2011 SEA Games

The 2011 Southeast Asian Games, (Indonesian: Pesta Olahraga Asia Tenggara 2011) officially known as the 26th Southeast Asian Games, or the 26th SEA Games, and commonly known as Jakarta-Palembang 2011, were a Southeast Asian multi-sport event held from 11 to 22 November 2011 in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia. It was Indonesia's fourth time to host the Southeast Asian Games, and its first since 1997. Previously, Indonesia also hosted in 1979 and 1987. The capital city of Jakarta hosted all three of the previous Games prior to this. Palembang became the third SEA Games non-capital host city, after Chiang Mai (1995) and Nakhon Ratchasima (2007), both in Thailand. Around 5,965 athletes from 11 participating nations participated at the games which featured 545 events in 44 sports. The Games were held from 11 to 22 November 2011, although several events had commenced from 3 November 2011. The Games were opened by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the President of Indonesia at the Gelora Sriwijaya Stadium in Palembang. The final medal tally was led by host Indonesia, followed by Thailand and Vietnam, while Timor-Leste won its first ever Southeast Asian Games gold medal. Several Games and national records were broken during the games. Although there were several controversies (like the corruption of the construction of the athlete's village), the Games were deemed generally successful with its promotion for conservative effort on endangered fauna species namely the komodo dragon through the mascot and with the rising standard of competition amongst the Southeast Asian nations.