Southeast Asian Games

The Southeast Asian Games, also known as the SEA Games, is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with supervision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).

Southeast Asian Games

The Southeast Asian Games Federation logo
Abbreviation	SEA Games
First event	1959 Southeast Asian Peninsular Games in Bangkok, Thailand
Occur every	2 years (every odd year)
Next event	2023 Southeast Asian Games in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Purpose	Multi sport event for nations on the Southeast Asian subcontinent
Headquarters	Bangkok,Thailand
President	Charouck Arirachakaran
Website	SEAGFOffice.org

The Southeast Asian Games is one of the five subregional Games of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA). The others are the Central Asian Games, the East Asian Youth Games, the South Asian Games, and the West Asian Games.^[1]

History

The Southeast Asian Games owes its origins to the South East Asian Peninsular Games or SEAP Games. On 22 May 1958, delegates from the countries in Southeast Asian Peninsula attending the Asian Games in Tokyo, Japan had a meeting and agreed to establish a sports organization. The SEAP Games was conceptualized by Luang Sukhum Nayapradit, then vice-president of the Thailand Olympic Committee. The proposed rationale was that a regional sports event will help promote co-operation, understanding, and relations among countries in the Southeast Asian region.

Six countries, Burma (now Myanmar), Kampuchea (now Cambodia), Laos, Malaya (now Malaysia), Thailand and the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) were the founding members. These countries agreed to hold the Games biennially in June 1959 and the SEAP Games Federation Committee was formed thereafter.^[2]

The first SEAP Games were held in Bangkok from 12–17 December 1959, with more than 527 athletes and officials from 6 countries; Burma (now Myanmar), Laos, Malaya, Singapore, South Vietnam and Thailand participated in 12 sports.

At the 8th SEAP Games in 1975, the SEAP Federation considered the inclusion of Brunei, Indonesia, and the Philippines. These countries were formally admitted in 1977, the same year when SEAP Federation changed their name to the Southeast Asian Games Federation (SEAGF), and the games were known as the Southeast Asian Games. Despite its location closer to the Pacific archipelago than the Asian continent and not being a member of ASEAN, East Timor was admitted at the 22nd Southeast Asian Games in 2003 Hanoi–Ho Chi Minh City.

The 2009 Southeast Asian Games was the first time Laos has ever hosted a Southeast Asian Games (Laos had previously declined to host the 1965 Southeast Asian Peninsular Games citing financial difficulties). Running from 9–18 December, it has also commemorated the 50 years of the Southeast Asian Games, held in Vientiane, Laos. The South-East Asian Games were originally called the Southeast Asian Peninsular Games, and changed its name after the inclusion of Brunei, the Philippines and Indonesia in 1977. The first SEA Games were held in Bangkok in 1959, comprising more than 527 athletes and officials in 12 sports.

Symbol

The Southeast Asian Games symbol was introduced during the 1959 SEAP Games in Bangkok, depicting six rings that represent the six founding members and was used until the 1997 edition in Jakarta. The number of rings has increased to 10 during the 1999 edition in Brunei to reflect the inclusion of Singapore, which was admitted into the Southeast Asian Games Federation in 1961, and Brunei, Indonesia, and the Philippines, which joined the organization in 1977. The number of rings was again increased to 11 during the 2011 Games in Indonesia to reflect the federation's newest member, East Timor, which was admitted in 2003. The official logo is a combination of five fingers holding the 10-circle chain Southeast Asian Games Federation logo, shaping an image of a dove, which is a symbol of peace. There were almost 1,000 entries for the logo. The organisers also revealed “For a Stronger Southeast Asia” as the slogan for the competitions.

Participating NOCs

NOC Names	Formal Names	Debuted	IOC code	Other codes used
Brunei	Brunei Darussalam	1977	BRU	BRN (ISO)
Cambodia	Kingdom of Cambodia	1961	CAM	KHM (1972–1976, ISO)
Indonesia	Republic of Indonesia	1977	INA	IHO (1952), IDN (FIFA, ISO)
Laos	Lao People's Democratic Republic	1959	LAO
Malaysia	Malaysia	1959	MAS	MAL (1952 − 1988), MYS (ISO)
Myanmar	Republic of the Union of Myanmar	1959	MYA	BIR (1948 – 1988), MMR (ISO)
Philippines	Republic of the Philippines	1977	PHI	PHL (ISO)
Singapore	Republic of Singapore	1959	SGP	SIN (1959 – 2016)
Thailand	Kingdom of Thailand	1959	THA
Timor-Leste	Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste	2003	TLS	IOA (2000)
Vietnam	Socialist Republic of Vietnam	1959^[a]	VIE	VET (1964), VNM (1968–1976, ISO)

1.   South Vietnam had competed in 1959-1973.   North Vietnam had never competed. Unified   Vietnam has competed since 1989.

