ONOC Eyeing Continental Games; Asian Games Hits Social Milestone

ONOC Moves Toward Continental Games

All 17 members attending the Oceanic National Olympic Committees General Assembly signed a memorandum of understanding to support the Pacific Games becoming ONOC’s official continental games.

"We are the only region in the Olympic family that does not have a continental games," Robin Mitchell, ONOC President, said at the General Assembly in Guam.

Discussions to elevate the Pacific Games to continental status had been ongoing, but debate over whether to invite Australia and New Zealand had delayed talks.

Both Papua New Guinea and Fiji oppose inviting Australia and New Zealand, who despite being ONOC members have not participated in any editions.

"The region is different and so vast, and we have to rationalize and consolidate, so by including Australia and New Zealand, it’ll lift standards of competition in the Pacific," Chet Gray, secretary general of Organization of Sports Federations of Oceania, said.

"The Pacific Games could become the Oceania Games."

Asian Games Social Media Reaches 10 Million Hits

In the past year, over 10.2 million people have visited the official social media platforms for the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.

The Incheon Asian Games opened official accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Kakao Talk, YouTube, Weibo and Youku last May. By last month, they had attracted about 2.3 million fans.

In a release on Monday, Husain Al-Musallam, the director general and technical director of the Olympic Council of Asia, was quoted as saying that the figure "not only proves the great popularity of our Asian Games ... but also that the Asian Games is moving with the trends in technology."

The Incheon Asian Games will run from September 19 to October 4.

Honorary DOSB President Passes Away

The honorary president of Germany’s national Olympic committee died Thursday in Berlin.

Manfred von Richthofen, 80, was head of the German Sports Federation from 1994 to 2006. He helped lead the merger with the national Olympic committee to form the DOSB, of which he served as honorary president from then on.

He played hockey early in his life and later served in sports management.

His uncle of the same name was a World War I flying ace who is more commonly known as the Red Baron.

Written by Aaron Bauer, Andrew Murrell, and Nick Devlin.

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