This is a special chance and the first time for Saipan to show its ability to host on the region’s largest track and field events.
House Representative Ramon A. Tebuteb of the OAA Local Organizing Committee said, “This is an exciting experience that this international competition is being held for the first time here in Saipan. It might never be located here again, so everyone is excited to have Oceania here in Saipan.”
History
In 1968, Congress of the International Amateur Athletic Federation amended its constitution to allow Continental Area Associations to be formed, according to the OAA website.
Two years earlier, moves had already taken place within the Oceania Area to form a group of athletic federations for their common benefit and the progress of the sport within the region.
In 1969, encouraged by the decision of the IAAF, the first Congress of what was then the Australasian Area Group – and is now the Oceania Athletic Association – was held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, at the time of the 3rd South Pacific Games.
It was not until 1990, however, that the OAAA conducted its inaugural Area Championships in Athletics in Suva, Fiji.
These Championships, for both senior athletes and those under 20 years of age, were enormously successful and demonstrated quite clearly the need for regional competition to support the development of the sport.
In 1993, Area Championships for athletes under the age of 18 years were introduced at an event conducted in Canberra, Australia. Since their introduction, both divisions of the Oceania Area Championships have prospered and are now into their fourth editions.
At the same time, the OAAA, in conjunction with the IAAF Regional Development Centre – Adelaide, introduced a highly successful program for elite athlete development to complement the opportunities provided by member federations and through regional competition.
Existing programs were strongly supported and the proposal to introduce an Oceania Grand Prix series was endorsed. At the same time member federations requested the introduction of development activities within the three sub-regions of Oceania – Melanesia, Polynesia and Micronesia.
At the 1997 Congress of the IAAF, two new federations from the Oceania Area were admitted as members – the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau. With the admission of American Samoa, Guam, the Marshall Islands, Norfolk Island, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Solomon Islands and Tahiti at previous Congresses, the number of member federations constituting the OAA then stood at 18.
Since that time Kiribati has been added to the Association to become the 19th Oceania Athletic Association Member Federation.
“The turn out of the event has been really positive. We encourage the community to continue to show support for these important sporting events and help us welcome athletes from all over the region,” said Tebuteb.
