1971 South Pacific Games

The 1971 South Pacific Games, held at Papeete in Tahiti from 25 August to 5 September 1971, was the fourth edition of the South Pacific Games.[1]

1971 South Pacific Games

Host city	Papeete
Country	Tahiti
Nations participating	14
Athletes participating	~2,000
Events	17 sports
Opening ceremony	August 25, 1971 (1971-08-25)
Closing ceremony	September 5, 1971 (1971-09-05)

Approximately 1,500 male athletes and 500 female athletes participated in the games.[2]

Participating countries

Fourteen Pacific nations or territories competed at the Games:[2]

•  American Samoa
• Cook Islands (70)
•  Fiji
•  French Polynesia
• Gilbert and Ellice Islands
•  Guam
•  Nauru
•  New Caledonia (200+)
•  New Hebrides
•  Papua New Guinea (132)[3]
•  Solomon Islands
•  Tonga
•  Wallis and Futuna
•  Western Samoa

Note: A number in parentheses indicates the size of a country's team (where known).

Sports

There were 17 sports contested at the 1971 South Pacific Games:[4][2]

• Archery (2)
• Athletics (35) ()
• Basketball (2) ()
• Boxing (11)
• Cycling (6) ^a
• Football (1) ()
• Golf (2)
• Judo (6)
• Rugby union (1) ()
• Sailing (1) ^b
• Softball (1) ^c
• Swimming (1)
• Table tennis (7)
• Tennis (7)
• Underwater fishing (2)
• Volleyball (2)
• Weightlifting (8)

Note: A number in parentheses indicates how many medal events were contested in that sport (where known).

Final medal table

Medals were awarded in 117 events:

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	New Caledonia (NCL)	33	32	27	92
2	Papua New Guinea (PNG)	28	28	21	77
3	French Polynesia (PYF)	22	24	24	70
4	Fiji (FIJ)	16	17	13	46
5	Western Samoa (WSM)	9	3	5	17
6	Tonga (TON)	4	3	4	11
7	Guam (GUM)	2	3	8	13
8	Wallis and Futuna (WLF)	2	1	6	9
9	Solomon Islands (SOL)	1	2	2	5
10	American Samoa (ASA)	0	2	12	14
11	Cook Islands (COK)	0	1	3	4
12	New Hebrides	0	1	0	1
–	Gilbert and Ellice Islands	0	0	0	0
–	Nauru (NRU)	0	0	0	0
Totals (12 nations)		117	117	125	359

Source: [1]

Notes

^a Cycling: Six events were held: 1 km time trial, individual road race (111 km), 74 km road race, 4 km individual pursuit, 4 km Olympic pursuit, and an individual sprint.[5]

^b The sailing event was for the Fireball dinghy class.[6]

^c The women's softball tournament was won by Guam, with Papua New Guinea and American Samoa taking second and third place respectively,[5] although the Oceania Sport Information Centre report (on their Sporting Pulse webpage as at October 2015) omits the result.[4]

References

1. "South Pacific Games 1971 - Tahiti". Pacific Games Council. 11 October 2010. Archived from the original on 18 April 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
2. "Islanders arrive for Pacific Games". The Canberra Times. 9 September 1971. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
3. "Games predictions – Papua New Guinea –". Pacific Islands Monthly. Pacific Publications. 1971. p. 133. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
4. SPG Results 1971.
5. "South Pacific Games, Results of Tahiti Games" (PDF). Pacific Islands Monthly. Pacific Publications. 42 (10): 39. 1971. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 October 2017. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
6. Ian A. Forbes (9 May 2003). "History of the Rarotonga Sailing Club". Sports Pulse.

Sources

• 1971 South Pacific Games Results. Oceania Sport Information Centre (Report). Archived from the original on 28 October 2015. Retrieved 28 October 2015.