TODAY’S Blast from the Past takes you down memory lane to the beginning of the Pacific’s own version of the Olympic Games which is held every four years, where the best athletes from region showcase their talents, where dreams are lived, and where legends are born.
The event has had a hand in shaping many athletes in Fiji, and it seems one of the reasons many Fijians take these games seriously is because we won the first games in Suva.
Once known as the South Pacific Games, it is now the Pacific Games. The first event was held on August 29 and ended on September 8, 1963.
Suva welcomed 700 athletes from around the region such as American Samoa, Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Gilbert and Ellice Islands (Kiribati), Nauru, New Caledonia, New Hebrides (Vanuatu), Niue, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Western Samoa (Samoa) and Fiji.
The first games included athletics, basketball, boxing, netball, rugby, soccer, swimming, table tennis, tennis and volleyball. Many of the original disciplines have remained.
The event has, however, grown in terms of participation over the years.
According to the Fox Sports Pulse, under the leadership of J.H Common as chairman, the organising committee had preparations well in progress in 1962 for the first South Pacific Games at the Laucala oval.
Facilities at Buckhurst Park, the main venue were upgraded with a new concrete stand, an embankment with improvements to the grounds and associated amenities.
Organisers sought out regional expertise in organising the games and used the 1962 Empire Games in Perth, Australia as a model for their smaller scale regional version, it was reported.
The lack of finance and expertise caused concern in the lead-up to the games. There were fears that the first games would not be properly organised.
The lack of co-ordination of national sporting bodies and problems in communication created major problems for the organising committee in the early phase of preparations but everything started falling in place when the organising committee appointed Francis Joseph Coyne, an Englishman, with Olympic and Commonwealth Games experience as the full-time time Director of Organisation.
He was assisted by volunteers such as K Gajadhar as secretary of the organising committee. Gajadhar had gained experience in large-scale sports organising as manager of the Fiji weightlifting team to the Perth Games.
His calls for more public involvement saw fundraising efforts by various community and social groups in Fiji to help meet part of the costs of the games.
Teams such as Fiji and New Caledonia were expected to set the benchmark at the inaugural games.
Fiji had regularly competed at the Empire Games and at the Olympics with some of their athletes putting in creditable performances at this level.
Athletes such as Sitiveni Moceidreke, Reverend Viliame Liga and Mesulame Rakuro had an imposing record at that level in comparison to other regional contestants. New Caledonia and French Polynesia with their French connections were the other island nations to have had more than their share of internationally seasoned competitors.
The first South Pacific Games showed the true spirit of competition in a uniquely Pacific Way.
The dominance of Fiji at the first games saw a shift in regional thinking of ways to ensure that national sporting pride was kept at future games, Fox Sports Pulse wrote.
Fiji had an upper-hand with most competitors, participated in the most sports and dominated the final medal tally. Fiji held the upper-hand in both men’s and women’s swimming as Carl Bay won the most number of individual medals at the games with five gold in swimming in distances from 110 yards to 1650 yards as the Fijian women swimmers won all the gold medals on offer.
Fiji shared the honours with PNG in the men’s athletics.
Fijians also dominated in sprints and jumps led by Ana Ramacake while Mere Turukawa ruled the field events. With their fair share of medals in boxing and team sports like rugby, tennis, soccer, basketball and volleyball as the Fijians ended the first games on a high.
Fox Sports Pulse also wrote how Tonga were awarded the bronze medal for table tennis when their Gilbert and Ellis Island opponents failed to turn up for their match but the Tongans offered to play the GEIS and in the ensuing match lost their bronze medal.
Another highlight of the event was when the GEIS did not have women for their lawn tennis team and “borrowed” local Fijian women to make up the numbers, Fox Sports Pulse wrote.
Fiji’s dominance also burst the bubble as New Caledonia and French Polynesia, in particular, attracted additional sports funding from the French Government to ensure French pride in the region was not slighted and that is the reason other island teams have picked up the pace — now only the best, the mightiest and the finest athletes will shine as Fiji has a very rich history of many of our sporting legends born out of the Pacific’s style of Olympic Games.
We should be proud of the achievement of our heroes, who have given their sweat, blood and tears for our beloved country — we will always remember our heroes.
While skimming through Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, I found the total number of medals Fiji has won since 1963 until 2011. The total number of gold medals was 386, silver 461 and bronze 393 – a total of 1240 medals in the past 14 outings — we are third on the medal list.
New Caledonia has won 778 gold, 623 silver and 529 bronze with a total medla count of 1926 to lead the all-time medal list while in second place comes French Polynesia (Tahiti) has 446 gold, 379 silver and 397 bronze medals for a total of 1222.
As Fiji’s noble banner blue flag flies high — our Team Fiji strives for glory at the 15th Pacific Games in PNG.
Go for Gold! Go Fiji go!
