The 26th biannual SEA Games,
or Southeast Asian Games, are getting ready to start back up in November.
Running from November 11 -
22, the SEA Games are Southeast Asia's version of the Olympics.
Elite athletes from 11
countries in Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore,
Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines, and East Timor) will compete
for gold in a huge variety of disciplines which even includes rollerskating,
chess, and equestrian sports along with all the usual Olympic favorites.
This iteration of the SEA
Games is being hosted by Indonesia in Jakarta and Palembang, Sumatra. Although
quite different than the wild North
Sumatra I explored earlier this year, Palembang in South
Sumatra is only the third host city since the games began to not be a capital;
the other two were Chiang
Maiand Nakhon Ratchasima in Thailand.
The opening and closing
ceremonies for the SEA Games 2011 will be held in Palembang, Sumatra, as well
as 296 sporting events -- even more than in Jakarta.
With so many athletes and
their support staff descending on such a small venue, naval vessels at port are
actually being used as floating hotels.
Keeping with an Indonesian
theme, the official mascots of the Southeast Asian Games 2011 are Modo and
Modi, two personable Komodo dragons from Komodo
National Park.
Tune in later, I'll be
posting medal results and headlines from this exciting event. For a schedule of
disciplines, visit the official SEA Games
website.
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