Host nations and cities

Main article: List of Southeast Asian Games host cities

Since the Southeast Asian Games began in 1959, it has been held in 15 cities across all Southeast Asian countries except East Timor.

 

 

 

1959, 1967, 1975, 1985, 2025

 

1961, 1969

 

1965, 1971, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2017, 2027

 

1973, 1983, 1993, 2015, 2029

 

1979, 1987, 1997, 2011

 

1981, 1991, 2005, 2033

 

1995

 

1999

 

2003, 2021

 

2007

 

2009, 2031

 

2011

 

2013

 

2019

 

2023

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Location of the Southeast Asian Games host

List of Southeast Asian Games

Games	Year	Host country	Opened by	Date	Sports	Events	Nations	Competitors	Top-ranked team	Ref
Southeast Asian Peninsular Games
1	1959	Bangkok, Thailand	King Bhumibol Adulyadej	12–17 December 1959	12	N/A	6	518	Thailand (THA)	[1]
2	1961	Yangon, Burma	President Win Maung	11–16 December 1961	13	N/A	7	623	Burma (BIR)	[2]
1963		Awarded to Cambodia, cancelled due to domestic political situation
3	1965	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Yang di-Pertuan Agong Ismail Nasiruddin	14–21 December 1965	14	N/A	7	963	Thailand (THA)	[3]
4	1967	Bangkok, Thailand	King Bhumibol Adulyadej	9–16 December 1967	16	N/A	6	984	Thailand (THA)	[4]
5	1969	Yangon, Burma	Prime Minister Ne Win	6–13 December 1969	15	N/A	6	920	Burma (BIR)	[5]
6	1971	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Yang di-Pertuan Agong Abdul Halim	6–13 December 1971	15	N/A	7	957	Thailand (THA)	[6]
7	1973	Singapore	President Benjamin Sheares	1–8 September 1973	16	N/A	7	1632	Thailand (THA)	[7]
8	1975	Bangkok, Thailand	King Bhumibol Adulyadej	9–16 December 1975	18	N/A	4	1142	Thailand (THA)	[8]
Southeast Asian Games
9	1977	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Yang di-Pertuan Agong Yahya Petra	19–26 November 1977	18	N/A	7	N/A	Indonesia (INA)	[9]
10	1979	Jakarta, Indonesia	President Suharto	21–30 September 1979	18	N/A	7	N/A	Indonesia (INA)	[10]
11	1981	Manila, Philippines	President Ferdinand Marcos	6–15 December 1981	18	N/A	7	≈1800	Indonesia (INA)	[11]
12	1983	Singapore	President Devan Nair	28 May – 6 June 1983	18	N/A	8	N/A	Indonesia (INA)	[12]
13	1985	Bangkok, Thailand	King Bhumibol Adulyadej	8–17 December 1985	18	N/A	8	N/A	Thailand (THA)	[13]
14	1987	Jakarta, Indonesia	President Suharto	9–20 September 1987	26	N/A	8	N/A	Indonesia (INA)	[14]
15	1989	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Yang di-Pertuan Agong Azlan Shah	20–31 August 1989	24	N/A	9	≈2800	Indonesia (INA)	[15]
16	1991	Manila, Philippines	President Corazon Aquino	24 November – 3 December 1991	28	N/A	9	N/A	Indonesia (INA)	[16]
17	1993	Singapore	President Wee Kim Wee	12–20 June 1993	29	N/A	9	≈3000	Indonesia (INA)	[17]
18	1995	Chiang Mai, Thailand	Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn	9–17 December 1995	28	N/A	10	3262	Thailand (THA)	[18]
19	1997	Jakarta, Indonesia	President Suharto	11–19 October 1997	36	490	10	5179	Indonesia (INA)	[19]
20	1999	Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei	Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah	7–15 August 1999	21	233	10	2365	Thailand (THA)	[20]
21	2001	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Yang di-Pertuan Agong Salahuddin	8–17 September 2001	32	391	10	4165	Malaysia (MAS)	[21]
22	2003	Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam	Prime Minister Phan Văn Khải	5–13 December 2003	32	442	11	≈5000	Vietnam (VIE)	[22]
23	2005	Manila, Philippines	President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo	27 November – 5 December 2005	40	443	11	5336	Philippines (PHI)	[23]
24	2007	Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand	Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn	6–15 December 2007	43	475	11	5282	Thailand (THA)	[24]
25	2009	Vientiane, Laos	President Choummaly Sayasone	9–18 December 2009	29	372	11	3100	Thailand (THA)	[25]
26	2011	Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia	President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono	11–22 November 2011	44	545	11	5965	Indonesia (INA)	[26]
27	2013	Naypyidaw, Myanmar	Vice President Nyan Tun	11–22 December 2013	37	460	11	4730	Thailand (THA)	[27]
28	2015	Singapore	President Tony Tan	5–16 June 2015	36	402	11	4370	Thailand (THA)	[28]
29	2017	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Yang di-Pertuan Agong Muhammad V	19–30 August 2017	38	404	11	4709	Malaysia (MAS)	[29]
30	2019	Manila, Philippines^[a]	President Rodrigo Duterte	30 November – 11 December 2019	56	530	11	5630	Philippines (PHI)	[30]
31	2021	Hanoi, Vietnam^[b]	President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc	12–23 May 2022	40	526	11	5467	Vietnam (VIE)
32	2023	Phnom Penh, Cambodia	King Norodom Sihamoni (expected)	5—17 May 2023	Future event
33	2025	Thailand^[3]	King Vajiralongkorn (expected)	17—26 November 2025	Future event
34	2027	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia^[4]	Yang di-Pertuan Agong Ibrahim Ismail (expected)	TBD 2027	Future event
35	2029	Singapore^[5]	TBA
36	2031	Laos^[6]	Future event
37	2033	Philippines^[6]	Future event

