Host city | Port Moresby |
---|---|
Country | Papua New Guinea |
Nations | 24 |
Athletes | 3,796[ citation needed ] |
Events | 299 in 28 sports |
Opening | 4 July 2015 |
Closing | 18 July 2015 |
Opened by | Prince Andrew, Duke of York |
Athlete's Oath | Deslyn Siniu |
Judge's Oath | Susan Babao |
Torch lighter | Dika Toua |
Main venue | Sir John Guise Stadium |
The 15th Pacific Games, also known as Port Moresby 2015 or POM 2015, was held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, from 4 to 18 July 2015. [1] It was the fifteenth staging of the Pacific Games as well as the third to be hosted in Port Moresby.
More than 3,700 athletes from the 22 Pacific Games Associations plus first time entrants Australia and New Zealand, took part. [2] [3] With almost 300 sets of medals, the games featured 28 sports, 19 of which are on the 2016 Summer Olympics program. Only men's football was a straight qualifying event for Rio 2016. These sporting events took place in 14 venues in the host city.
The host nation, Papua New Guinea, topped the medal table for only the second time, winning the most golds (88) and most medals overall (217). [4] New Caledonia finished second making it only the third time the French territory had failed to place first. Tahiti finished third. Tuvalu won its first ever gold medal at the games, and the debuting teams from Australia and New Zealand won their first Pacific Games medals including gold. [5] [6] [7]
Five Pacific Island countries expressed interests in hosting the fifteenth edition of the games as soon as the bidding process began. They were American Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu. By March 2009, only three were serious bidders – Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Tonga. [8] On 20 September 2009, the Solomon Islands National Olympic Committee President – Fred Maetoloa, in a press statement announced the withdrawal of the Solomons bid following the withdrawal of the Solomon Island government's commitment and support. [9]
On 27 September 2009, the Pacific Games Council, at its meeting coinciding with the 2009 Pacific Mini Games, elected Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea as the host of the 2015 Games. The final vote was 25–22 in favor of Port Moresby over Tonga to host. [10]
2015 Pacific Games bidding results | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
City | PGA | Final Votes | |||
Port Moresby | Papua New Guinea | 25 | |||
Nukuʻalofa | Tonga | 22 |
Preparations for the Games, which Port Moresby was given the honor of hosting in 2009, have taken longer than many had anticipated. The country's ability to host the event in time was uncertain in 2011, according to the PNG Pacific Games organizers. To evaluate the level of the games' preparation, Pacific Games Council President Vidhya Lakhan traveled to Port Moresby on April 26, 2012. On May 2, Lakhan made the announcement that Papua New Guinea will continue to serve as the 2015 Pacific Games host after a week-long presentation by the PNG Pacific Games Venue, Infrastructure and Equipment Committee (VIEC).
A total of 14 venues hosted 28 sports in Port Moresby.
Competition venues | |||
---|---|---|---|
Venue | Sports | Capacity | |
Sir John Guise Stadium | Athletics (track and field) Rugby sevens Rugby league nines | 15,000 | |
Sir John Guise Sports Complex (outdoor) | Beach Volleyball Field Hockey | ||
Sir John Guise Stadium (indoor) | Basketball (finals) Netball Powerlifting Weightlifting | 2,000 | |
Port Moresby Racquets Club | Squash Tennis | 1,000 | |
Taurama Aquatic Centre | Swimming | 2,000 | |
Taurama Indoor Centre | Basketball (preliminary rounds) Karate Taekwondo Volleyball | 2,500 | |
Bisini Sports Complex (outdoor field) | Cricket Lawn bowls Football (Preliminary rounds) Softball Touch rugby | 10,000 | |
Royal Port Moresby Golf Club | Golf | ||
Ela Beach and PNGDF Naval Base | Va'a Triathlon (swimming) | ||
Royal Papua Yacht Club (Fairfax Harbour) | Sailing | ||
Caritas Technical Secondary School Gym | Body building Boxing Table Tennis | 1,100 | |
June Valley Shooting Range | Shooting | 500 | |
Sir Hubert Murray Stadium | Football (finals) Triathlon (finish) | 20,477 |
There were two major sporting complexes that played host to many sports. The Sir John Guise complex which hosted nine different sporting codes namely Weightlifting, Powerlifting, Rugby 7s, Rugby league nines, beach volleyball, field hockey, and Athletics. The Bisini sports field was the other sports complex that hosted football, cricket, softball, Touch rugby and lawn bowls.
