A HISTORIC Pacific Games awaits athletes in July as for the first time, the regional championship will be recognised as a continental games.
This means that the Pacific Games is now a pathway to the Olympic Games. This was made possible with the inclusion of Australia and New Zealand in the Pacific Games.
Australia has confirmed they will compete in sailing, weightlifting, tae kwon do and women’s rugby while New Zealand has confirmed participation in sailing, weightlifting and tae kwon do only.
Prior to this the Pacific Games was not recognised as a continental games because the two nations were not participating therefore Pacific athletes had to compete in other international events to qualify.
At this year’s Pacific Games, weightlifting, tae kwon do, football and rugby sevens are Olympic qualifying events. Oceania National Olympic Committee president Dr Robin Mitchell said there were concerns raised about Australia and New Zealand competing.
“At the moment the focus is on PNG. It is somewhat of our Olympics because this is where we take our biggest squads. Team sizes of up to 400 athletes are going, so the focus is on the Pacific Games and then Rio,” Dr Mitchell said.
“We have been trying to get them in for 10 or 12 years. The biggest concern is the gap in the standards, so the way we brought them into the games is in sports our islands are competitive in. For example, in weightlifting Australia is not the top country, Samoa is. So we have introduced the four sports our islands can compete in and beat Australia and New Zealand.”
