1979 South Pacific Games

The 6th South Pacific Games (Fijian: 6 ni Qito ena Ceva ni Pasifika), also known as Suva 1979, held in Suva, Fiji from 28 August to 8 September 1979, was the sixth edition of the South Pacific Games.[1]

1979 South Pacific Games
Host citySuva
CountryFiji
Nations19
Athletes2,672 *
Events18 sports
OpeningAugust 28, 1979 (1979-08-28)
ClosingSeptember 8, 1979 (1979-09-08)
Main venueNational Stadium (Suva)

Participating countries

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Nineteen Pacific nations or territories attended:[2]

Sports

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There were 18 sports contested at the 1979 South Pacific Games:


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

Medal Table

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New Caledonia topped the table again:[1]

  *   Host nation (Fiji)

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  New Caledonia (NCL)334326102
2  French Polynesia (PYF)31192979
3  Fiji (FIJ)*22162462
4  Papua New Guinea (PNG)16192156
5  Guam (GUM)117927
6  Western Samoa (WSM)1011627
7  American Samoa (ASA)41712
8  Tonga (TON)1539
9  Cook Islands (COK)1236
10  New Hebrides (New Hebrides)0448
11  Norfolk Island (NFK)0134
12  Wallis and Futuna0123
13  Solomon Islands (SOL)0055
14  Kiribati (KIR)0000
  Nauru (NRU)0000
  Niue (NIU)0000
  Northern Marianas (NMI)0000
  Tokelau (TOK)0000
  Tuvalu (TUV)0000
Totals (19 entries)129129142400

See also

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Notes

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^* For the 1979 Games, 19 countries and a projected 2,672 athletes took part.[1]

^† Eighteen sports as reported in Pacific Islands Monthly.[3] The newly introduced sports were: cricket,[4] hockey,[5] lawn bowls,[6] and squash.[7]

^a Netball: In Pacific Islands Monthly (PIM), it was reported that "Papua New Guinea took the bronze" in the 1979 netball competition, behind Fiji and Cook Islands.[8] However, a few pages later in PIM's results for the netball, Tonga is listed as finishing in third place.[9]

^b Swimming: There were either 24 or 23 events on the programme, depending on whether the men's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay was contested and officially included in the medals. A publication from Guam's Political Status Education Coordinating Commission claims that Guam swimmer Hollis Kimbrough, "won a record seven medals in the '79 SPG alone",[10] and as such, the Pacific Islands Monthly results could be incomplete as only four medals are listed for Kimbrough there plus two men's relay medals for Guam – and the men's 4 × 200 is omitted.[11]

^c Table tennis: There were seven events on the programme (or perhaps only six or five, depending on whether the respective team competitions for men and women were played and medals officially awarded). The five events for table tennis in the list of results from the November 1979 issue of Pacific Islands Monthly (PIM) are the mixed doubles, men's and women's singles and doubles.[9] PIM reported earlier in the same issue that Fiji had won the women's team event (as well as the women's doubles),[12] but neither women's or men's team events appear in the PIM results.

^d Weightlifting: Ten men's weight divisions were contested, with one medal event only per division (for the maximum total lift of snatch + clean-and-jerk).[9]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "South Pacific Games 1979". Pacific Games Council. 2 February 2007. Archived from the original on 18 April 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  2. ^ "South Pacific Games results". Pacific Islands Monthly. 50 (10). Pacific Publications. p. 137 (The Medal Winners). 1979. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
  3. ^ PIM & 1979 (10), pp. 18–19.
  4. ^ "The History of Cricket in Vanuatu". Vanuatu Cricket. 8 March 2007. Archived from the original on 5 May 2015. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  5. ^ Aruafu, Carlos (27 May 2015). "Oceania proud of our hockey". Solomon Star. Archived from the original on 2015-06-23. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  6. ^ "Opening ceremony torch carriers". Pacific Mini Games Cook Islands 2009. 9 October 2009. Archived from the original on 28 May 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  7. ^ "...that in 1978 Squash was included for the FIRST time". Squash Fiji. 9 October 2009. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  8. ^ , PIM & 1979 (10), 15, § Netball.
  9. ^ a b c , PIM & 1979 (10), p. 19.
  10. ^ I manfåyi, Who's who in Chamorro history, Volume 3 (Report). Political Status Education Coordinating Commission (Guam). 2003. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  11. ^ PIM & 1979 (10), p. 18.
  12. ^ , PIM & 1979 (10), 16, § Table Tennis.

Sources

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