The 2015 Pacific Games baton was revealed on 23 February 2015 in Port Moresby. The baton was designed and created by Gickmai Kundun, a well known local artist from the Simbu Province. Shaped as an hourglass, the baton depicts a kundu drum which traditionally is used as a communication tool. It (baton) is made out of one of Papua New Guinea's major resource commodity, copper. Kundun said the purpose of the games baton was to unite the people of Papua New Guinea, and the kundu drum was the perfect fit. [11]
On 25 March 2015, in Port Moresby, the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Hon. Peter O'Neill formally launched the Games baton relay. [12] The journey started on March 26 to officially celebrate exactly 100 days till the opening ceremony. Over 150 remote villages, as well as all 22 cities and towns in the 22 provinces, were visited by the baton's tour. The baton paid a special visit to Cairns, Australia, on June 20 to give the sizable Papua New Guinean community a chance to see it firsthand. [13] The relay proceeded for the following five days when the baton landed in the National Capital District (the host province) on June 29. [14]
The baton ended its journey at the opening ceremony on 4 July 2015, where Olympian and Commonwealth weightlifting champion Dika Toua took to the heights of the Sir John Guise Stadium to light the Games Cauldron. [15]
From over 6,000 volunteer applications received by the chief executive officer for the 2015 games, only 3,500 of this applicants were carefully screened and handpicked during the recruitment phase. The 3,500 volunteers were then divided into 175 teams that worked throughout the games in key functional areas such as games village operations, transport, technology, logistics and translators etc.
The official dates of the 2015 Pacific Games were July 4 to 18, however, competitions for Basketball, Football, Table tennis, and Touch rugby began on July 3 (one day earlier).
There were 28 sports featured at the 2015 Pacific Games. [16]
2015 Pacific Games Sports Programme | ||
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A total of 24 countries took part in the 2015 Pacific Games. This was with the inclusion of Australia and New Zealand for the first time in the history of the Games. The two countries were invited to participate in four sports; sailing, taekwondo, rugby sevens and weightlifting.
The Pacific Games Council said in July 2014 that the participation of the two countries would improve the quality of competition in the Pacific Games. The inclusion of Australia and New Zealand was on a trial basis, with a review scheduled after the Games to determine its success.
Participating Pacific Games Associations (PGA) |
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The following table provides a summary of the competition schedule. [17]
OC | Opening ceremony | ● | Event competitions | ● | Olympic qualifying finals | 1 | Event finals | CC | Closing ceremony |
July | 3 Fri | 4 Sat | 5 Sun | 6 Mon | 7 Tue | 8 Wed | 9 Thu | 10 Fri | 11 Sat | 12 Sun | 13 Mon | 14 Tue | 15 Wed | 16 Thu | 17 Fri | 18 Sat | Events | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ceremonies | OC | CC | ||||||||||||||||
Athletics | 5 | 11 | 7 | 14 | 9 | 2 | 48 | |||||||||||
Basketball | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 2 | 2 | |||||||
Beach volleyball | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 2 | 2 | |||||||||||
Bodybuilding | 12 | 12 | ||||||||||||||||
Boxing | ● | ● | ● | 3 | 10 | 13 | ||||||||||||
Cricket | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 2 | |||||||
Field hockey | ● | ● | ● | ● | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||||
Football | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||
Golf | ● | ● | ● | 4 | 4 | |||||||||||||
Karate | 10 | 7 | 17 | |||||||||||||||
Lawn bowls | ● | ● | 4 | ● | ● | 4 | 8 | |||||||||||
Netball | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
Outrigger canoeing | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 12 | |||||||||||||
Powerlifting | ● | 15 | 15 | |||||||||||||||
Rugby league nines | ● | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||||
