhumibol Adulyadej, the king of Thailand, at the Rajamangala Stadium.^[1]

The final medal tally was led by China, followed by South Korea, Japan and the host Thailand. Thailand set a new record with 24 gold medals. Japanese Athletics Koji Ito was announced as the most valuable player (MVP) of the Games. For Thailand, it was considered one of its remarkable achievement in sports development throughout the country's modern history.