The Micronesian Games (or Micro Games, MicroGames) are a quadrennial international multi-sport event within the Micronesian region. The Games were first held in 1969 in Saipan (Northern Mariana Islands). The 2010 Micronesian Games were initially due to be held in Majuro (Marshall Islands), until the hosts withdrew. The 2010 Games were hosted by Palau. [1] The Federated States of Micronesia won the bidding to host the 2014 Micronesian Games in Pohnpei State, and later won again against CNMI for the 2018 Micronesian Games to be held in Yap State. [2] [3] [4]
After the inaugural 1969 edition, the Games were supposed to be a regular event. However, the second edition did not take place until 1990. Since then, the Games have been held every four years without fail.
| Rank | Association | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Guam | 275 | 178 | 139 | 592 |
| 2 |  Palau | 265 | 257 | 208 | 730 |
| 3 |  Northern Mariana Islands | 186 | 197 | 150 | 533 |
| 4 |  Marshall Islands | 128 | 103 | 131 | 362 |
| 5 |  Pohnpei | 105 | 147 | 147 | 399 |
| 6 |  Yap | 53 | 69 | 69 | 191 |
| 7 |  Nauru | 52 | 18 | 20 | 90 |
| 8 |  Chuuk | 38 | 45 | 72 | 155 |
| 9 |  Kosrae | 19 | 19 | 55 | 93 |
| 10 | Jarvis Islands | 17 | 16 | 10 | 43 |
| 11 |  Kiribati | 2 | 19 | 15 | 36 |
| Totals (11 entries) | 1140 | 1068 | 1016 | 3224 | |
| Edition | Year | Host | Start | End | Sports | Events | Nations | Top association | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | 1969 |  Saipan, Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands | July 4 | July 12 | 6 | Palau | |||
| II | 1990 | Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands | July 7 | July 15 | 7 | Guam | |||
| III | 1994 | Hagåtña, Guam | March 26 | April 2 | 9 | Guam | [6] | ||
| IV | 1998 | Koror, Palau | August 1 | August 9 | 9 | Nauru | |||
| V | 2002 | Palikir, Pohnpei | July 21 | July 30 | 9 | Northern Mariana Islands | |||
| VI | 2006 | Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands | June 23 | July 4 | 9 | Guam | |||
| VII | 2010 | Koror, Palau | August 1 | August 10 | 8 | Palau | |||
| VIII | 2014 | Pohnpei, Pohnpei | July 20 | July 29 | 9 | Guam | [7] | ||
| IX | 2018 | Yap, Yap | July 15 | July 27 | 10 | Palau | [8] | ||
| X | 2024 | Majuro, Marshall Islands | Future event | [9] | |||||
| XI | 2026 | Nauru | Future event | [10] | |||||
Participants include four sovereign countries (the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, and Palau), a commonwealth in political union with the United States (the Northern Mariana Islands), an organized unincorporated territory of the United States (Guam), and the four constituent States of the Federated States of Micronesia (Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrae and Yap, which compete separately from one another).
These ten countries, States and territories are all located within the Micronesian region of Oceania.
All participants also take part in the Pacific Games, although the Federated States of Micronesia competes as a unified country there.
Athletes compete in the fields of athletics, baseball, basketball, beach volleyball, coconut tree climbing, coconut husking, fast pitch softball, association football, golf, slow pitch softball, spearfishing, swimming, table tennis, triathlon, va'a canoe, volleyball and wrestling, as well as the "micro all around".
The Micronesian Games thus combine events that may be found in other international competitions with events more specific to Micronesian countries. Coconut tree climbing and coconut husking appear to have been demonstration events at the 2006 Games: they are listed as events on the Games' official website, but are not listed on the results and medals' page.
The Federated States of Micronesia, or simply Micronesia, is an island country in Micronesia subregion of Oceania. It consists of four states—from west to east, Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae—that are spread across the western Pacific. Together, the states comprise around 607 islands that cover a longitudinal distance of almost 2,700 km (1,700 mi) just north of the equator. They lie northeast of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, south of Guam and the Marianas, west of Nauru and the Marshall Islands, east of Palau and the Philippines, about 2,900 km (1,800 mi) north of eastern Australia, 3,400 km (2,100 mi) southeast of Japan, and some 4,000 km (2,485 mi) southwest of the main islands of the Hawaiian Islands.
