By Roselyn B. Monroyo
Variety News Staff

THE NMI’s bid to be a member of the Olympic family will not be successful, but on the brighter side, the Commonwealth may become an associate member of the Oceania National Olympic Committees.
“Our hopes of becoming a full Olympic member are zero. “It’s not going to happen,” Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association president Michael White told NMASA members at a meeting last Thursday.
White announced the bad news after attending a chef de mission meeting for the 2007 South Pacific Games in Apia, Samoa on March 19.
“But the good news is, we might become an associate member of ONOC. I talked to Kevan (Richard Kevan Gosper) and he said we are going to be supported for associate membership in ONOC,” White added.
Gosper of Australia is the president of ONOC. He is the same official that helped the NMI in its attempt to become a member of the International Olympic Committee, about 10 years ago.
But until now, the NMI has yet to get IOC membership due to its political status.
The NMI is in political union with the US and receives federal funds administered by the Office of Insular Affairs under the US Department of the Interior.
The NMI is the only island group in Micronesia which has yet to become a part of the Olympic family.
The Marshall Islands are the latest in the Micronesian region to get the nod of the IOC. Their application was accepted in February last year during the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy joining Palau, Guam, the FSM, Nauru and Kiribati in the group.
Every national sports association wants to be part of the IOC, which gives financial assistance to members for the development of its sports programs.
Funding from IOC would have helped the NMI in its participation in regional games, such as the South Pacific Games.
In this year’s Pacific Games to be held in Apia, Samoa, the NMI is sending a lean delegation due to funding problems.
Meanwhile, White said that before the NMI can be admitted to ONOC as an associate member like New Caledonia, it still needs clearance from the US Olympic Committee.
Once the NMI become a member, White said the commonwealth may be given a seat on the board, but ONOC association membership does not guarantee the NMI funding.
White also disclosed that during the chef de mission meeting, he met a US Olympic Committee official, who does not promise anything big, but said that he will support the NMI’s bid to become an ONOC member.