A bi-annual show that lets the host steal the limelight

The curtain has come down on the Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia, which provided few surprises. The host country topped the medal table, followed by Thailand, which may have cause to argue that if this had been a “conventional” sporting event, Thai athletes would have reigned supreme. Vietnam reinforced its status as a key challenger to the dominance of Thailand and Indonesia. And – we can’t end a SEA Games comment without this – the hosts have been accused of bending all the rules in order to top the medal tally.

Aside from East Timor winning its first SEA Games gold, the event has shown us more of the same. There are encouraging signs that some domination is being seriously defied, but all in all, the status quo will be largely intact when Burma plays host for the games two years from now.

For the Thai camp, the national soccer team disappointed once again, after being knocked out in the first round, in which only one win against Cambodia was recorded. Volleyball players remain the nation’s pride, while the female basketball players pulled off a Hollywood-style piece of magic to beat strong favourite the Philippines for the gold. Our swimmers and track and field athletes were consistent and maintained their superiority in a number of events.

Thailand’s 109 gold medals earned the country the first runner-up spot. As they did at the previous SEA Games held in Vientiane, Thai athletes proved very strong in conventional sporting events. In other words, if this had been an Olympics, in which several sports preferred by the host country would have been declassified, Thailand would have been declared the regional champion.

But then again, you cannot go forward in sports by criticising one’s opponents. And after all, this is the SEA Games, meaning that every participating nation is used to the hosts putting a lot of medals up for grabs for “local sports”. Whenever Thailand is the host, we capitalise on this, too. Attention, therefore, should be focused on the still substantial gap between Thai athletes and those from Asia’s superpowers like China, South Korea and Japan.

Thai swimmers won eight gold medals this time, compared to just one in Vientiane. They deserve plaudits but must aim higher next time. The female basketball team’s next challenge will be to turn the “upset” defeat of the Philippines into something of a routine. The same goes for the badminton players and other “surprise packages” from Thailand.

Burma two years from now will be a very interesting SEA Games venue, not least because the long isolated nation will be in the world spotlight thanks to what is generally being seen as positive political changes. Politics will unavoidably play a big part in the international focus on those games, but hopefully that will happen in a good way. A more open Burma hosting the SEA Games should provide some positive hype to an event that is known for little more than its unspoken rule that every host nation should do whatever is necessary to win the most gold medals.

The 2013 Games will be the third time that Burma has staged the event, having played host in 1961 and 1969 in Rangoon. Burma intends to put 30 sports plus an exhibition sport in its edition of the games. Indonesia staged what some critics see as a heavily bloated games, with 43 sports offering 542 gold medals.

See you again then in Burma in 2013. Burma has vowed to be a “good host”, although everyone familiar with the nature of the SEA Games may react to that with some cynicism. Let’s hope the great spirit prevails two years from now. And let’s hope we can at long last put a grain of salt to the traditional “this is the dirtiest SEA Games in history” tag that virtually every host must be labelled with when the curtain is finally drawn.