Transcript
ANDREW MINOGUE: Why Samoa? Well they put in an expression of interest that met all of the criteria that we set out. They were the only country that was able to tick all of the boxes that we asked for and so the decision in the end was quite a straightforward one for our executive board. And I guess the most important thing that they had in their proposal was the full and unequivocal support - including financial support - from the government and that I think was the most decisive factor in the decision.
JAMIE TAHANA: And what are those criteria? What are those boxes that they managed to tick?
AM: Well we wanted to know when the games were going to be held, the dates, the number of sports that they'd be able to host. We also wanted to be able to know the per diem, or the levy that they charge on all athletes and officials coming to the games. We wanted to know what venues they had and the state of completion of venues and whether refurbishments or construction needed to be done, the government support which we talked about earlier. They were all the things that we were looking for to be addressed in the expression of interest proposal, and Samoa was able to complete all of those steps very efficiently and very successfully.
JT: It's only a year and a half or so until the games begin. It's not much time to prepare is it?
AM: No and essentially a process like this was really trying to find who amongst our members had a number of facilities already in place, had some experienced people who have delivered events recently, and I think in Samoa's favour is the fact that they had the games 10 years ago in 2007 and the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2015, just two years ago, and a lot of the people that have been involved in those two big events are still around running sports federations and so on. So they were looking for a very capable pair of hands and i think they've proven to be that, and that's what's going to be needed. As you said, we've only got less than two years before the games will actually take place.
JT: Yeah as you say they've got all the facilities and officials and such, is there anything they'll need to do in preparation for the Pacific Games?
AM: I think they'll need some refurbishments of some of the venues. Most of them are in very good shape but there's a few of them that do need some work and I believe they have an agreement with the Chinese government for some refurbishment work. I think the biggest task they have is just putting the people together, the team who are going to deliver the games. We're going to have to get a CEO and a board, and staff who are possibly working in other jobs now or have to find the time within their current jobs to sort of come together and put a delivery team in place. That'll be the biggest challenge, I think, but as I said, there's a lot of experienced people there and we think they're up to the challenge.
JT: So you think we're well on track for a successful games here?
AM: I believe so, I believe so.