1. The 2019 Southeast Asian Games is the first officially decentralized games. While games were held in various cities around the country, mostly in the Clark City, Metro Manila region and the Subic Bay areas, there is no designated host city for this edition. Due this they are alternately known as "Philippines 2019".
2. Many events were held in various cities over the country to give support to the Hanoi, who was the main host of the event. Due the COVID-19 pandemic, the games were delayed to May 2022.

The 1963 Southeast Asian Peninsular Games were canceled. As the designated host, Cambodia was not able to host the event due to instability in the country, along with a disagreement with the International Amateur Athletic Federation. The 3rd SEAP Games then passed to Laos as hosts, but they begged off the 1965 event citing financial difficulties.^[7]

Sports

Main article: Southeast Asian Games sports

According to the SEAGF Charter and Rules, a host nation must stage a minimum of 22 sports: the two compulsory sports from Category 1 (athletics and aquatics), in addition to a minimum of 14 sports from Category 2 (Olympics and Asian Games mandatory sports), and a maximum of 8 sports from Category 3 (shaded grey in the table below). Each sport shall not offer more than 5% of the total medal tally, except for athletics, aquatics and shooting (the shot was elevated for this category in 2013). For each sport and event to be included, a minimum of four countries must participate in it. Sports competed in the Olympic Games and Asian Games must be given priority.^[2][8]

