Thailand started sending athletes to the

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, also known as the SEA Games, is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with sup ...

in 1959 as a Founding member of the Southeast Asian Games Federation (SEAGF) alongside

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

(now

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

), Kampuchea (now

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

), Laos, Malaya (now

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

), and the Republic of Vietnam ( South Vietnam). Thailand first competed in the Southeast Asian Peninsular Games (SEAPG) from its namesake of "Peninsular" meaning the Peninsular nations of Southeast Asia would be competing in the said games. There were 8 events held as a Southeast Asian Peninsular Games, 3 of which were held in Thailand. The 1963 edition of the games that would have been hosted by Cambodia was cancelled due to domestic political situation within the nation. In 1975, the last Southeast Asian Peninsular Games were held in Thailand before being renamed to Southeast Asian Games after expressed interest of competing from island nations in Southeast Asia such as Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore just of the coast of Malaysia. Thailand hosted the first edition of these games with the new name in 1985, ten years after the 1975 edition. Thailand in the Southeast Asian Games is considered to be one of the toughest competitors in numerous events, as they have established themselves as a powerhouse in the sports world in Southeast Asia. In the most-recent 2023 Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia, Thailand ranked second in the medal tally behind

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. Until today, Thailand was the only country that consistently ranked in the top 3 in every edition of the Southeast Asian Games. Thailand is set to host the 2025 Southeast Asian Games, after 18 years. The last time Thailand hosted the Games was in 2007 in

Nakhon Ratchasima Nakhon Ratchasima ( th, นครราชสีมา, ) is one of the four major cities of Isan, Thailand, known as the "big four of Isan". The city is commonly known as Korat (, ), a shortened form of its name. It is the governmental seat of ...

Southeast Asian Games

Medals by games

{{Nations at the Southeast Asian Games

Southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

Nations at the SEA Games