2009 Southeast Asian Games

25th Southeast Asian Games
Motto Generosity Amity Healthy Lifestyle
Nations participating 11
Events 372 in 25 sports
Opening ceremony 9 December 2009
Closing ceremony 18 December 2009
Officially opened by Choummaly Sayasone
President of Laos
Athlete's Oath Mayuly Phanouvong
Torch lighter Phoxay Aphailath (Wushu)
Ceremony venue New Laos National Stadium
<  2007 2011  >

The 2009 Southeast Asian Games (Lao: ກີລາພູມິພາກອາຊີຕາເວັນອອກສຽງໃຕ້ 2009)(Hepburn: kila phoumipak asi taven oak siang tai 2009), officially known as the 25th Southeast Asian Games was a multi-sport event held in Vientiane, Laos, from 9 to 18 December 2009 with 372 in 25 sports and disciplines featured in the games.

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.[1]

The final medal tally was led by Indonesia, followed by Thailand and Vietnam with host Laos in seventh place. Several games, Asian and national records were broken during the games. Though there were several controversies, the Games were deemed generally successful with Laos first Southeast Asian Games hosting experience and with the rising standard of competition amongst the Southeast Asian nations.

Organisation

Venues

Vientiane

New National Sport Complex

Laos National University

Other venues

Marketing

Logo and mascot

The logo of the 2009 Southeast Asian Games is the national shrine of Laos Pha That Luang which represents Laos as the host of the 2009 Southeast Asian Games.

Champa and Champi, the Games mascots

The mascots of the 2009 Southeast Asian Games are two white elephants dressed in traditional Lao attire named Champa, the male elephant and Champi the female elephant. The two white elephants symbolise 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.[2][3]

Sponsors

A total of 12 Sponsors, comprising 8 Official Partners and 4 Official Sponsors sponsored the 2009 Southeast Asian Games.[4]

Official Partners
Official Partners (continue)
Official Sponsors
  • Tigo
  • Power Plus
  • Milo
  • Oishi

The games

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony of the 2009 Sea Games reflected much of the culture of the host nation Laos, showing spectacular traditional and modern dances.

Closing ceremony

The closing ceremony of the 2009 Sea Games reflected much of the culture of the host nation Laos, showing spectacular traditional and modern dances. The hosting rights of the SEA Games was then handed over to Indonesia, host of the 2011 Southeast Asian Games.

Participating nations

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.[5]

Key
¹ – non-Olympic sports
ʰ – sports absent from previous edition and reintroduced by the host country

Calendar

 ● Opening ceremony ● Event competitions  ● Event finals ● Closing ceremony
December 2nd3rd4th5th6th7th8th9th10th11th12th13th14th15th16th17th18thTotal
Gold
Medals
Ceremonies ● ●
Aquatics - Diving 2 2 2 2 8
Aquatics - Swimming 7 6 7 6 6 32
Aquatics - Water Polo 1 1
Archery 4 4 8
Athletics 10 9 6 9 11 45
Badminton 2 5 7
Billiards & Snooker 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 10
Boxing 5 10 15
Cycling (Road) 2 2 4
Cycling (Mountain Bike) 2 2 4
Finswimming 5 6 5 16
Football 1 1 2
Golf 4 4
Judo 4 7 7 18
Karatedo 4 7 6 17
Muay 6 7 13
Pencak silat 2 1 14 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
Table tennis 2 1 2 2 7
Taekwondo 5 6 6 4 21
Tennis 2 3 2 7
Volleyball (Beach) 2 2
Volleyball (Indoor) 1 1 2
Weightlifting 3 3 3 4 13
Wrestling 7 4 7 18
Wushu 4 2 4 11 21
Total gold medals 1 731353439414748818372

Medal table

A total of 1,246 medals, comprising 372 gold medals, 374 silver medals, and 500 bronze medals were awarded to athletes. The Host Laos performance was their best ever yet in Southeast Asian Games history and was placed seventh overall amongst participating nations.[6][7]

Key

  *   Host nation (Laos)

2009 Southeast Asian Games medal table
 Rank  NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Thailand (THA)868397266
2 Vietnam (VIE)837557215
3 Indonesia (INA)435374170
4 Malaysia (MAS)404059139
5 Philippines (PHI)383551124
6 Singapore (SIN)33303598
7 Laos (LAO)*332552110
8 Myanmar (MYA)12223771
9 Cambodia (CAM)3102740
10 Brunei (BRU)11810
11 Timor-Leste (TLS)0033
Total (11 NOCs) 372 374 500 1246

Concerns and controversies

Prior to the games, the Laotian organising committee was criticised for reducing the number of sports. This had been done partly because Laos has no coastline (rendering sailing, windsurfing and triathlon infeasible), and a general lack of sporting facilities in Vientiane.[5] 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 to construct the appropriate sports facilities.[8] 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.[9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "SEA Games: Singapore's water polo team secures first gold medal". Singh, Patwant. Channel News Asia. 7 December 2009. Retrieved 20 December 2009.
  2. ↑ 25th Southeast Asian Games Information : Mascots. 2009 Southeast Asian Games. Retrieved on 20 December 2009.
  3. ↑ Laos reveals the official mascot for the 25th Sea Games 2009. Laoupdate (15 December 2007). Retrieved on 20 December 2009.
  4. ↑ "Official Website of the Games". Archived from the original on 19 April 2010.
  5. 1 2 Lines, Chris (16 December 2007). 2009 SEA Games to reduce number of Olympic sports. New York Times. Retrieved on 20 December 2009.
  6. ↑ Results & Medal Tally. 2009 Southeast Asian Games. Retrieved on 20 December 2009.
  7. ↑ OCA
  8. ↑ 25th SEA Games to feature 25 sports. VietnamNet Bridge (16 December 2007). Retrieved on 17 December 2007.
  9. ↑ Gray, Denis D. (16 December 2009) Laos wins rave reviews for SEA Games. Yahoo/AP. Retrieved on 20 December 2009.

External links

Preceded by
2007
Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand		 Southeast Asian Games Succeeded by
2011
Jakarta & Palembang, Indonesia
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