Rugby sevens | ● | ● | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||||||
Sailing | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 6 | 6 | |||||||||||
Shooting | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 11 | |||||||||||
Softball | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||||
Squash | ● | ● | ● | 2 | ● | ● | ● | 2 | ● | 2 | 1 | 7 | ||||||
Swimming | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 42 | ||||||||||
Table tennis | ● | ● | ● | 2 | ● | 5 | 2 | 2 | 11 | |||||||||
Taekwondo | 8 | 8 | 2 | 18 | ||||||||||||||
Tennis | ● | ● | ● | 2 | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 3 | 2 | 7 | ||||||
Touch rugby | ● | ● | ● | ● | 2 | ● | ● | 1 | 3 | |||||||||
Triathlon | 3 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
Volleyball | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 2 | 2 | |||||||||
Weightlifting | 12 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 45 | |||||||||||||
Total events | 15 | 27 | 26 | 22 | 15 | 29 | 19 | 5 | 27 | 29 | 11 | 28 | 25 | 30 | 299 | |||
Cumulative total | 15 | 42 | 68 | 90 | 105 | 134 | 153 | 158 | 185 | 205 | 216 | 244 | 269 | 299 | ||||
July | Fri 3 | Sat 4 | Sun 5 | Mon 6 | Tue 7 | Wed 8 | Thu 9 | Fri 10 | Sat 11 | Sun 12 | Mon 13 | Tue 14 | Wed 15 | Thu 16 | Fri 17 | Sat 18 | Events |
Host nation Papua New Guinea topped the overall medal table for only the second time ever. It was also the third Pacific Games in history where New Caledonia had failed to finish first. [18]
Host nation
Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Papua New Guinea* | 88 | 69 | 60 | 217 |
2 | New Caledonia | 60 | 50 | 56 | 166 |
3 | French Polynesia | 39 | 34 | 41 | 114 |
4 | Fiji | 33 | 45 | 37 | 115 |
5 | Samoa | 17 | 23 | 11 | 51 |
6 | Australia | 17 | 19 | 11 | 47 |
7 | Nauru | 7 | 10 | 5 | 22 |
8 | Solomon Islands | 7 | 6 | 15 | 28 |
9 | Tonga | 7 | 1 | 9 | 17 |
10 | Cook Islands | 6 | 7 | 15 | 28 |
11 | Guam | 3 | 3 | 7 | 13 |
12 | Kiribati | 3 | 1 | 5 | 9 |
13 | American Samoa | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
14 | Micronesia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
15 | Vanuatu | 2 | 8 | 12 | 22 |
16 | Norfolk Island | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 |
17 | New Zealand | 1 | 9 | 10 | 20 |
18 | Wallis and Futuna | 1 | 1 | 5 | 7 |
19 | Tuvalu | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
20 | Niue | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Palau | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
22 | Marshall Islands | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
23 | Northern Mariana Islands | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Tokelau | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Totals (24 entries) | 300 | 293 | 315 | 908 |
The opening ceremony was held at the Sir John Guise Stadium in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, between 18:00 and 22:00 (GMT+10), on 4 July 2015. The Head of the Commonwealth and Queen of Papua New Guinea, Queen Elizabeth II, was represented by her son, Prince Andrew, Duke of York. [19] Airleke Ingram was its artistic director, with executive producer being Merryn Hughes from the Makoda Productions. Live musical performers included Jamie-Lee Chan, Jagarizzar, with Ngaire Joseph, and duo group Twin Tribe who performed Winds of Change as the closing act. A special performance by Sir George Telek and a medley from Papua New Guinea's all-time music greats - the Paramana Strangers, Pati Potts Doi, and Tom Larry.
As per games tradition, each PGA paraded into the arena for the opening ceremony with each delegation being led by a flag bearer from their respective teams. Following tradition, the host of the previous games, New Caledonia, enters first followed by the rest of the participating PGA's in alphabetical order. The host nation of Papua New Guinea enters last. Each nation was preceded by a placard bearer carrying a sign with the country's name.
Below is a list of parading countries and their announced flag bearer, in the same order as the parade. This is sortable by country name, flag bearer's name, or flag bearer's sport.
