2009 SEA Games

The 25th Southeast Asian Games was held in Vientiane, Laos, in December 2009.

This was the first time Laos had held the Southeast Asian Games (Laos had previously declined hosting the 1965 Southeast Asian Peninsular Games citing financial difficulties). It has also commemorated the 50 years of the SEA Games .

A number of competitions started prior to the opening ceremony on 9 December, including the football, water polo, pencak silat and table tennis competitions. The first gold medal of the 2009 Games was awarded to a team representing Singapore, who won their 23rd consecutive water polo tournament in the history of the Games.

Organisation

Venues

Vientiane

New National Sport Complex

• National Stadium (ceremony, athletics, football) – 25,000 seat capacity.
• Aquatics stadium (aquatics, finswimming) – 2,000 seat capacity.
• Archery range (archery)
• Gymnasium Tanggo Buntung (badminton) – 3,000 seat capacity.
• Gymnasium Pahoman (volleyball) – 3,000 seat capacity.
• SEA Games golf course (golf)
• Shooting range (shooting) – 50 seat capacity.
• Tennis court (tennis) – 2,000 seat capacity.

Laos National University

• Olympia Gymnasium (boxing)
• Convention hall (table tennis)
• Booyong Gymnasium (taekwondo, wrestling)
• Petanque court (petanque)
• Athletics village

Other venues

• Donchan Palace Hotel (billiards and snooker)
• Chao Anu Vong Stadium (football)
• Chao Anu Vong Gymnasium (judo, karate)
• LAO International Trade Exhibition and Convention Centre-ITECC (pencak silat, sepak takraw, wushu)
• Tad Sone (cycling)
• Pornsawan School (weightlifting)
• LAO-THAI Gymnasium (muay)
• Beung Kha Nong Gymnasium (shuttle cock)

Mascots

Champa and Champi, the Games mascots

The mascots for the 2009 SEA Games are two white elephants dressed in traditional Laotian attire. The male elephant is named Champa and the female elephant is named Champi. The two white elephants symbolize Laos as it was known as the kingdom of Lan Xang in ancient times, which literally means "the kingdom of a million elephants" when translated into English. The mascots are depicted as being cheerful, which is an important part in making sports competitions joyful and lively.

Media coverage

IOC Code	Country	TV Station
BRU	Brunei Darussalam	RTB
CAM	Cambodia	TV5 Cambodia and Apsara TV
INA	Indonesia	TVRI
LAO	Laos	LNTV, Lao Star Channel (Host Broadcasters)
MYA	Myanmar	MRTV-4
PHI	Philippines	NBN, IBC
SIN	Singapore	Channel 5
THA	Thailand	NBT
VIE	Vietnam	HTV, VTV & VCTV, VTC Digital

• The Philippines did not bid for television rights but sent a media delegation to cover the games.

Calendar

OC

Opening ceremony

●

Event competitions

1

Gold medal events

CC

Closing ceremony

December	2 Wed	3 Thu	4 Fri	5 Sat	6 Sun	7 Mon	8 Tue	9 Wed	10 Thu	11 Fri	12 Sat	13 Sun	14 Mon	15 Tue	16 Wed	17 Thu	18 Fri	Events
Ceremonies								OC									CC	—
Archery												●	●	4	4			8
Athletics												9	10	6	8	12		45
Badminton										●	●	2	●	●	●	5		7
Billiards and snooker									1	1	2	●	2	1	1	2		10
Boxing										●	●	●	●	●	5	10		15
Cycling								●	2	2		2	2					8
Diving										2	2	2	2					8
Finswimming														5	6	5		16
Football	●		●	●	●	●	●		●	●		●	●		1	1		2
Golf										●	●		4					4
Judo														4	7	7		18
Karate									4	7	6							17
Muay									●	●	●	●	6	7				13
Pencak silat												●	4	●	6	7		17
Pétanque									●	2	2		3	●	2		2	11
Sepak takraw							●	2	●	●	2	●	●	2	●	●	2	8
Shooting									6	6	4	4	4	4	2	2	2	34
Shuttlecock											●	2	●	3	2			7
Swimming									7	6	7	6	6					32
Table tennis							●	●	2	●	●	1	2	2				7
Taekwondo								5	6	6	4							21
Tennis									●	●	2	●	●	●	●	2	3	7
Volleyball									●	●	●	●	●	●	1	3		4
Water polo				●	●	1												1
Weightlifting									3	3	3	4						13
Wrestling														7	4	7		18
Wushu												4		2	4	11		21
Daily medal events	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	7	31	35	34	38	43	47	53	74	9	372
Cumulative total	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	8	39	74	108	146	189	236	289	363	372
December	2 Wed	3 Thu	4 Fri	5 Sat	6 Sun	7 Mon	8 Tue	9 Wed	10 Thu	11 Fri	12 Sat	13 Sun	14 Mon	15 Tue	16 Wed	17 Thu	18 Fri	Total events

