2009 National Games of China
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| Host city | Shandong | ||
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| Country | China | ||
| Motto | Harmonious China Everybody's Games |
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| Teams participating | 46 | ||
| Athletes participating | 10,991 | ||
| Events | 33 sports | ||
| Opening ceremony | October 16, 2009 | ||
| Closing ceremony | October 28, 2009 | ||
| Officially opened by | Hu Jintao (President) | ||
| Officially closed by | Wen Jiabao (Premier) | ||
| Main venue | Jinan Olympic Sports Center Stadium | ||
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The 11th National Games of China was held in various cities in Shandong from October 16 to October 28, 2009. Represented were 33 sports, 43 disciplines and 362 events, including 4 winter sports which were held in Shenyang, Changchun and Qingdao between January and April 2009.
In all, a total of 1241 medals were awarded. The host province of Shandong came first on the medals table with 63 gold, 40 silver and 43 bronze. The games saw the triumphant return from injury for Olympic 110m hurdles champion Liu Xiang. Swimmer Liu Zige also broke the world record in the women's 200 metres butterfly, taking 2 seconds off from the previous record.
The 11th National Games was labelled by some as "China's Olympics", which is reflective of growing significance of the National Games in China.
Following the 9th National Games in 2001, officials decided to scrap the decades-old convention of rotating the host duties between Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong. The State Council of the People's Republic of China, decided that a bidding process would decide the host and any province, municipality and autonomous region was eligible to apply. In 2005, Shandong won the right to host the 11th National Games being the only applicant province with the permission of State Council of the People's Republic of China and the State General Administration of Sports.
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