1,200 Athletes From 14 Territories
pp. 20-164 · Read in the full issue
PIM Preview Of Teams' Chances
1,200 Athletes From 14 Territories To Take Part In Noumea Games
About 1,200 competitors from 14 Pacific territories will take part in the Second South Pacific Games in Noumea from December 8 to 18. About 1,000 will travel to Noumea; the rest will be representatives of the host territory, New Caledonia.
EXCEPT for tiny Niue, all the territories that were represented at the first Games in Suva three years ago will take part again, and there are two newcomers —Guam, and Wallis and Futuna.
The number of athletes competing has almost doubled since the last Games. The French territories, particularly, are obviously out to make a good showing.
New Caledonia’s team has swollen from 72 to 295; French Polynesia’s from 58 to 142; and Wallis and Futuna from nought to 78. The team from the Anglo-French New Hebrides is up from 28 to 80. Other territories sending more athletes this time include Papua-New Guinea, up from 78 to 140.
On the other hand, American Samoa, Fiji and Western Samoa will send smaller contingents.
Only New Caledonia will compete in all 20 sections of the programme.
The next best represented territories are French Polynesia (18 sections), Papua-New Guinea (17), Fiji (15) and New Hebrides (13). All the rest are taking part in less than 10
sections, with Tonga at the bottom of the list with only three —men’s and women’s athletics, and men’s tennis.
The “Big Four”—New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Papua-New Guinea and Fiji—will almost certainly carry off the lion’s share of the medals.
New Caledonia with twice as many competitors as anyone else, plus the advantage of the home ground, its national pride to maintain, and some intensive coaching from French ex perts, will probably show the same superiority that Fiji did on its home ground last time.
However, quite a few medals could trickle away to such territories as the Cook Islands, Guam, Wallis and Futuna, and Nauru, which, because of poor communications, will come to the Games almost unknown quantities. Tonga’s team will almost certainly do disproportionately well for its size.
Previews of the chances of the Fiji and Papua-New Guinea teams appear on pages 29 and 23 respectively.
Below is a brief survey of the potential of the other territories: American Samoa : This territory
was rather slow off the mark in preparing for the Games, but because of its long experience in playing men’s basketball and volley ball, it will probably carry off a medal or two in these sports, as it did last time. Boxing is another sport in which American Samoans have long been experts.
Cook Islands: As was the case in Suva, the boxing events will pro bably provide the Cook Islands with its best opportunities for winning medals. Long distance running is also a specialty of this territory.
French Polynesia ; Performances by a number of French Polynesian athletes in the three years since the last Games suggest that this territory, fourth in the medals tally in Suva, could move up to third or even second place this time.
Some athletes have been training in France. Those who have stayed at home have had the benefit of expert French coaches and stiff com petition from star athletes among the many troops in Tahiti for the nuclear testing project.
Helene Sarciaux, who won a gold medal in the 80 metres women’s hurdles in Suva in 12.8 sec., recently registered 13.1 sec. for that event, which shows that she will again be the one to beat.
Helene, incidentally, married Mr.
Tonga has two entrants in the pole vault event in Noumea —brothers Samiuela Latu and 'Alipeti Latu, and between the two of them it has high hopes of a gold medal.
Samiuela is seen here clearing the bar at 12 ft at a Tonga colleges' athletic meeting in Nukualofa in April, 1964. The Suva Games record was established by his brother at 11 ft 6 in. Photo: Tulua Bros.
Pierre Tamarii, an employee of the Imprimerie Officielle (Government Printing Office) in late October.
In swimming, French Polynesia did not win a single medal last time.
But this is unlikely to be the case in Noumea. One swimmer, Freedland, for example, recently registered 1 min. .07 sec. for the 110 yards men’s freestyle, which was 1.13 sec. better than the best Suva time.
The women’s discus thrower, Claude Maitere, heaved the discus well enough recently for a silver medal in Suva.
Besides athletics, French Polynesia will be well to the fore in all team sports, with the probable exception of tennis.
A gold medal is forecast for the women’s volleyball team; and the men’s team, which easily defeated a nuclear testing project team recently, will probably be among the finalists also.
Basketball, soccer, and cycling are all specialties of this territory. In soccer, the Games team has had some valuable practice recently against the Sydney team, Apia, which beat it once and was defeated by it once.
Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony: Table tennis appears to provide the colony team with its best chance of winning a medal, but one or two athletes will also put up a strong showing.
The table tennis team, which won a bronze medal in Suva, is considered
to be much stronger than it was three years ago, even though its members have had little competitive experience.
Kiali Neinei could win a minor placing in the men’s 800 metres, and Falailiva Tafaki could do likewise in the jumping events.
