Tahiti Athletes
pp. 66-67 · Read in the full issue
Getting Up Steam
For Noumea Games
Performances by severs young French Polynesian ath letes in recent weeks suggest tha French Polynesia will field on of the strongest teams at th Second South Pacific Games h Noumea in 1966.
ONE athlete, Charles Tetarh became the French universit champion for the 80 metres hurdle with a time of 10.5 seconds a Charlety Stadium, Paris, on May 17 and a couple of days later, he chalke up a remarkable 7.03 metres (23 1 Of in.) for the long jump.
Tetaria’s long jump performanc bettered that of New Caledonia’ gold medal winner C. Kaddour at th first Games in Suva last Septembe by If in., and was 1 ft 8i in. bette than Tetaria’s own performance ii Suva, which won him a bronze medal Tetaria was only 16 when he com peted in Suva, and carried off a goh medal in the 110 metres race Le Journal de Tahiti recently devote< a double page spread to his Pari exploits dubbing him “Charles 1< magnifique”.
Two other athletes who competec in Suva registered fine performance at a recent school sports champion ship in Tahiti. They are Jean Bourne 19, and John Salmon.
Bourne became the first athlete ii French Polynesia to run 100 metre: in less than 11 seconds on May 27
French Polynesia's record-breaker Charle Tetaria in action at the Suva Games la year.— Photo: Rob Wright.
when he covered the distance in 10.9 seconds. Within half an hour, he also broke the local record for 200 metres —his time being 22.3 seconds.
Bourne’s time for the 100 metres was 0.3 seconds slower than that of New Caledonia’s gold medal winner I. Pothin in Suva last September; but his time for the 200 metres equalled that of C. Kaddour (New Caledonia), winner of the 200 metres race ir Suva.
John Salmon established a local record for the high jump at the school sports when he became the first French Polynesian to clear 6 ft. He cleared 1.85 metres (approximately 6 ft Of in.). This was 2f in. below the best jump of P-NG’s gold medallist E. Laboran in Suva, but nearly 2 in. better than Laboran’s runners-up.
Records were broken in about a lozen other events at the Tahiti school sports championship.
Cook Is. Records Go Results at the annual Tereora College sports day in Rarotonga in May indicate that the Cook Islands
also has some up and coming althletes for Noumea in 1966.
Ten new records were set at the meeting, and one was equalled. One boy, David Ngamanu, set new times for both the senior 880 yards and the 440 yards races.
In the intermediate girls’ discus throw, Tina Williams improved on the previous record by 14 ft. 1 in.
Her throw of 100 ft was 2 ft 71 in. better than the bronze medal list’s distance for this event in Suva last year.
To increase the stamina and fitness of Cook Islanders and to encourage interest in athletics, the Rarotongan Sports Association presented gold, silver and bronze medallions to the place-getters at the meeting.
Western Samoan Plan In Western Samoa, the Amateur Sports Federation has decided to run an art union with a first prize of £l,OOO to raise money to send the Samoan team to the Noumea Games.
The federation intends to sell 12,000 tickets at 5/- each to allow £2,000 for prizes and £l,OOO profit.
If the response is good, prizes may be increased in number and value in a subsequent lottery.
The federation estimates that about £5,000 will be needed to send 50 representatives to Noumea.
The federation has also decided to investigate cycling interest and potential in Samoa with a view to sending a cycling team to Noumea.
Meanwhile, Samoan Rugby officials are more optimistic about their South Pacific Games chances at Rugby than they have been for some time.
A Samoan secondary schoolboys’ team held a visiting Fijian school boys’ representative team to a nil-all
draw in the first schoolboys’ test ever played between the two islands at Apia Park in mid-May.
Over 2,000 spectators saw the match, which had some exciting moments and produced some good football.
Interest In The G.E.I.C.
There has also been increased interest in sport in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony recently. At Tarawa, voluntary workers on Bairiki Islet have been enlarging the Bairiki Sports Field by cutting coconut trees and removing them from the proposed site of an athletics track. Similar work has been done at the sports field at Bikenibeu,
AMES HOPE: A recent action picture f Miss Losaline Vakauta, 18, who, in lukualofa, Tonga, on May 16, broke the [?]omen's South Pacific Games shot put ecord with a throw of 37 ft. 11 in. This [?]mpared with the throw of 37. 7 in. by [?]jian Merewai Turukawa at Suva last September. —Photo: Tulua Bros.
SCHOOLBOYS' RUGBY TEST: Western Samoan schoolboys in banded jerseys held the Fijians to a nil-all draw recently in the first-ever schoolboys' test between the two islands. (See below.) —Photo: "Samoana".