2023 Pacific Games

The 2023 Pacific Games, officially known as the XVII Pacific Games and commonly known as Sol 2023 or Honiara 2023, was a continental multi-sport event for Oceania countries and territories held in Honiara, Solomon Islands between 19 November and 2 December 2023.^[1] This was the first time that the Solomon Islands have hosted the Pacific Games.

XVII Pacific Games

Official logo of the Games
Host city	Honiara
Country	Solomon Islands
Motto	Challenge, Celebrate, Unite
Nations	24
Events	342 in 24 sports
Opening	19 November 2023
Closing	2 December 2023
Opened by	Manasseh Sogavare
Athlete's Oath	Marx Boussougou Lara Grangeon
Website	sol2023.com.sb
← Apia 2019 Pirae 2027 →

The Games were originally scheduled for 16–29 July 2023. However, in July 2021, the Games organizers requested a date change due to delays in preparation for the games caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in Solomon Islands.^[2]

New Caledonia topped the medal table by both total golds (82) and total medals (197), with Tahiti finishing second by both respects (57 and 160). Australia finished third, setting a record for the most gold medals and total medals ever won by their delegation at a Pacific Games with 50 and 84. Samoa finished fourth, with a total of 34 gold and 76 medals. Papua New Guinea rounded off the top five list with 29 gold medals and third in the overall medal count, with 105 medals. Host nation Solomon Islands won twelve gold medals and 78 medals, its best result at any Pacific Games, finishing in seventh place. Marshall Islands won their first ever Pacific Games gold medals, a record five all from weightlifting.

Host selection

Two countries expressed interest and launched bids for the 17th games. Tahiti, French Polynesia, which hosted the event in 1971 and 1995, was the first to express their intentions in hosting the 2023 Games during the Pacific Games Council (PGC) General Assembly in Port Moresby in July 2015. The other bidder, the Solomon Islands, in 2016 expressed interest with Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare launching the country's bid for a potential first time host of the quadrennial event.^[3] On 11 May 2016, during the PGC General Assembly in Port Vila, with the decision taken by the 22 members of the PGC awarded the hosting rights to the Solomon Islands. The margin of victory was reportedly a single vote.^[4]

2023 Pacific Games bidding results
City	PGA	Final Votes
Honiara	Solomon Islands	12
Pape'ete	Tahiti, French Polynesia	10

Development and preparation

The 'Pacific Games 2023 Act 2017' created the National Hosting Authority (NHA) as the 2023 Pacific Games Hosting Authority to manage the duties of the committees created by the Act, including the Games Organizing Committee, Games Facilities Committee, and NHA Secretariat.^[5] The NHA's responsibility is to oversee the 2023 Pacific Games overall by making sure the Solomon Islands Pacific Games Association and the Government fulfill their obligations under the host contract and by managing the Games' financial planning and budgeting. This strives to ensure vital connection between public services, venues, and building. Additionally, NHA makes sure that the provisions of the Pacific Games 2023 Act (2017) are followed and upheld.^[6]

Security

Military and police personal from Australia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, and New Zealand assisted the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force throughout the games.^[7][8]

Venues

The games will take place in 11 venues spread across the host city of Honiara. The 2023 Pacific Games' sport venues are conveniently close to one another and can be reached in 5 to 30 minutes.^[9] The following venues have been confirmed:

• Aquatic Center (new) – Swimming
• DC Park (existing) – Archery, Sailing, Open water swimming, Touch rugby, Va’a/Outrigger canoeing
• Friendship Hall (new) – Basketball, Boxing, Netball, Volleyball
• HCC Sports Precinct (existing) – Table tennis
• Honiara Golf Club (existing) – Golf
• King George Hockey Turf (renovated) – Field hockey
• Lawson Tama Stadium (existing) – Football
• Maranatha Hall (existing) – Bodybuilding, Powerlifting, Weightlifting
• National Stadium (Solomon Islands)/Main Stadium (new) – Opening Ceremony, Closing Ceremony, Athletics, Football, Rugby league 9s, Rugby 7s
• National Tennis Center (renovated) – Tennis
• SIFF Academy (existing) – 3x3 Basketball, Beach volleyball, Karate, Judo
  • SIFF Academy (Field 1 & 2) – Football

Participating nations

24 countries and territories participated: the 22 Pacific Games Associations (PGA), and two Associate members - New Zealand, and Australia.

•  American Samoa (189)
•  Australia (75)
•  Cook Islands (103)
•  Federated States of Micronesia (4)
•  Fiji (592)
•  Guam (49)
•  Kiribati (111)
•  Marshall Islands (8)
•  Nauru (100)
•  New Caledonia (285)
•  New Zealand (46)
•  Niue (47)
•  Norfolk Island (30)
•  Northern Mariana Islands (92)
•  Palau (23)
•  Papua New Guinea (382)
•  Samoa (112)
•  Solomon Islands (601) (Host)
•  Tahiti (223)
•  Tokelau (1)
•  Tonga (58)
•  Tuvalu (81)
•  Vanuatu (158)
•  Wallis and Futuna (63)

Sports

As amended in the Pacific Games charter on 14 July 2019, in Apia, Samoa, the programme of the Pacific Games shall consist of 17 mandatory sports and 7 optionals who have to reflect the local interests.^[10][11] The following sports are scheduled for the games:

