Copyright (c) Southeast Asian Games Federation
The Southeast Asian Games, or the SEA Games, involve participants from 11 Southeast Asian countries, and it is considered the most significant multi-sport event in the region. Held every two years, the games is under regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation (SEAGF), with supervision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).
The SEA Games owes its origins to the South East Asian Peninsular Games or SEAP Games. On 22 May 1958, delegates from the nations in the Southeast Asian Peninsula, which at that time were attending that year's Asian Games in Tokyo, had a meeting and agreed to establish a sport organization. The SEAP Games was conceptualized by Luang Sukhum Nayaoradit, who was then the vice president of the Thailand Olympic Committee. He firmly believed that a regional sports event, similar to the Asian Games or the Olympics, will help promote cooperation, understanding and relations among countries in the region.
The first SEAP Games were held at Bangkok, Thailand in 1959, comprising more than 527 athletes and officials from only six nations: Thailand, Burma, Malaya (now Malaysia), Singapore, South Vietnam and Laos, and it only featured 12 sports. Cambodia was among one of the founding members of the SEAP Games Federation, but they didn't participate at the inaugural edition, and they haven't so at the Games until 1961.
At the 1975 SEAP Games in Bangkok, the SEAP Federation considered the inclusion of Brunei, Indonesia and especially the Philippines. These countries were formally admitted in 1977, at the time when the SEAP Games became known by its present name, the Southeast Asian Games. Despite its location closer to the Pacific archipelago than the Asian continent and not being a member of ASEAN, Timor Leste was admitted to the SEAGF in 2003, and the country; which was very brand new in the world at the time when it declared independence from Indonesia in a year prior, then fielded their team to that year's SEA Games in Vietnam as debutants.
It is unknown when and how did the hymn for the Southeast Asian Games Federation became adopted, but somehow, it was first heard at the moment when the SEAGF flag was raised during the opening ceremony of the 2021/22 SEA Games at Hanoi, Vietnam.
Ещё видео!