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Oceania Athletics Association

Formation	August 21, 1969
Type	Sports federation
Headquarters	Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Membership	20 member + 2 associate member federations
President	Geoff Gardner
Website	www.athletics-oceania.com

The Oceania Athletics Association (OAA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics in Oceania. The OAA head office is located in Varsity Lakes, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.

History

The OAA was founded as Oceania Amateur Athletic Organization (OAAA) on August 21, 1969, during a "Congress of the delegates of Member Countries of the Australasian Area" held in Port Moresby, then Territory of Papua and New Guinea, at the time of the 3rd South Pacific Games. The name was changed to Oceania Athletics Organization in February 2007.^[1][2]

Presidents

The current president of the association, Geoff Gardner (Norfolk Island) was
firstly elected at the OAA Council held in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, in
February 2007.^[3] and re-elected on February 4, 2011 at the OAA Council held in Tweed Heads, New South Wales, Australia.

Name	Country	Presidency
Arthur Hodsdon	Australia	1969-1978
Lee Morrison	Australia	1978-1985
Clive Lee	Australia	1985-1991
Peter Anderson	Papua New Guinea	1991-1995
Viliame S Tunidau	Fiji	1995-1999
Anne Tierney	Cook Islands	1999-2007
Geoff Gardner	Norfolk Island	2007-

Competitions

The OAA holds the following championships:

• Oceania Combined Events Championships


• Oceania Cross Country Championships


• Oceania Marathon and Half Marathon Championships


• Oceania Race Walking Championships


• Oceania Championships
  
  • Oceania Area Championships
  
  
  • Oceania Junior Championships
  
  
  • Oceania Youth Championships
  
  

Moreover, the following regional championships were organized:

• Melanesian Championships


• Micronesian Championships


• Polynesian Championships

In 2011, a new regional concept was introduced, and the three regional championships and the Oceania Championships were unified to the Oceania Regional (or Area) Championships, or simply again Oceania Championships. Two regions "East" and "West" were classified. Athletes from the two regions may compete together at the championships, but results will be separated for rankings purposes, and medals are awarded separately.

Member associations

Nation	Organisation	Link
Western Region
Australia	Athletics Australia	[1]
Guam	Guam Track and Field Association
Kiribati	Kiribati Athletics Association
Marshall Islands	Marshall Islands Athletics
Federated States of Micronesia	Federated States of Micronesia Athletic Association
Nauru	Athletics Nauru
Northern Mariana Islands	Northern Marianas Athletics
Palau	Palau Track and Field Association	[2]
Papua New Guinea	Athletics Papua New Guinea
Solomon Islands	Athletic Solomons	[3]
Vanuatu	Vanuatu Athletics Federation
Eastern Region
American Samoa	American Samoa Track & Field Association	[4]
Cook Islands	Athletics Cook Islands Inc.	[5]
Fiji	Athletics Fiji	[6]
French Polynesia	Fédération d'athlétisme de Polynésie française	[7]
New Caledonia (associate member)	Ligue de la Nouvelle-Calédonie d'athlétisme	[8]
New Zealand	Athletics New Zealand	[9]
Niue (associate member)	Niue Athletics Association
Norfolk Island	Athletics Norfolk Island
Samoa	Athletics Samoa
Tonga	Tonga Athletic Association
Tuvalu	Tuvalu Athletics Association

Associate member associations

A modification of Article 4.2 of the IAAF constitution set new rules limiting its membership as follows:
"The national governing body for Athletics in any Country or Territory shall
be eligible for Membership. Members that represented Territories on
31 December 2005 shall continue to be Members. No new Territories shall
be admitted to the Membership."^[4]

As a consequence the OAA made constitutional amendments^[5] to its Article 2.5 introducing an associate membership to allow territories like New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, and Niue to participate officially "in OAA activities, including area and regional competitions".^[6] This also applies for Tokelau where the first athletics event ever took place recently.^[7]

In 2008, New Caledonia became the first Associate Member,^[1][8] Niue followed in 2009.^[1]

References

External links

• OAA official website