Sport Years Archery 1977–1997, since 2001 Arnis 1991, 2005, 2019 Athletics All Badminton All Baseball 2005–2007, 2011, 2019 Basketball 1979–2003, 2007, since 2011 Billiards and snooker Since 1987 Bodybuilding 1987–1993, 1997, 2003–2007, 2013, since 2021 Bowling 1977–1979, 1983–2001, 2005–2007, 2011, since 2015 Boxing All Canoeing 1985, 1995, 2001, 2005–2007, 2011–2015, since 2019 Chess 2003–2005, 2011–2013, since 2019 Chinlone 2013 only Contract bridge 2011 only Cricket 2017 only Cycling 1959–1979, since 1983 Dancesport 2005–2009, since 2019 Diving Since 1965 Duathlon Since 2019 Esports Since 2019 Equestrian 1983, 1995, 2001, 2005–2007, 2011–2017 Fencing 1974–1978, since 1986 Field hockey 1971–1979, 1983, 1987–1989, 1993–2001, 2007, 2013–2017 Figure skating 2017–2019 Fin swimming 2003, 2009–2011, since 2021 Floorball 2015, 2019 Football All Futsal 2007, 2011–2013, 2017, since 2021 Golf 1985–1997, 2001, since 2005 Gymnastics 1979–1981, 1985–1997, 2001–2007, 2011, since 2015 Handball 2005–2007, since 2021 Beach handball Since 2019 Ice hockey 2017–2019 Indoor hockey 2017–2019 Ju-jitsu Since 2019 Judo 1967–1997, since 2001 Karate 1985–1991, 1995–1997, 2001–2013, since 2017 Kenpō 2011–2013 Kickboxing Since 2019 Kurash Since 2019 Lawn bowls 1999, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2017–2019 Modern pentathlon 2019 Muaythai 2005–2009, 2013, since 2019 Netball 2001, 2015–2019 Obstacle racing 2019 Paragliding 2011 only Pencak silat 1987–1989, 1993–1997, since 2001 Pétanque Since 2001 Polo 2007, 2017–2019 Roller sports 2011 only Rowing 1989–1991, 1997, 2001–2007, 2011–2015, since 2019 Rugby union 1969, 1977–1979, 1995, 2007 Rugby sevens 2015–2019 Sailing 1961, 1967–1971, 1975–1977, 1983–1997, 2001, 2005–2007, 2011–2019 Sambo 2019 Sepak takraw 1967–1969, since 1973 Shooting All Short track speed skating 2017–2019 Shuttle cock 2007–2009 Skateboarding 2019 Sport climbing 2011 only Softball 1981–1983, 1989, 2003–2005, 2011, 2015, 2019 Soft tennis 2011, 2019 Squash 1991–2001, 2005–2007, 2015–2019 Swimming All Surfing 2019 Synchronized swimming 2001, 2011, 2015–2017 Table tennis All Taekwondo Since 1985 Tennis 1959–2011, since 2015 Traditional boat race 1993, 1997–1999, 2003–2007, 2011–2015 Triathlon 2005–2007, since 2015 Volleyball 1959–1997, since 2001 Vovinam 2011–2013, since 2021 Water polo 1965–2017 Water skiing 1987, 1997, 2011, 2015–2017 Wakeboarding Since 2019 Weightlifting 1959–1997, 2001–2013, since 2017 Wrestling 1987, 1997, 2003–2013, since 2019 Wushu 1991–1993, 1997, since 2001 Xiangqi Since 2021

All-time medal table

Corrected after balancing the data of the Olympic Council of Asia and other archived sites which had kept the previous Southeast Asian Games medal tables. Some information from the aforementioned sites are missing, incorrect and or not updated.^{[9][10][11][12][13][14][15]}

All-time Southeast Asian Games medal table

Rank	NOC	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Thailand (THA)	2345	2031	2096	6472
2	Indonesia (INA)	1893	1796	1861	5550
3	Malaysia (MAS)^[1]	1342	1318	1775	4435
4	Vietnam (VIE)^[2]	1133	992	1107	3232
5	Philippines (PHI)	1122	1260	1587	3969
6	Singapore (SGP)	994	1048	1436	3478
7	Myanmar (MYA)^[3]	573	759	1027	2359
8	Cambodia (CAM)^[4]	78	128	299	505
9	Laos (LAO)	71	100	352	523
10	Brunei (BRU)	15	56	164	235
11	East Timor (TLS)	3	9	28	40
Totals (11 entries)		9569	9497	11732	30798

• ^[1] – Competed as Malaya in the inaugural games until 1961.
• ^[2] – The Republic of Vietnam was dissolved in July 1976 when it merged with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) to become the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, also known as Vietnam. Therefore, the medal counts for this country are considered to be as until 1975. In the 1989 edition, a unified Vietnam rejoined the games with a new name and flag. Medals won by South Vietnam are already combined here. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not use codes for South Vietnam anymore after the unification with North Vietnam.

• ^[3] – Competed as Burma until 1987.
• ^[4] – Competed as Kampuchea, and Khmer Republic.

List of multiple Southeast Asian Games medalists

Main article: List of multiple Southeast Asian Games medalists

Various individuals have won multiple medals at the Games, including the preceding Southeast Asian Peninsular Games.

As of 2019, Singaporean swimmer Joscelin Yeo has won the most Southeast Asian Games medals with 55 (40 gold, 12 silver, 3 bronze). She reached this milestone during the 2005 Games, overtaking the previous record of 39 gold medals set by another Singaporean swimmer Patricia Chan.

