There Will Be 1,500 Sportsmen At
pp. 53-55 · Read in the full issue
The Papeete Games
From HELEN ROUSSEAU , in Noumea
Tahiti will have spent over SUS 3 million in facilities for the 1,500 sportsmen and women who nil take part in the Fourth South Pacific Games in Papeete next September 8 to 19. Half the money nil come from metropolitan France, the other half from the territory; and the Games programme will >e operated on a 55 million CFP ($A490,000) budget.
Mr. Lysis Lavigne, secretary eneral of the Games Organising )ommittee, visited Noumea in Nov tnber to discuss plans for the 1,000 len and 500 women from 14 ter itories, who will take part.
He said he was sorry to say that opes for the participation of the US 'rust Territory had now been aban oned, although he was still hopeful lat Niue might be represented.
Following a decision reached in ort Moresby last year, the athletes ill be lodged in two separate vil iges; the girls to the annexe of the mne Marie Javouhey College, in the >called “mission” district, and the len to the west of Papeete, at the aul Gauguin High School.
Territories will be charged 350 -ancs CFP (5A3.10) per day for each thlete accommodated, with Tahiti earing the additional cost of 150 FP per day per athlete.
Following a visit to the Olympic illage in Mexico, Mr. Lavigne feels lat meals would best be self-service.
Equipment is thus to be imported from either France or the US.
There will be three main sporting areas. At Fataua will be held Rugby, soccer, cycling and tennis, with an indoor stadium for boxing and the finals of basketball and volleyball.
About 500 yards away, the terri torial Olympic stadium, on what used to be the Pater family ground, will be used for the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the soccer final and athletics.
Nearby, the Maison des Jeunes (Young People’s Club) of Pirae will accommodate weight-lifting events.
About one mile away on the west side of town and near the men’s vil lage, is the third main complex, Tipaerui, with Olympic swimming pool, and a hall for the elimination matches of volleyball. A sportsfield used for athletics training will take the softball events.
Several downtown church build ings will also be used: the Mormons’ mission will serve for judo contests
and their school for table tennis. St.
Paul’s Roman Catholic hall will serve for the qualifying rounds of basket ball.
Sailing events will be held near the yacht club, while, for the under water fishing, two areas are under consideration, the ultimate choice de pending on the wind.
For soccer, it’s proposed to use various fields. One plan is to fly players to Uturoa, the second largest town in French Polynesia, on the isle of Raiatea, in the group known as Sous le Vent. Uturoa may be reached by a one-hour DC4 flight from Papeete.
Describing further details of sport ing facilities, Mr. Lavigne said the athletics track will be of grass. For basketball and volleyball, there will be a concrete floor, except in the case of the Tipaerui hall for qualifying volleyball, which will have a plastic surface. The same finish, an Ameri can process, will be used on the tennis courts.
Competitions will be spread over six days, with no Sunday sport. Box ing will be held regularly at night, together with some other events.
Some qualifying and elimination heats will be held in the mornings, with the rest of the programme divided among the afternoons.
Mr. Lavigne said average daytime temperatures in Tahiti during Septem ber are 77 deg. to 80 deg. Fahr.
Humidity is generally around 80 per cent, while prevailing winds are from the east.
The Tahiti Games secretary general also mentioned that various qualified judges and referees were expected from metropolitan France.
Mr. Lavigne appeared most opti mistic over the success of the Games, in which the Tahitians will obviously be making a big effort to also show the touristic charms of their islands.
• See next page for more stories on the Papeete Games.
The teams
Fourteen countries have entered teams for the Fourth Games, com pared with the 12 which competed in the Third Games at Port Moresby in August last year.
They are: The Cook Islands, Fiji, Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Guam, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Hebrides, French Polynesia, Papua- New Guinea, the British Solomon Islands, American Samoa, Western Samoa, Tonga, and Wallis and Futuna Islands. In Port Moresby the Cooks and the Gilbert and Ellice did not compete.
A spokesman for the organising committee said no sport would be retained without at least four par
ticipating countries.
The organising committee has decided that in spite of the “disturb ing withdrawal” of Rugby Union
gold medallists, Fiji and Tonga from
the sport, Rugby Union would be scheduled. The committee is counting on the goodwill of other territories to send a Rugby Union team to justify this decision.
The committee also has decided to substitute softball for netball in the Games calendar as the result of numerous demands.
The participating countries have nominated in the following sports:— COOK ISLANDS: Athletics (men and women), basketball (women), boxing, skin diving, Rugby Union, tennis (men and women), yachting.
FIJI: Athletics (men and women), basketball (men and women), boxing, skin diving, soccer, golf (men and women), weightlifting, judo, swimming (men and women), softball, tennis (men and women), table tennis (men and women), archery, volleyball (men and women), yachting.
Gilbert And Ellice Islands: Athletics
(men and women), basketball (men), tennis (men and women), table tennis (men and women), volleyball (men).
GUAM: Athletics (men and women), basket ball (men and women), boxing, skin diving, cycling, golf (men and women), judo, swimming (men and women), softball, tennis (men and women), table tennis (men), archery, volley ball (men and women), yachting.
