A minor territory of French beats all the so-called ‘Pacific’s major players’ in a shocking Medal haul. New Caledonia has set a record to beating 22 other nations including Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.
The results of the 16th Pacific Games, not only shocked the world but, put New Caledonia on the world map as a David-Goliath event took twists towards the end.
It raked a total of 78 Gold Medals, that is twice as many as that of its runner-up, Papua New Guinea.
Comparing Papua New Guinea to New Caledonia, PNG has about 28 times more population and 7 times more GDP than that of New Caledonia. Let alone, New Zealand and Australia who couldn’t make it to even the fourth, fifth and sixth places.
Host Samoa couldn’t even match up to the visitors’ challenge, although it maintained the third position.
So how did a small territory manage to top the tally?
New Caledonians were dominant in swimming, collecting a total of 25 Gold Medals.
Their territorial government had been very supportive. “We could feel that the spirit was high and we prepared well for the games” one athlete responded to our reporter when asked.
Emma Terebo collected a total of 7 Gold Medals. That is a stunning record in itself. She was named one of the best athletes in the Games.
It could be learnt that the size of the population, the might of the economy, the distance to a sporting venue and everything else matter little – the team spirit rules the medal tally as it just did for little New Caledonia. Congratulations!
The 17th Pacific Games will be held in the Solomon Islands in 2023.
By: Pacific Corespondent