As the Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) continues and different teams battle their way up to the top, here are things you might not know about the Philippines and the SEA Games.
- The first SEA Games that the Philippines participated with was back in 1977, bringing home a total of 91 medals. Prior to that year, the tournament was officially called Southeast Asian Peninsular Games, and only countries within the Southeast Asia Peninsula were admitted. However, the word “Peninsula” was omitted when Brunei, Indonesia, and the Philippines entered the games.
- Since then, the country has hosted the SEAG thrice — 1981, 1991, and 2005. During these years the Pinoy Athletes has brought the country on the pedestal finishing in 3rd, 2nd, and 1st respectively.
- In 1991, the Philippines almost backed out from hosting games due to the 1990 Luzon earthquake and 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption but the Filipinos persisted that games must push through.
- That same game, Eric Buhain, Pinoy swimmer bagged six top prizes, won the most gold medals of any athlete and was given the moniker “Manila Miracle of ’91.” He was also officially proclaimed the “Most Outstanding Male Athlete” of the whole competition.
- Supposedly, the Philippines is scheduled to host in 2025 but since Brunei and Vietnam have declined to host the event. 2019 SEAG was said to be the biggest, having 530 events in 54 sports. There were also additional events like the e-sports which are composed of; Dota 2, Starcraft II, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Arena of Valour, Tekken 7 and Hearthstone.
- Aside from sports events, everyone is also waiting for the performance of the international hip-hop group Black Eyed Peas at the closing ceremonies of the 2019 SEAG.
Only three days in but the Philippines continues to dominate the games, bagging 76 medals; 41 gold, 21 silver, and 14 bronze as of 2:00 pm of December 3, 2019.