•  Archery (14)
•  Athletics (54)
•  Basketball
  • Basketball (2)
  • 3x3 basketball (2)
•  Bodybuilding (12)
•  Boxing (12)
•  Field hockey (2)
•  Football (2)
•  Golf (4)
•  Judo (14)
•  Karate (16)
•  Netball (1)
•  Outrigger canoeing (20)
•  Powerlifting (16)
•  Rugby league nines (2)
•  Rugby sevens (2)
•  Sailing (6)
•  Swimming (43)
•  Table tennis (11)
•  Taekwondo (19)
•  Tennis (7)
•  Touch rugby (3)
•  Triathlon (6)
•  Volleyball
  • Volleyball (2)
  • Beach volleyball (2)
•  Weightlifting (60)

Calendar

The 2023 schedule by session was released by the Games Organizing Committee on 19 June 2023.^[12]

Daily medal events for all sports are yet to be confirmed.

All dates are Solomon Islands Time (GMT+11)

November/December 2023		November														December		Events
		17 Fri	18 Sat	19 Sun	20 Mon	21 Tue	22 Wed	23 Thu	24 Fri	25 Sat	26 Sun	27 Mon	28 Tue	29 Wed	30 Thu	1 Fri	2 Sat
Ceremonies				OC													CC
Archery						●		●
Athletics												7	10	10	12	13	2
Basketball	Basketball	●	●		●	●	●	●	●	2
	3×3 Basketball													●	●	●	2
Bodybuilding												10
Boxing													●		●	4	9
Field hockey													●	●	●	2
Football		●	●		●	●		●	●			●	●		●	1	1
Golf							●	●	●	4
Judo					●	14
Karate
Netball												●	●	●	●	●	1
Outrigger canoeing												●	●
Powerlifting													8	4	4
Rugby league nines					●	●	2
Rugby sevens								●	●	2
Sailing					●	●	●	●	●			●	●	●	●	●
Swimming					8	8	8	8	8	3
Table tennis					●	●	4	●	2	8
Taekwondo
Tennis		●	●		●	2	●	●	●	●		●	●	1	4
Touch rugby												●	●	2	●	●	1
Triathlon
Volleyball	Indoor volleyball	●	●		●	●	●	●	●	2
	Beach volleyball												●	●	●	●	2
Weightlifting					15	12	12	12	9
Total events
Cumulative total
November/December		Fri 17	Sat 18	Sun 19	Mon 20	Tue 21	Wed 22	Thu 23	Fri 24	Sat 25	Sun 26	Mon 27	Tue 28	Wed 29	Thu 30	Fri 1	Sat 2	Events

OC

Opening ceremony

●

Event competitions

1

Gold medal events

CC

Closing ceremony

Medal table

  *   Host nation (Solomon Islands)

2023 Pacific Games medal table^[13]

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	New Caledonia	82	57	58	197
2	Tahiti	57	53	50	160
3	Australia	50	24	10	84
4	Samoa	34	21	21	76
5	Papua New Guinea	29	37	39	105
6	Fiji	21	30	40	91
7	Solomon Islands*	12	36	30	78
8	New Zealand	10	13	12	35
9	Nauru	10	12	6	28
10	Guam	7	4	6	17
11	Cook Islands	5	3	10	18
12	Marshall Islands	5	3	2	10
13	Northern Mariana Islands	5	1	6	12
14	Wallis and Futuna	3	6	6	15
15	Vanuatu	3	5	11	19
16	Kiribati	3	2	6	11
17	Federated States of Micronesia	3	1	0	4
18	Tonga	2	8	9	19
19	Niue	1	0	1	2
20	Tuvalu	0	5	0	5
21	American Samoa	0	3	3	6
22	Palau	0	0	3	3
23	Norfolk Island	0	0	1	1
24	Tokelau	0	0	0	0
Totals (24 entries)		342	324	330	996

Ceremonies

Opening ceremony

Main article: 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.

Closing ceremony

The closing ceremony was held on 2 December 2023, in Solomon Islands National Stadium.

See also

• 2022 Asian Games

References

1. "Solomon Islands awarded 2023 Pacific Games". insidethegames.biz. 11 May 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
2. "Pacific Games in 2023 delayed by four months after Solomon Islands request more time". insidethegames.biz. 10 July 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
3. "Solomon Islands to challenge Tahiti for right to host 2023 Pacific Games". insidethegames.biz. 6 May 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
4. "Solomon Islands awarded 2023 Pacific Games". insidethegames.biz. 11 May 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
5. "Pacific Games 2023 Act 2017" (PDF). www.parliament.gov.sb. National Parliament of Solomon Islands. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
6. "NHA Homepage". www.sol2023nha.com. SOL2023NHA. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
7. "Pacific Games 2023: NZDF contingent to support Solomon Islands". RNZ. 14 November 2023. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
8. "Australia sends 100 police to Solomon Islands for Pacific Games". Reuters. 8 November 2023. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
9. "Venues". www.sol2023.com.sb. SOL23. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
10. "Pacific Games Council" (PDF 705 KB). 14 July 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
11. "SOL2023 PACIFIC GAMES MASTER PLAN" (PDF 747 KB). National Hosting Authority - Sol2023. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
12. "GOC release Sol2023 Sports Schedule". Sol2023. 19 June 2023. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
13. "Medal standings". 2023 Pacific Games. Retrieved 21 November 2023.