NAURU: Athletics (men and women), basket ball (men), skin diving, golf (men), judo, soft ball, tennis (men and women), volleyball (men and women).
NEW CALEDONIA: Athletics (men and women), basketball (men and women), boxing, skin diving, cycling, soccer, weightlifting, judo, swimming (men and women), Rugby Union, tennis (men and women), table tennis (men and women), archery, volleyball (men and women), yachting.
NEW HEBRIDES: Athletics (men and women), basketball (men and women), boxing, cycling, soccer, golf (men), judo, swimming (men and women), tennis (men and women).
PAPUA-NEW GUINEA: Athletics (men and women), basketball (men and women), boxing, cycling, soccer, golf (men and women), weight lifting, judo, swimming (men and women), Rugby Union, softball, tennis (men and women), table tennis (men and women), archery, volley ball (men and women), yachting.
FRENCH POLYNESIA: Athletics (men and women), basketball (men and women), boxing, skin diving, cycling, soccer, golf (men and women), weightlifting, judo, swimming (men and women), Rugby Union, softball, tennis (men and women), table tennis (men and
women), archery, volleyball (men and women), yachting.
BRITISH SOLOMON ISLANDS: Athletics (men and women), basketball (men), boxing, skin diving, soccer, golf (men and women), judo, swimming (men and women), Rugby Union, table tennis (men and women), volleyball (men), yachting.
AMERICAN SAMOA: Athletics (men and women), basketball (men and women), boxing, weightlifting, Rugby Union, softball, tennis (men and women), volleyball (men and women).
WESTERN SAMOA: Athletics (men and women), boxing, weightlifting, Rugby Union, tennis (men and women), yachting.
TONGA: Athletics (men and women), basket ball (women), boxing, skin diving, soccer, tennis (men and women), volleyball (men and women), yachting,
Wallis And Futuna Islands: Athletics
(men and women), basketball (men), boxing, skin diving, cycling, soccer, weightlifting, volleyball (men and women).
Tahiti gets new yachts
Yachtsmen in French Polynesia have launched an all out effort to ensure that they capture at least the yachting gold medal at the Fourth Games.
French Polynesian skipper Alan Burgaud in his Fireball, Aureole, had a hard tussle with Papua-New Guinea’s Geoffrey Dabb, in Circe, during the Third Games in Port Moresby last year. With the home ground advantage and brilliant sail ing, Dabb took the gold medal by 8.4 points from Burgaud who had to be content with the silver medal.
The yacht club of Tahiti has now taken delivery of two French-built Fireballs which will be used to train prospective Games crews. A spokes man for the Tahiti Games Organising Committee says the boats are the equal in every way of those provided by the Papua Yacht Club for the last Games. Their yachtsmen expec ted to eventually have a fleet of 15 boats for training purposes. Fireball class yachting has become very popular among Tahitians.
A rigorous programme of training and competition has begun. Every three months the Fireballs and their individual crews are rated, as are the crews of 420 class boats, which also are in solid parallel training.
The Fireball crew which receives the lowest rating has its boat taken away and given to the leading 420 crew. This system is keeping every Games aspirant on his toes. Two crews will probably be fielded in the Games.
GEIC "goes international"
October was a sporting as well as royal month for the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. Prince Charles’ visit overshadowed the sports scene, but the first ever “international” meeting between the colony and Nauru drew plenty of interest, when it was held in Tarawa.
Hie nine-strong Nauruan team did well, winning five athletics titles and the men’s tennis doubles; the contest was such a success that the GEIC has been invited to make a similar visit to Nauru next year, possibly in May.
For both countries it was a vital chance to test the ability of young athletes against unknown quantities.
It also provided an inter-territory sports fixture other than the South Pacific Games.
The GEIC is at present concentrat ing on inter-atoll sport within the colony as well as preparation for the Tahiti Games. Already some 10 inter-islands sports ventures have been held.
At present South Tarawa and Ocean Island have good sporting facilities and sport is being en couraged, through the colony’s ASA, on North Tabiteuea, Abemama, Bu taritari and Maiana.
Local bloods were outclassed by Nauru in the athletics events at the “international” meeting. Ricardo Solomon won the 100 metres in 11.6 s.; Robbie Morgan-Morris won the 400 metres in 56.6 s.; A. Bowditch won the 800 metres in 2 m. 7.4 s.; and Morgan-Morris also won the 1,500 metres in 4 m. 23.4 s. All ex cept the 100 metres were GEIC records.
The GEIC, competing in its first international meeting outside the Games, won only one event—Mare wenikiata in the 200 metres. In tennis the GEIC fared better, taking the men’s and women’s singles and the women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
Nauruans, Kun Menke and Ande Dabuae, won the men’s doubles, 8-6, 6-4.
The meeting was a small but im portant one. It may well be the be ginning of a close sporting relation ship between the two territories, and it certainly provided a measuring stick.
The GEIC did not compete at the Port Moresby Games, but will be at Tahiti.