the first event was held on the manila carnival grounds (later the rizal memorial sports complex) in malate, manila, philippines on february 4, 1913 and was known as the "first oriental olympic games". forbes was also the one who formally declare the games open. six countries participated in the eight-day event: the host country then-named philippine islands, republic of china, empire of japan, british east indies (malaysia), kingdom of thailand and british crown colony hong kong.