1981 Southeast Asian Games

The 11th Southeast Asian Games were held in Manila, Philippines from 6 December 1981 to 15 December 1981. This was the first time that the Philippines hosted the Games since its first participation in 1977. The event was officially opened by President Ferdinand Marcos and the cauldron was lit by Benjamin Silva-Netto. The colourful opening ceremony was held in the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila. A new football stadium and indoor arena was built in Pasig named the University of Life Track & Field and Arena or the ULTRA, now called the PhilSports Arena. The adjacent apartments were used as the athlete's quarters and was converted into a BLISS housing project of First Lady Imelda Marcos.

Medal count

      Host nation

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Indonesia	85	73	56	214
2	Thailand	62	45	41	148
3	Philippines	55	55	77	187
4	Malaysia	16	27	31	74
5	Burma	15	19	27	61
6	Singapore	12	26	33	71
7	Brunei1	0	0	0	0
Total		245	245	265	755

¹Brunei was a British colony at that time.

More than 2,200 athletes and officials participated in the Manila Games.

Bong Coo emerged as its most successful Filipino campaigner. She won six medals in six events, four of which were gold medals where she set six individual game records. Bong won the gold in Ladies Doubles with Lita de la Rosa and averaged 221 in Trios en route to an Individual All Events gold medal and became the South East Asian Games Masters champion.

Lydia de Vega was acclaimed the Queen of SEAGames Athletics when she won the 200-metre dash and the 400-metre in record times.

Sports

References

• Percy Seneviratne (1993) Golden Moments: the S.E.A Games 1959-1991 Dominie Press, Singapore ISBN 981-00-4597-2
• History of the SEA Games
• 1981 SEA Games Athletics Results

Southeast Asian Games Host cities Mascots Medal tables Medalists Sports SEA Games1 Bangkok 1959 Yangon 1961 Phnom Penh 19632 Kuala Lumpur 1965 Bangkok 1967 Yangon 1969 Kuala Lumpur 1971 Singapore 1973 Bangkok 1975 Kuala Lumpur 1977 Jakarta 1979 Manila 1981 Singapore 1983 Bangkok 1985 Jakarta 1987 Kuala Lumpur 1989 Manila 1991 Singapore 1993 Chiang Mai 1995 Jakarta 1997 Bandar Seri Begawan 1999 Kuala Lumpur 2001 Hanoi 2003 Manila 2005 Nakhon Ratchasima 2007 Vientiane 2009 Palembang 2011 Naypyidaw 2013 Singapore 2015 Kuala Lumpur 2017 Manila 2019 Hanoi 2021 Phnom Penh 2023 ASEAN University Games Chiang Mai 1981 Jakarta 1982 Bangi 1984 Singapore 1986 Pattaya 1988 Bandung 1990 Shah Alam 1993 Singapore 1994 Bandar Seri Begawan 1996 Bangkok 1999 Manila 2002 Surabaya 2004 Hanoi 2006 Kuala Lumpur 2008 Chiang Mai 2010 Vientiane 2012 Palembang 2014 Singapore 2016 ASEAN Para Games Kuala Lumpur 2001 Hanoi 2003 Manila 2005 Nakhon Ratchasima 2008 Kuala Lumpur 2009 Surakarta 2011 Naypyidaw 2014 Singapore 2015 Kuala Lumpur 2017 ASEAN School Games Suphanburi 2009 Kuala Lumpur 2010 Singapore 2011 Surabaya 2012 Hanoi 2013 Marikina 2014 Bandar Seri Begawan 2015 Bangkok 2016 ASEAN Civil Service Games Kuala Lumpur 2015 1 formerly known as Southeast Asian Peninsular Games from 1959 until 1975. 2 Cancelled due to hosting issues and due to the Vietnam War.

Events of the Olympic Council of Asia Sports NOCs Mascots Continental Asian Games Asian Beach Games Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games Asian Winter Games Asian Youth Games Regional Central Asian Games East Asian Games South Asian Games Southeast Asian Games West Asian Games Defunct Afro-Asian Games2 Asian Indoor Games1 Asian Martial Arts Games1 1 Merged to form Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.2 Inter-continental event involving Asia and Africa.