Koror, Palau

Palau shows off as host of Micrnesian Games

By Giff Johnson

Micronesian Games host Palau put out the red carpet out for more than 1,600 athletes from nine other countries, but dropped the “good neighbor” spirit when it came to the competition, becoming the first coun try in this decade to win more medals than Guam in a Micro Games.

A combination of national pride, skilled athletes, tremendous new sports facilities, and solid organization led Palau to win 118 medals - more than a quarter of all medals - in this 10-nation competition, while Guam took second with 81 in competition that ended on August 9. Tiny Nauru won the most gold medals - 38 - on the strength of its weightlifting team, and came in

fourth behind the Northern Mariana Islands. Upsets abounded on

the closing

night of play of this nine day tournament, as

Guam, heavily

favored to win many of the team sports, couldmit main tain its hold on the gold in women’s bas ketball, men’s

volleyball and

men’s baseball.

But Palau, especially, put on quite a show, both on the field and in the behind-the

scenes organi

zation of this fourth Micro Games. Palau proved that this was an interna tional standard

competition, not some “Mickey Mouse operation” involving small island nations, said Micronesian Games Council chair man Bill Sakovitch of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands. “A lot of inter national federations are here, providing

officiating and organizational support,” he

said. “At the Saipan Micro Games (in 1990), we had only four international fed erations represented. In Palau, all the major sports have international federation representation.” The level of competition in all sports is at a much higher level, now that many of the Micronesian islands are improving their facilities and getting tech nical aid from international sports organi zations, Sakovitch said.

Palau excelled in table tennis, track and field events, wrestling, baseball and bas ketball. Guam split many of the track events with Palau, and won the coveted

mentis basketball title, despite having two of its players suspended from the champi onship game because of unsporting behav ior in the semi-final game with Kosrae.

The swimming competition was virtually

owned by swimmers from the Northern Mariana Islands, who demolished Guam and Marshalls competitors in the pool. But there were many memorable individual

performances:

- Palau’s Peoria Koshiba winning the women’s 200 meter dash with a record set ting time of 27.14 seconds, half a second over the previous 27.8 record. - Barefoot 12 year old runner Belinda Renmog of Yap who won the women’s 10.000 meter race in 54 minutes and 57:96 seconds. - Marcus Stephen of Nauru breaking the commonwealth clean and jerk weightlifting record with a lift of 165.5 kg, .5 kg above the record. - Another barefoot runner, 17 year old Konstantino Kosy of Chuuk, who won two silver medals in the men’s 10,000 and 5.000 meter races, after just starting to run in the past year. - Palauan pentathlon competitor Jersey

lyar breaking the javelin throwing record

of 51.14 meters by a whopping four meters, with a toss of 55.58 meters.

Guam has always been the team to beat in team sports in the north Pacific because of its relatively large population and access to U.S. standard coaching and facilities.

For the first time ever, Palau women bas ketball players unseated Guam to win the gold before a standing room only crowd of more than 1,000 cheering local fans. In mentis volleyball, a strong Chuuk team similarly dethroned Guam from the gold medal. In baseball, both Palau (gold) and Pohnpei (silver) startled Guam, which tra ditionally has had the best baseball teams in the islands, but could only manage a bronze medal in Palau. “Baseball is Palau’s game,” said Baklai Temengil, the executive director of the Micro Games Organizing Committee in Koror. "The whole Palauan community is happy that our baseball team took the gold. They don’t care so much about other sports, but we’ll never hear the end of the talk about how the baseball players took the gold.”

The Palau government invested more than $5 million in sports facilities for the games, with a worldclass track field as its

centerpiece.

Not only that, Palau sought and received assistance of professional coaches in table tennis and baseball. The investment showed, as Palau athletes won five of six golds and four of six silvers in table tennis, and baseball gold, among their scores of medals.

“It shows what you can do when you have the equipment, dedicated athletes and good coaches,” said Micro Games organiz er Bill Keldermans as Palau’s medals began rolling in.

Athletes from other islands marveled at the quality of the sports facilities in Palau, which has an indigenous population of 12,000, and remarked on how these facili ties will help Palau to improve. “In another four years, Palau is going to be the team to beat in Micronesia in most sports,” said the Marshalls womenrcs volleyball coach Terry Sasser.

“Palau spent $5 million on facilities but it’ll be worth $lOO million in a few years,”

Saipan’s Sakovitch said. “The Micro Games have brought the level of competition up and we’ll be more competitive at the South Pacific Games (in Guam) in 1999.”

Temengil agrees: “The Micronesian Games are not just for this region, but to prepare our athletes to go to the South Pacific Games and to the 2000 Olympic Games in

Sydney.” She said that with the next Olympics in the Pacific, some of the interna tional attention has rubbed off on the islands. “With the Olympic games close by in our region, Pacific islands are becoming more well known to the international federations and the world,” she said. “It’s been impor tant to sports development in the region.”

The organization and facili ties, no doubt, have given a boost to Palau’s Olympic

membership application.

Word from International Olympic Committee offi cials is that Palau will be admitted preliminarily at an lOC meeting in September, and will gain full member ship at the next complete

lOC meeting in 1999, Keldermans said.

Palau is expected to become the 199th nation in the lOC family, following the recent admission of the Federated States of Micronesia.

The Northern Marianas application was, after 10 years, vetoed by the lOC in late 1996, following introduction of a new rule that countries must be complete indepen dent to be eligible for membership; the Marianas are a commonwealth of the U.S., travelling on U.S. passports, although the island group has significant self-govern ment. Sakovitch said that lOC officials have indicated they will review the decision in the future. Guam, too, because of its sta tus as a U.S. territory is still seeking lOC membership.

Palau’s sports future is bright, with its newly opened sports facilities and coming membership in the lOC, which will give it access to. significant technical assistance to improve the skills of its athletes. “You can see it (lOC membership) in the develop ment of athletes,” said Sakovitch. “If you need coaches or technical assistance, you get it if you’re a member.

It’s important to go to the Olympics, but the key is that when you need coaches, international membership gives you access.” And Palau athletes and sports orga nizers, together with their government, demonstrated at the Micro Games in Palau that they are ready for membership in the lOC. ■