The Federated States of Micronesia are located on the Caroline Islands in the western Pacific Ocean. The history of the modern Federated States of Micronesia is one of settlement by Micronesians; colonization by Spain, Germany, and Japan; United Nations trusteeship under United States-administered Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands; and gradual independence beginning with the ratification of a sovereign constitution in 1979.
Micronesia is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Polynesia to the east, and Melanesia to the south—as well as with the wider community of Austronesian peoples.
The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) was a United Nations trust territory in Micronesia administered by the United States from 1947 to 1994. The Imperial Japanese South Seas Mandate had been seized by the US during the Pacific War. The Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands and Palau are today independent states in a Compact of Free Association with the US. The Northern Mariana Islands remain under US jurisdiction, as an unincorporated territory and commonwealth.
The flag of the Federated States of Micronesia was adopted on 30 November 1978. The blue field represents the Pacific Ocean. In an echo of U.S. heraldic practice, the stars represent the four federated states: Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrae and Yap, arranged like the points of the compass.
The flag of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) consisted of a light blue field that contained six white stars centered in a circle pattern. The stars symbolized the six districts of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands: the Marianas, the Marshall Islands, Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Palau. The blue field symbolized freedom and loyalty.
Yap State, is one of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). The other states are Kosrae State, Pohnpei State, and Chuuk State.
The 6th Micronesian Games were held on Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands from June 23-July 2, 2006. The Games featured competition in 15 different sports/disciplines.
The Northern Mariana Islands national football team represents the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in international men's football. The team is controlled by the governing body for football in the Northern Mariana Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association, which is a member of the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) and since December 2020 a full member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The association is not a member of the world governing body FIFA, although it had applied for membership, and so while the national team is eligible to enter AFC and EAFF-run competitions, they are currently ineligible for global competitions such as the FIFA World Cup. As such, they do not have an official FIFA ranking. However, the team have been consistently ranked as one of the worst teams in the world on the Elo ratings and were in fact, in July 2016 rated as the worst men's senior international team in the world in a ratings system that also includes a number of other non-FIFA teams. Following the completion of the preliminary qualifying round for the 2017 EAFF East Asian Cup the team have won only one official competitive match against international opposition and have a goal difference of −78 in official matches. The team have never qualified for the finals of a major tournament and beyond friendlies and qualifying matches, their only official competition has been in an exhibition tournament in the regional Micronesian Games in 1998, which they won, to date their only tournament success.
The College of Micronesia-FSM (COM-FSM) is a public community college in the Federated States of Micronesia. It began operation in 1963 as the Micronesian Teacher Education Center.
The 7th Micronesian Games was held August 1–10 in Palau.
Emelihter Kihleng is a Micronesian poet. She is the first ever Micronesian to publish a collection of poetry in the English language, and is one of few published Micronesian poets.
Rugby union in the Federated States of Micronesia is a minor but growing sport.
Northern Marianas Athletics (NMA), also known as Northern Marianas Athletics Association or Northern Mariana Islands Track and Field Federation, is the governing body for the sport of athletics in Northern Mariana Islands.
The Federated States of Micronesia Athletic Association (FSMAA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM).
The 8th Micronesian Games were held from July 20 to July 30, 2014, in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM).
Athletics competitions at the 2014 Micronesian Games were held at the Pohnpei Track and Field in Palikir, Pohnpei, between July 21–24, 2014.
The 9th Micronesian Games were held from July 15 to July 27, 2018, in Yap, Federated States of Micronesia.
Football competitions have were first held at the Micronesian Games for the 1998 edition of the tournament. The event is open to the ten member federations of the Micronesian Games Council, a sub-regional member of the Oceania National Olympic Committees. The football tournament has been held at two subsequent games since 1998, in 2014 and 2018. Although a similar football tournament called the Micronesian Cup was held in 1999 and 2001, they were separate events as no Micronesian Games were held in those years.