Guam : As this territory did not compete at the Suva Games, and as it is remote from the others, little is known of its capabilities. However, being an American territory, it is bound to do well in both men’s basketball and men’s volleyball. The only other events it has entered for are men’s and women’s athletics.
Nauru : Performances in recent weeks by R. Morgan-Morris, A.
Bowditch and Mrs. Lois Lax suggest that the Nauruan team will not return empty-handed, medalwise, as it did after the First Games in Suva.
Morgan-Morris has clipped 11.2 sec. off the Games record for the 1,500 metres, 1 min. 47.6 sec. off the 5,000 metres, and 2 min. 45.8 sec. off the 10,000 metres. Bowditch has also improved on the times for these distances, but not so markedly. Mrs.
Lax has thrown the discus nearly 23 ft further than the gold medallist did in Suva; and her best distance for the shot put would easily have won her a silver medal in Suva.
Mrs. Lax represented Australia for the discus at the 1956 Olympic Games and the 1958 Empire Games in Cardiff. Morgan-Morris won the Victorian and Australian steeplechase titles in 1960, and Bowditch was runner up in the 1958 junior mile championships in Australia.
Nauru will send 23 competitors (17 Nauruans and eight Europeans) to the Games. They will take part in basketball and tennis in addition to athletics.
New Caledonia: Trials held in Noumea early in November indicate clearly that the New Caledonians are
poised for a big “kill” at the Games.
The athletes broke more than a dozen of the records set in Suva in 1963, and with another month before them to get into top gear, it seemed certain that they would improve even further.
Noumea businessman, Mr. Numa Daly, a leading figure in the New Caledonian sporting world, said in November that the New Caledonian team was gonfle a bloc (pumped full of confidence).
New Caledonia and French Poly nesia, he thought, would fight out the soccer final, with the team from Tahiti having a slight edge. The same two teams would probably do battle for the cycling gold medal— the only other teams being the New Hebrides and Wallis and Futuna (A French champion, Girardin, has
New Caledonia had no women swimmers at the Suva Games, but it has this time.
One in particular, Simone Hanner, is almost certain to be among the medal winners, as she has improved on the Suva times in three events —100 metres, 200 metres and 400 metres.
Photo: Fred Dunn.
French Polynesia's Charles Tetaria easily won a gold medal in the 110 metres hurdles in Suva. He has been breaking records in France since then.
Helene Sarciaux was only 16 when she won a gold medal for French Polynesia in the 80 metres women's hurdles in 1963. She is now Mrs. Pierre Tamarii, and is still running strongly.
been coaching the French Polynesian team).
Mr. Daly thought that New Caledonia woyld field a strong team in the women’s swimming events.
He was less optimistic in discussing men’s swimming, as he thought Fiji (which won the gold medal in all events last time) would again be the dominating team.
Mr. Daly had no great hopes for New Caledonia’s boxers, either, as boxing has been a neglected sport in NC in recent years. He expected Fiji and the Cook Islands to do best in this department.
In tennis, Mr. Daly thought New Caledonia’s prospects were bright, with Wanaro N’Godrella, for whom a brilliant future has been predicted, being the star. Wanaro has been training in Melbourne.
Below are details of recent Noumea athletics trials, with the Suva record in each case in brackets:
Men’S Athletics
100 Metres: J. Pothin, 10.8 sec. (10.6 sec.). 200 Metres: I. Yekawene, 23 sec. (22.3 sec.). • 400 Metres: I. Iwa, 50.7 sec. (49.7 sec.).
800 Metres: I. Elia Humuni, 1 min. 57.9 sec. (2 min. 2.4 sec.). 1,500 Metres: I. Guepy, 4 min. 15.2 sec. (4 min. 23.4 sec.). 5.000 Metres: I. Freminet, 16 min. 30.8 sec. (17 min. 16.6 sec.). 10.000 Metres: I. Freminet, 35 min. 51.7 sec. (36 min. 39.8 sec.). 110 Metres Hurdles: I. Blameble, 15.9 sec. (15.6 sec). 400 Metres Hurdles: I. Blameble, 54.9 sec. (59.5 sec.). 4 x 100 Metres Relay: Iwa, Paouta, Wejieme, Saiko, 44.2 sec. (42.8 sec.).
High Jump: I. Passa, 6 ft 4 in. (6 ft 3 in.).
Long Jump: I. Pothin, 22 ft 2\ in. (22 ft 11 in.).
Hop, Step, Jump: I. Paouta, 43 ft 4i in. (46 ft 8i in.).
Pole Vault: I. Bonnet, 13 ft H in. (11 ft 6 in.).
Shot Put: I. Bone, 47 ft 9 in. (47 ft 6i in.).
