The 2015 Southeast Asian Games, officially known as the 28th Southeast Asian Games, or the 28th SEA Games, and commonly known as Singapore 2015, was a Southeast Asian multi-sport event held by the city-state of Singapore from 5 to 16 June 2015, It was the fourth time the country hosted the games. Singapore had previously also hosted the games in 1973, 1983 and the 1993 editions.
Singapore was awarded rights to host the Southeast Asian Games in 2011. The games were held from 5 to 16 June 2015, although several events had commenced from 29 May 2015. Around 4370 athletes participated at the event, which featured 402 events in 36 sports. It was opened by Tony Tan Keng Yam, the President of Singapore at the aforementioned stadium.
The final medal tally was led by Thailand, which won the most gold medals, followed by host Singapore which won the most medals overall. Several Games and national records were broken during the games. The games were deemed as one of the most successful Southeast Asian games ever hosted with its effective management of cost spent to host the games and well-organised arrangement of public transport by Singapore, as well as the huge effort to promote the games which helped raise the standards of competition amongst the Southeast Asian nations.
Host city
Singapore's selection as the host of the 28th Southeast Asian Games of 2015 was announced in 2011 during the 26th Southeast Asian Games, held in Indonesian cities Palembang and Jakarta. Singapore had previously been nominated to host the event in 2007 and 2013, but turned down both opportunities citing costs associated with the construction of the new Singapore Sports Hub that was exacerbated by the financial crisis of 2007–2008.
Development and preparation
The Singapore SEA Games Organising Committee (SINGSOC) was formed on 28 June 2012 to oversee the staging of the event.
Venues
The 2015 Southeast Asian Games used a mix of new, existing and temporary venues. Given the city-state's compact size, most venues were pre-existing public-sporting facilities located in the suburban heartlands which were reverted to public use after the games. No major retrofitting work were done in most venues as most had been used to host major multi-disciplinary events such as the 2010 Youth Olympic Games.
At the centrepiece of the activities was the Singapore Sports Hub which was completed in mid-2014. Incorporating the new 55,000-seat national stadium, it hosted most of the events.
A games village was not built. Instead, a "village in the city" concept saw athletes and officials housed in 20 hotels in downtown Singapore. Besides being physically near to the Singapore Sports Hub, it was hoped that it will add vibe to the city and reduce post-games costs in converting a dedicated games village to other uses.
The 28th Southeast Asian Games had 30 venues for the games.
Public transport
Given the existing extensive public transport network already in place, there is no games-specific major infrastructural development to support it. The clustering of venues is aimed at easing the traffic flow, bus and Mass Rail Transit service for games athletes and officials were provided.
Volunteers
The organisers estimated that about 15,000 volunteers are needed to successfully host the games. Volunteer recruitment began in late 2013, and by February 2014, about 5,000 volunteers have already signed up. This number swelled to over 17,000 by February 2015, and a volunteers night event was held at Universal Studios Singapore to launch the sports volunteers brand name as "Team Nila" and to thank the volunteers who have signed up with free shows at the venue. Amongst the pool of 17,000 volunteers, 35% came from the community, while 65% were from corporations in support of the games.