Criticism

The games are unique in that it has no official limits to the number of sports and events to be contested, and the range can be decided by the organizing host pending approval by the Southeast Asian Games Federation. Aside from mandatory sports, the host is free to drop or introduce other sports or events (See Southeast Asian Games sports).^[16]

This leeway has resulted in hosts maximizing their medal hauls by dropping sports disadvantageous to themselves relative to their peers and the introduction of obscure sports, often at short notice, thus preventing most other nations from building credible opponents.^[17][18] Examples of these include:

• At the 2001 Southeast Asian Games, Malaysia introduced pétanque, and netball.
• At the 2003 Southeast Asian Games, Vietnam added fin swimming and shuttlecock, and wushu offered 28 gold medals instead of the usual 16.
• In the 2005 Southeast Asian Games, the Philippines added arnis, a demonstration sport in 2003, with six sets of medals, and the Philippines bagged three gold medals. 2005 also saw the addition of baseball, dance sport, and softball.
• At the 2007 Southeast Asian Games, Thailand added new categories of sepak takraw. In addition, the Thai Sepak Takraw Federation decided to replace the traditional rattan ball for a rubber ball, which was uncommon in other participating countries, causing a great deal of controversy and led to Malaysia boycotting the sport. Consequently, Thailand won all 8 events. Apart from this, local organizers also added futsal in this edition of the games.^[19]
• In the 2011 Southeast Asian Games, Indonesia the organizers decided to cancel the team events in table tennis and reduced the number of events in shooting to 14, following the decisions made by the International Sports Federation to reduce the number of events in the World Championships. At the same time, bridge, kenpō, paragliding, vovinam and wall climbing were introduced.
• In the 2013 Southeast Asian Games, Myanmar introduced its indigenous sport Chinlone. The host won six of eight gold medals in the event. They also introduced board games with events on Sittuyin, a traditional Burmese board game, and chess.^[20]
• In the 2017 Southeast Asian Games, Malaysia introduced cricket, indoor hockey and three winter sport events, figure skating, short track speed skating and ice hockey.^[21]
• In the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, the Philippines added beach handball, duathlon, e-sports, jiu-jitsu, kickboxing, kurash, sambo, skateboarding, surfing and wakeboarding. Certain events in Modern Pentathlon were made in non-Olympic formats.

See also

Events of the OCA (Continental) Asian Games Asian Winter Games Asian Youth Games Asian Beach Games Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games

Events of the OCA (Subregional) Central Asian Games East Asian Games (now East Asian Youth Games) South Asian Games West Asian Games

Events of the APC (Continental) Asian Para Games Asian Youth Para Games

Events of the APC (Subregional) ASEAN Para Games

References

1. Games page of the website of the Olympic Council of Asia; retrieved 2010-07-09.
2. "South East Asian Games Federation: Charter and Rules" (PDF). SEAGF. 30 May 2010. (PDF) from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
3. "OCM: 31st SEA Games to be held from May 12–23 next year". Malay Mail. 12 December 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
4. "Malaysia to host 2027 SEA Games". The Star. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
5. "Singapore to host 2029 SEA Games". Retrieved 12 May 2022.
6. Cua, Aric John Sy (13 July 2022). "PH to host SEA Games in 2033". The Manila Times. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
7. . www.olympic.org.my. Archived from the original on 17 December 2004. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
8. Ian De Cotta (5 June 2015). "A cool addition to the SEA Games". Today Online. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
9. "South East Asian Games Medal Count". Retrieved 31 August 2017.
10. SEAP Games Federation
16. Pattharapong Rattanasevee (21 July 2017). "Southeast Asian Games yet to win gold for sporting spirit". South China Morning Post.
17. Sea Games morphing into a monster-cum-circus
18. Sea Games reduced to a carnival
19. Sports. "VietNamNet - SEA Games or a village festival | SEA Games or a village festival". English.vietnamnet.vn. Retrieved 2 June 2011.
20. HS Manjunath (10 December 2013). "Cambodia eye record medal haul". The Phnom Penh Post. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
21. "4 new sports we can now watch in 2017 SEA Games". Red Bull. Retrieved 29 August 2017.

External links

• Olympic Council of Asia Regional Hosting List
• SEA Games Federation