1989 South Pacific Mini Games
The 1989 South Pacific Mini Games were held at Nuku'alofa in Tonga from 22 August to 1 September 1989. It was the third edition of the South Pacific Mini Games.[1]
 | |
| Host city | Nuku'alofa |
|---|---|
| Country | Tonga |
| Nations participating | 16 |
| Athletes participating | 832 |
| Opening ceremony | August 22, 1989 |
| Closing ceremony | September 1, 1989 |
| Officially opened by | King Taufa’ahau Tepou IV |
| Main venue | Teufaiva Sport Stadium |
Tonga's national stadium, the Teufaiva Sport Stadium, was built for the Games on the previous site of the agricultural showgrounds.[2] The stadium, new Atele gymnasium, and tennis courts, were built or refurbished with the aid of Taiwan and France.[1] The venues were eventually completed just in time for the games following some controversy in the preceding months with the construction alarmingly behind schedule.[3]
Participating countries
Sixteen Pacific nations participated in the Games:[4]
Note: A number in parentheses indicate the size of a country's team (where known).
Sports
The six sports contested at the 1989 South Pacific Mini Games were:[1]
Netball (1) c
Tennis (5)
Weightlifting d
Note: A number in parentheses indicates how many medal events were contested in that sport (where known).
Final medal table
Western Samoa topped the medal count:[4]
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Western Samoa (WSM) | 27 | 6 | 3 | 36 |
| 2 |  French Polynesia (PYF) | 20 | 20 | 20 | 60 |
| 3 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} New Caledonia (NCL) | 15 | 17 | 15 | 47 |
| 4 |  Papua New Guinea (PNG) | 14 | 17 | 15 | 46 |
| 5 |  Fiji (FIJ) | 5 | 7 | 12 | 24 |
| 6 |  Nauru (NRU) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 7 |  Tonga (TON) | 2 | 13 | 13 | 28 |
| 8 |  American Samoa (ASA) | 2 | 5 | 10 | 17 |
| 9 |  Cook Islands (COK) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| 10 |  Guam (GUM) | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 11 |  Vanuatu (VAN) | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 12 |  Norfolk Island (NFK) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 |  Solomon Islands (SOL) | 0 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| 14 |  Niue (NIU) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
 Northern Mariana Islands (MNP) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Wallis and Futuna (WLF) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals (16 nations) | 93 | 92 | 99 | 284 | |
Notes
^a Western Samoa won six gold medals in the boxing competition that captured the local people's imagination – as reported by Pacific islands Monthly, "it seemed half of Nuku'alof was crammed into the indoor stadium".[5]
^b Golf: Fiji, captained by Adi Sainimili Tuivanuavou, won the women's team bronze at the 1989 South Pacific Mini Games.[6]
^c Netball: Cook Islands won the competition, defeating PNG by 53–49 in the final. Fiji did not play in the tournament.[7]
^d Nauru's 18-year-old Marcus Stephens broke all three South Pacific Games records in the 60 kg weightlifting class.[8]
References
- "Third South Pacific Mini Games" (PDF). Olympic Review. International Olympic Committee. 1989. p. 112. Archived from the original (PDF 0.2 MB) on 27 May 2015. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
- Besnier, Niko (2011). On the Edge of the Global: Modern Anxieties in a Pacific Island Nation. Stanford University Press, 2 Mar 2011. p. 183. ISBN 978-0804777643. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
- Loranger, Carrie (1989). "Rushing for the games". Pacific Islands Monthly. Pacific Publications. 59 (19): 48. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
- "Medals Won at Mini Games". Pacific Games Council. 2013. Archived from the original on 18 April 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
- Reflections 1989, p. 49, col. 1, par. 2.
- "Golf in Fiji will farewell Adi Sai". sportingpulse. National Golf Association of Fiji. 2012. Archived from the original on 2015-05-27.
- Reflections 1989, p. 49, col. 3, par. 3.
- Reflections 1989, p. 49, col. 3, par. 2.
Sources
- "Reflections on a mini event". Pacific Islands Monthly. Vol. 59 no. 21. 1989. pp. 48–49. Retrieved 27 October 2017.