2023 Pacific Games opening ceremony

The opening ceremony of the 2023 Pacific Games took place on Sunday, 19 November 2023, at the Solomon Islands National Stadium in Honiara, Solomon Islands.^[1][2]

Proceedings

Parade of nations

Order	Nation	Flag bearer(s)	Sport(s)	Ref.
1	American Samoa	Micah Masei	Swimming	[3]
2	Australia	Ryan Tyack	Archery	[4]
3	Cook Islands	Stephen Willis	Football	[5]
		Julieanne Westrupp	Touch rugby
4	Federated States of Micronesia	Tasi Limtiaco	Swimming	[6]
5	Fiji	Taniela Rainibogi	Weightlifting	[7]
6	Guam	Camden Camacho	Tennis	[8][better source needed]
7	Kiribati	Ruben Katoatau	Weightlifting
8	Marshall Islands	Mattie Sasser	Weightlifting
9	Nauru	Maximina Uepa	Weightlifting	[6]
10	Niue	Ramsi Edwards	Weightlifting	[9]
11 |	New Caledonia	Armonie Konhu	Volleyball	[10]
		Teva Gouriou	Judo
12	New Zealand	David Liti	Weightlifting	[11]
13	Norfolk Island	Malcolm Tarrant	Chef de Mission	[6]
14	Northern Mariana Islands	Isaiah Aleksenko	Swimming	[12]
15	Palau
16	Papua New Guinea	Matthew Stubbings	Tennis	[13]
		Ramona Padio	Football
17	Samoa	Don Opeloge	Weightlifting	[14]
18	Tahiti
19	Tokelau	Ilai Ualesi Elekana Manu	Judo	[6]
20	Tonga
21	Tuvalu	Ioane Hawaii	Table tennis	[6]
22	Vanuatu	Anolyn Lulu	Table tennis	[15]
23	Wallis and Futuna
24	Solomon Islands	Jenly Tegu Wini	Weightlifting	[16]

Officials and guests

Host country dignitaries

• Governor-General of Solomon Islands David Vunagi
• Prime Minister of Solomon Islands Manasseh Sogavare and his wife Emmy Sogavare^[17]

Foreign dignitaries

•  Australia – Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese^{[citation needed]}
•  China – Vice President of the People's Republic of China Han Zheng^{[citation needed]}
•  Palau – President of Palau Surangel Whipps Jr.^[18]
•  Papua New Guinea – Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea James Marape^[17]

International Organizations

• President of the IOC Thomas Bach
• President of the Oceania National Olympic Committees Robin E. Mitchell
• President of the Pacific Games Council Vidhya Lakhan
• Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres

See also

• 2022 Asian Games opening ceremony

References

1. "Sol2023 Opening Ceremony exactly 6 months out". 2023 Pacific Games Solomon Islands. 19 May 2023. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
2. "Pacific Games opening ceremony tickets 'expected to run out soon' - organisers". RNZ. November 1, 2023.
3. "Carrying the American Samoa Flag is territory's sole Olympian". www.samoanews.com. 2023-11-20. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
4. "Archer Ryan Tyack named Flag Bearer for Australian Pacific Games Team in Solomon Islands". Australian Olympic Committee. 2023-11-18. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
5. "'We play with heart': Team Cook Islands flagbearers lead special parade". Cook Islands News. 2023-11-06. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
6. "Athletes From Across The Pacific React To Sol2023 Opening Ceremony | Sol2023 Pacific Games". 2023-11-20. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
7. Narayan, Vijay (16 November 2023). "Rainibogi will be Team Fiji's flag bearer at the 2023 Pacific Games". www.fijivillage.com. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
8. "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
9. "Pacific Games 2023: Niue's flagbearer has Solomon link". Radio New Zealand. 8 November 2023. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
10. Charmasson, Martin; Vergès, Franck. "INTERVIEW. Armonie Konhu, flag bearer at the Pacific Games: "it's very moving and I think it will be even more so during the opening ceremony"". dayFREURO. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
11. "David Liti has been named New Zealand Team Flagbearer for the Solomon Islands 2023 Pacific Games 🇳🇿". New Zealand Olympic Committee Instagram. 19 November 2023. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
12. "Aleksenko named NMI flagbearer for 2023 Pacific Games". Marianas Variety news. 13 November 2023. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
13. "Stubbings and Padio, flag bearers for Team PNG". Post-Courier. 13 November 2023. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
14. Staff Reporters (2023-11-10). "Samoa sends off 433 strong Team for SOL23 Pacific Games". Talamua Online. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
15. Mwai, Nicholas (2023-11-14). "Vanuatu Team set sail for South Pacific Games". Vanuatu Daily Post. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
16. Wini, Jenly Tegu (19 November 2023). "Pacific Games 2023 opened with spectacular ceremony: Home weightlifting legend Jenly Tegu Wini carries the flag for the Solomon Islands". www.olympics.com.
17. "Marape to make presence felt in Pacific Games opening ceremony". Papua New Guinea Post Courier. 15 November 2023. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
18. "Pacific Games stirs pride in the Solomon Islands". Radio Free Asia. Retrieved 2023-12-16.