Only One Team Missed A Medal
p. 25 · Read in the full issue
Only one of the 14 territories represented at the Second South Pacific Games in Noumea went home without a medal.
This was the tiny Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, which sent five athletes, four table tennis players, two tennis players, and a basketball team.
New Caledonia, with a contingent of about 250 and representation in all 20 sections of the Games programme, easily carried off the bulk of the medals, mainly because of the overwhelming superiority of its swimmers.
Representation of the other big territories was: Fiji (15 sports), French Polynesia (18), Papua-New Guinea (17). All the other territories, except the New Hebrides (13), were represented in fewer than 10 sports.
Details of the medals won by each territory are given below. The points score shown is unofficial. It is worked out on the basis of three points for a gold medal, two for a silver and one for a bronze.
Gold Silver Bronze Points New Caledonia 39 30 30 207
Fiji
19 23 17 120
French Polynesia
13 8 9 64
Papua-New Guinea
5 11 13 50 Western Samoa 4 4 — 20 Nauru 4 2 — 16 Wallis and Futuna — 2 12 16 American Samoa — 4 1 9 Tonga 1 — 1 4 Cook Islands 1 — — 3 Solomon Islands — 1 1 3 New Hebrides — — 2 2 Guam — — 1 1 Gilbert and Ellice Islands — — — — 86 85 87 515