The 23rd Southeast Asian Games were

The 23rd Southeast Asian Games were held in the Philippines from November 27th to December 5th in 2005. The games were participated by the eleven nations of Southeast Asia. This was the first time that the opening and closing ceremonies were held in a large open field, despite the fact that Manila has many stadiums. The organization decided to hold the games at an open space to accommodate the large number of participants and spectators. As a result, the 2005 SEA Games ranked as having the largest audience - 100,000 people – during the opening and closing ceremonies. These games were also noted for having the most number of delegates in the history of the SEA Games. In the end, all participating countries received medals.
Events in men's football actually started on November 20th, prior to the opening ceremony. Water polo events began on November 21st, women's football on November 23rd, sailing on November 26th, and tennis on November 26th;
The first gold medal of the games was awarded to Singapore on November 25th when their water polo team came out undefeated during the round-robin tournament round. The Philippine team took the silver medal in that event, and Malaysia brought home the bronze.
The Games were also considered a valuable opportunity for athletes to gain competition experience and preparation for the upcoming Asian Games and Olympic Games. It was purposely created to strengthen friendship, solidarity and understanding among neighboring countries in the region.
This was the third SEA Games to be hosted by the Philippines. The last two times the Philippines hosted the games were in 1981, and again in 1991.
There were 1,461 medals awarded, 444 of which were gold, 434 were silver, and 583 were bronze.