Games

Opening and closing ceremonies

The opening and closing ceremonies of the 2009 Sea Games reflected much of the culture of the host nation Laos. Showing spectacular traditional dances and also modern dances.

Sports

Because of the limited sports facilities in Vientiane and Laos' lack of a coastline, only 28 disciplines featured in the programme, compared to 43 held in the 2007 Southeast Asian Games in Thailand. Among the Olympic sports removed from the Games were baseball, canoeing, sailing, gymnastics, hockey, rowing, fencing, triathlon, equestrian, softball and basketball.

• Archery
• Aquatics
• Athletics
• Badminton
• Billiards and snooker¹
• Boxing
• Cycling
• Finswimmingʰ
• Football
• Golf¹
• Judo
• Karatedo¹
• Muay

• Pencak Silat
• Pétanque
• Sepak Takraw¹
• Shooting
• Shuttlecock kickingʰ
• Table tennis
• Taekwondo
• Tennis
• Volleyball
• Weightlifting
• Wrestling
• Wushu¹

Key

¹ – non-Olympic sports

ʰ – sports absent from previous edition and reintroduced by the host country

Medal tally

The following table lists the final medal tally at the end of all events:

  Host nation

1	Thailand (THA)	86	83	97	266
2	Vietnam (VIE)	83	75	57	215
3	Indonesia (INA)	43	53	74	170
4	Malaysia (MAS)	40	40	59	139
5	Philippines (PHI)	38	35	51	124
6	Singapore (SIN)	33	30	35	98
7	Laos (LAO)	33	25	52	110
8	Myanmar (MYA)	12	22	37	71
9	Cambodia (CAM)	3	10	27	40
10	Brunei (BRU)	1	1	8	10
11	East Timor (TLS)	0	0	3	3
Total		372	374	500	1246

Criticisms and legacy

Prior to the games, the Laotian organizing committee was criticized for reducing the number of sports. This had been done partly due to the fact that Laos has no coastline (rendering sailing, windsurfing and triathlon infeasible), and a general lack of sporting facilities in Vientiane. The inclusion of a number of Olympic sports, previously uncontested at the SEA Games, were interpreted as a bid for greater coverage of the Games in Laos. Some critics stated that Laos specifically selected games in which they had a better chance of winning gold medals. The decision to remove basketball from the programme was an unpopular one.

Many countries, including the Philippines – the defending champions for the men's division – offered to help to host the Games but Laos rejected these offers. Laos accepted funding from China, Japan, Vietnam and the ASEAN nations in order to construct the appropriate sports facilities. Although prior criticisms had been levelled over the reduced programme and financing of facilities, upon commencement, the Games received a largely positive reaction from the other competing nations. The Games were considered a success for Laos, one of the poorest countries in the world, and a nation which had only sent four athletes to the 2008 Olympic Games.

External links

• Official website

Preceded by 2007 Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand

Southeast Asian Games

Succeeded by 2011 Bandung and Semarang, Indonesia