The 1981 Southeast Asian Games, officially known as the 11th Southeast Asian Games, were a multi-sport event held in

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

from 6 to 15 December 1981. This was the first time that the

hosted the Games since its first participation in 1977, and by that, the Philippines became the sixth nation to host the SEA Games after Thailand, Burma, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. More than 2,200 athletes and officials had participated in the Manila SEA Games. The event was officially opened by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...

, and the cauldron was lit by Benjamin Silva-Netto. The colourful opening ceremony was held in the Rizal Memorial Stadium. A new football stadium and indoor arena was built in

Pasig Pasig, officially the City of Pasig (), is a highly-urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 803,159 people. It is located along the eastern border of Metro Mani ...

named the University of Life Track & Field and Arena or the ULTRA, now called the PhilSports Complex. The adjacent apartments were used as the athlete's quarters and was converted into a ''BLISS'' housing project of First Lady

Imelda Marcos Imelda Romualdez Marcos (; born Imelda Remedios Visitación Trinidad Romuáldez; July 2, 1929) is a Filipino politician who was First Lady of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, wielding significant political power after her husband Ferdinand ...

. The final medal tally was led by Indonesia, followed by Thailand and hosts Philippines.

The games

Participating nations

''Brunei was a British colony at that time''

Sports

Medal table

;Key

References

* Percy Seneviratne (1993) ''Golden Moments: the S.E.A Games 1959-1991'' Dominie Press,

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

History of the SEA Games
SEA Games by year 1981 in Asian sport Southeast Asian Games, 1981

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, commonly known as 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 sup ...

Sports in Manila Multi-sport events in the Philippines

20th century in Manila

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