Order | Nation | Flag bearer | Sport |
---|---|---|---|
1 | New Caledonia | ||
2 | American Samoa | ||
3 | Australia | Nicole Beck | Rugby sevens |
4 | Cook Islands | Tereapii Tapoki | Athletics |
5 | Federated States of Micronesia | Manuel Minginfel | Weightlifting |
6 | Fiji | Apolonia Vaivai | Weightlifting |
7 | Guam | Jagger Stephens | Swimming |
8 | Kiribati | David Katoatao | Weightlifting |
9 | Marshall Islands | ||
10 | Nauru | Itte Detenamo | Weightlifting |
11 | New Zealand | ||
12 | Niue | ||
13 | Norfolk Island | Kevin Coulter | Shooting |
14 | Northern Mariana Islands | ||
15 | Palau | Stevick Patris | Weightlifting |
16 | Samoa | Ele Opeloge | Weightlifting |
17 | Solomon Islands | Jenly Tegu Wini | Weightlifting |
18 | Tahiti | ||
19 | Tokelau | Volunteer | n/a |
20 | Tonga | ||
21 | Tuvalu | ||
22 | Vanuatu | ||
23 | Wallis and Futuna | ||
24 | Papua New Guinea | Linda Pulsan | Powerlifting |
The official mascot for the 2015 games, 'Tura the Kokomo', was designed by a 13-year-old boy named Taka Seigori from Tubuseria, a motuan village - located 30 minutes drive from Port Moresby. 'Tura the Kokomo' depicts a modern, cheeky and funny Hornbill - known in Papua New Guinea as a 'Kokomo'. The bird is known to possess the attributes of friendliness and cheekiness. Colours seen on the crown of 'Tura the Kokomo' are the colours of the 2015 Pacific Games logo. [20]
Official Games Sponsor | Bank South Pacific (BSP) |
---|---|
Games Baton Relay Sponsor | Oil Search |
Platinum Sponsors | OK Tedi Mining, Telikom PNG, PNG Power, National Gaming Control Board (NGCB), Puma Energy, SP Brewery |
Gold Sponsors | MRDC, Daltron, Brian Bell Homecentres, Applus Velosi, Fuji Xerox, Air Niugini, Petromin PNG Holdings Limited, Emtek Multimedia, Coca-Cola, Steamships |
Silver Sponsors | Moore Printing, Hertz, MMI Pacific Insurance |
Supporting Sponsor | PNG Ports |
^a Athletics: The total of 48 events contested in 2015 included four parasport events: Men's shot put – secured throw, women's shot put – ambulatory, men's javelin – ambulatory, and men's 100m – ambulatory. [21]
^b Boxing: Women's events were included for 2015. The weight classes used by the IOC, i.e. flyweight (48–51 kg), lightweight (57–60 kg), and middleweight (69–75 kg) were added to the schedule. [22] There were ten weight classes for men. [23]
^c Football: Men's tournament had eight teams (including New Zealand) and the women's had seven teams. Both were qualification events for the 2016 Summer Olympics. [24]
^d Karate: The Kumite tournament included six weight divisions for men and five for women. The schedule also included individual and team Kata events for men and women. [25]
^e Men's softball was not able to be included in the program as the sport did not meet the criterion of the Pacific Games charter requiring nominations for the event from at least six countries. Women's softball was included. [26] [27]
^f Swimming: The schedule for Taurama Pool included 40 events; 19 for men, 19 for women, and two mixed team relays. [28] The open water swim also included a men's event and a women's event. [29]
^g Table tennis: The total of 11 events contested in 2015 included four parasport events: Men's singles – seated, women's singles – seated, men's singles – ambulatory, and women's singles – ambulatory. [30]
^h Weightlifting: The total of 45 events contested in 2015 was split into 15 weight classes (eight for men and seven for women) with three sets of medals awarded (for the snatch, clean and jerk, and combined total) in each class. [31]
Port Moresby, also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific outside of Australia and New Zealand. It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the south-western coast of the Papuan Peninsula of the island of New Guinea. The city emerged as a trade centre in the second half of the 19th century. During World War II, it was a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43 as a staging point and air base to cut off Australia from Southeast Asia and the Americas.
The Papua New Guinea women's national soccer team is controlled by the Papua New Guinea Football Association (PNGFA). Its nickname is the Lakatois, which is a Motuan sailing vessel. Their home ground is the Sir Hubert Murray Stadium, located in Port Moresby and their current manager is Peter Gunemba. Deslyn Siniu is the team's most capped player and top scorer.
A cricket tournament at the Pacific Games, previously the South Pacific Games, was introduced in 1979 and was played intermittently at games in the 1980s and 1990s, depending on the facilities of the host nation. It was played continuously from 2003 to 2019, but was not included for the 2023 Pacific Games in Solomon Islands. Detailed records of the tournaments prior to 2003 have not been kept and little is known with certainty of the first three tournaments, beyond knowing what teams won the gold and silver medals at each Games.
The 2015 Pacific Games women's football tournament was the fourth edition of the Pacific Games women's football tournament. The women's football tournament was held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea between 6–16 July 2015 as part of the 2015 Pacific Games. The tournament was open to full women's national teams.