Discus: I. Bone, 152 ft 7i in. (161 ft 11 in.).
Javelin; J. Toruafe, 219 ft 7i in. (203 ft 8 in.).
Hammer: I. Bone, 132 ft 2 in. (no contest).
Women’S Athletics
100 Metres; M. Lacombe, 13 sec. (12.2 sec.). 200 Metres; M. Lacombe, 26.5 sec. (26.3 sec.). 400 Metres: G. Bigourd, 1 min. 1.9 sec. (no contest). 800 Metres: G. Bigourd, 2 min. 25.1 sec. (2 min. 28 sec.). 80 Metres Hurdles: Y. Ukeiwe, 12.5 (12.8 sec.).
High Jump: L. Meindu, 4 ft 11 in. (4 ft 10 in,).
Long Jump: A. Kopoui, 16 ft 2i in. (18 ft * in).
Discus: A. Koitche, 122 ft 6 in. (117 ft H in.).
Javelin; S. Milot, 123 ft 6 in. (120 ft i in.).
Shot Put: M-C Wetta, 39 ft 8| in. (37 ft 7 in.). 4 x 100 Metres Relay: Benjamin, Kopoui, Dewiari, Lacombe 51.1 sec. (50 sec.).
New Hebrides: There has been a considerable upsurge in sport in the Condominium since the last Games, and this territory will almost certainly do better in Noumea than it did in Suva when it won only a silver medal for the pole vault.
Indications are that the New Hebrideans will not win any major placings in athletics, but they could pick up one or two silver or bronze medals.
(Continued on p. 162)
An outstanding member of Tonga's small team is Miss Losaline Vaka'uta, who has broken the Suva records for both the discus and shot put since she took up those sports in the last couple of years.
Photo: Tulua Bros.
A* a 01^8 , meeting m Vila early in October, there were several performances which would have won medals in Suva. Allan Bell registered 22 ft 4i m. for the long jump (worth a bronze medal in Suva); Miss Sane Man, with 33 ft 7 in for the women’s shot put, exceeded the second placing L n ten U |h a ot a a d serond off a tenm ot a second off the time for In P the e learn* sTorts Hebrideans are likeW to fieonaeans are likely to be to the ban r„d m so n ccer andTs en o„lv a fou; oau ana soccer, and as only four teams are competing in cycling and Rugby, they will probably win medals in those events also.
Solomon Islands: With 14 athletes, a soccer team and a netball team, the Solomons contingent is slightly larger than it was last time.
Hie Solomons competitors will undoubtedly show more finesse than they did in Suva, but it is difficult to see them getting among the medals m a big way Their best hope appears to be David Gale for a minor placing in the 110 metres hurdles. • To A g ? : n ? mall in numbers, but big « tbe T Toi IS a ’ s team gr, Mr. L. W. Robertson,
describes his contingent of eight athletes and four tennis players.
The athletics team includes two gold medallists at Suva—Samiuela Tu’ifangaloka (1,500 metres) and ’Alipeti Latu (pole vault)—and two athletes who have bettered the Suva records in recent trials.
Tu’ipulotu has been hurdling under the previous Games "T* 8 in . b °‘ h f. he 110 and f° ? nd c shoul ldput up a fine showing m Suva. , Vaka ’V ta t. wh o will take part m the women s discus, shot put and javelin events, has broken the Suva records for both the shot put and the discus, although she only took up the shot put in 1964 and the discus last year. ’
Tonga had no women athletes at the Suva Games. This time there are three, so there could be some upsets in this department Wallis and Futuna • This newcomer territory, which is “sports mad” will field teams in soccer Rugby men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s athletics, boxing cycling and weightlifting.
The territory has an excellent chance of a gold medal in weight-
lifting, as Sako, its star in this department, is the New Caledonian heavyweight champion.
Little is known of the capabilities of its athletes; but its boxers have much of the prowess of the Samoans, and it would be no surprise if it collected several minor medals in the team events.
Western Samoa : Western Samoan sports officials are confident that their team will bring home more than the silver medal for women’s basketball and the two bronze medals for Rugby and the women’s shot put that were collected at the First South Pacific Games. This time Western Samoa is counting on seven gold medals, one silver and three bronze.
According to Tufuga S. Atoa, the general team manager. Western Samoa should win the women’s basketball, the middleweight and middle-heavyweight weightlifting, the men’s 5,000 metres, and the light welterweight, welterweight and light middleweight boxing. The silver medal is expected from the 400 metres men’s hurdles, and the three bronze from the men’s tennis, the table tennis and light-heavyweight weightlifting.
Western Samoa’s team comprises 43 competitors and officials.