The victory gave Qatar their 32nd medal of Doha 2006 - nine gold, 12 silver and 11 bronze - to almost double their previous best tally of 17 medals won by their athletes at the last edition in Busan, Korea.
However Qatar weren't the only country or region to enjoy their best ever Games as 10 other National Olympic Committees (NOCs) leave Doha on the back of their best haul when judged on the number of gold, then silver and bronze won, not the overall total.
These are Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Tajikistan, the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong, China. Three of these nations - Tajikistan, Jordan and UAE - had more cause to celebrate after winning their first ever gold medals.
Hammer thrower Dilshod Nazarov won Tajikistan's first, Jordan's came in the men's 54kg taekwondo category through Mohammad Al Bakhit, while the UAE had the men's -65kg bodybuilding champion Mohamed Salem Abdulla Zahmi.
The 15th Asian Games also yielded at least one gold medal for 26 of the 45 NOCs, while all bar seven of these return home with at least one medal of any colour - both one fewer than the best figures from Busan in 2002.
However while Takijistan, Jordan and UAE celebrated their first gold medals, four NOCs who won titles in Busan failed to claim any in Doha - Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan.
By contrast Korea won their 500th gold medal through rower Shin Eul Chul, while the 3,000th gold medal in Asian Games history was won by the Japanese men's soft tennis team on 3 December.
More than 10,000 medals have been handed out since the inaugural Asian Games was held in Delhi in 1951, with China having surpassed the 2,000 mark themselves during Doha 2006.
In all a total of 1,393 medals were presented in ceremonies across the 16 venues, which equates to 428 gold, 423 silver and 542 bronze. China won the most gold (165) and silver (88), but Korea claimed the most bronze (82).
China, as expected, won the most medals overall with 316 - only Japan and Korea reached three figures with 198 and 193 respectively - with their women accounting for 91 of their 165 gold medallists.
The Chinese men though claimed the first gold medal of the Games when Li Jie, Liu Tianyou and Zhu Qinan won the men's 10m air rifle at the Lusail Shooting Complex on 2 December.
China's success is evident with their representatives accounting for 12 of the 17 athletes who won at least three gold medals. These multi-medallists were spread across seven sports in swimming, artistic gymnastics, shooting, badminton, cue sports, track cycling and table tennis.
Female swimmer Pang Jiaying and male gymnast Yang Wei were the most successful in terms of gold medals, the Chinese duo winning four apiece, although Korean teenager Park Tae Hwan claimed seven medals overall.
This enabled the 17 year-old swimmer to walk away with the Samsung Most Valuable Player award from the Games, a deserved reward for his three gold, one silver, three bronze and two Asian records broken in the pool.
However these are not the only athletes worthy of a mention, others include Opas Ruengpanyawut who claimed a bronze medal with Thailand in the men's 25m standard pistol team, some 24 years after winning his first medal in 1982. This was the 55 year-old's seventh medal - and fifth bronze - overall.
By contrast the youngest gold medallist of the Games was Chinese diver Chen Ruolin, the 13 year-old teaming up with Jia Tong to win the women's synchro 10m platform final before claiming silver in the individual event four days later.
Two other athletes worthy of mentions are Iranian weightlifter Hossein Reza Zadeh, who lifted an amazing 425kg to win the men's +105kg category, and China's Chen Yanqing who broke five world records on her way to 58kg gold.
In all a total of 33 world or Asian records were set or tied during the Games. The world records came in shooting and weightlifting with the Asian bests in archery, athletics, track cycling, shooting, swimming and weightlifting.
However it wasn't all about the winning of medals, taking part for some was just as much of an achievement for them, including Qatar's lone female representative in women's golf, Shorouq Al Sowaidi, who finished 192 over par.
The Games have been about more than just the athletes as 16,000 volunteers from 100 countries around the world have worked 100,000 shifts to ensure the 750,000 spectators had an experience of a lifetime.
More than 6,000 members of the media have covered the quadrennial spectacular, while the official website of the 15th Asian Games has proved a phenomenal success with more than 130 million hits recorded by 14 December.
A million bottles of water were consumed over the 15 days with the 8,050 competitors being served a total of 600,000 meals at the Athletes' Village, 100,000 fewer than served for the workforce of volunteers.
The 15th Asian Games Doha 2006 truly have been the Games of your Life for all involved.
15th Asian Games
Posted December 17th, 2006 by COBA