The 9th South Pacific Games, also known as Port Moresby 1991 held on 7–21 September 1991 in Port Moresby and Lae, Papua New Guinea, was the ninth edition of the South Pacific Games. This was the first time that events at one games had been held in two cities. The decision to do so was to allow both locations to benefit from the construction of new facilities.
The 3rd South Pacific Games, also known as Port Moresby 1969, held on 13–23 August 1969 in Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, was the third edition of the South Pacific Games. A total of 1,150 athletes participated in the games.
Cricket at the 2015 Pacific Games in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, was held from 6–18 July 2015. A women's tournament was held for the first time, and Samoa won the event to become the first country other than Papua New Guinea to win a gold medal in Pacific Games cricket. In the men's tournament, Vanuatu won the gold medal. The shorter Twenty20 form of the game was used for both the men's and women's competitions.
Rugby sevens at the 2015 Pacific Games was held from 8–10 July at the Sir John Guise Stadium. In the men's tournament Fiji won the gold medal defeating defending champions Samoa by a 26 point margin in the final. Tonga took the bronze medal. Fiji also won the women's tournament, defeating Australia by a successful try conversion in the final, with hosts Papua New Guinea winning the bronze medal.
Shooting at the 2015 Pacific Games was held from 6–11 July at the June Valley Shooting Range in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Tahiti and Fiji were the most successful nations, winning three gold medals each. Medals were initially awarded for teams in the pistol shooting section, but as team events for pistols were not included in the official schedule those medals were withdrawn.
Body building at the 2015 Pacific Games in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea was held on July 13, 2015 at the Caritas Secondary School. In the men's competition Papua New Guinea won five gold medals. Tonga won three gold medals in the men’s heavy categories, as well as the men’s overall title which went to Trevor Huni. New Caledonia and American Samoa took one gold medal each in the women's competition. Virginie Foucault won the overall women's title.
Golf at the 2015 Pacific Games was held at the Royal Port Moresby Golf Club in Papua New Guinea on 15–18 July 2015. Hosts Papua New Guinea took a clean sweep of the gold medals in both the men's and women's competitions, with New Caledonia, Cook Islands and Fiji claiming the minor medal positions.
Weightlifting at the 2015 Pacific Games in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea was held on July 5–8, 2015.
Basketball at the 2015 Pacific Games in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea was held at the BSP Arena and PNG Power Dome on 3–12 July 2015.
Touch rugby at the 2015 Pacific Games was held on 3–10 July 2015 at Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea defeated Samoa in the finals of both the men's and women's tournament by 8–7 and 6–2, respectively to claim two of the three gold medals for touch rugby. Samoa turned the tables to claim the gold medal in the mixed tournament, defeating Papua New Guinea by 9–7 in the final. The Cook Islands won all three bronze medals.
Swimming at the 2015 Pacific Games was held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea on 6–12 July 2015. The women's events were dominated by New Caledonia's Lara Grangeon who won eight individual gold medals and was a team member in four gold medal-winning relays. Papua New Guinea's Ryan Pini won six individual gold medals in the men's events and was a team member in the gold medal-winning mixed 4×50 metre medley relay.
The Men's rugby sevens tournament at the 2015 Pacific Games was held in Port Moresby from 8 to 10 July 2015 at the Sir John Guise Outdoor Stadium. Fiji won the gold medal defeating Samoa by 33–7 in the final. Tonga took the bronze medal defeating hosts PNG 19–12 in the third place match.
The Men's touch rugby tournament at the 2015 Pacific Games was held in Port Moresby from 3 to 7 July 2015 at the Bisini Touch Football Fields. The hosts Papua New Guinea won the gold medal defeating Samoa by 8–7 in the final. The Cook Islands took the bronze medal defeating the Solomon Islands by 18–4 in the third place play-off.
The 2017 Pacific Mini Games were held in Port Vila, Vanuatu, in December 2017. It was the tenth edition of the Pacific Mini Games, and the second to be hosted in Vanuatu.
Papua New Guinea competed at the 2019 Pacific Games in Apia, Samoa from 7 to 20 July 2019. Team PNG participated in 23 out of the 26 sports on offer at the 2019 games.
The 2023 Pacific Games, officially known as the XVII Pacific Games and commonly known as Sol 2023 or Honiara 2023, was a continental multi-sport event for Oceania countries and territories held in Honiara, Solomon Islands between 19 November and 2 December 2023. This was the first time that the Solomon Islands have hosted the Pacific Games.