The Oceania Athletics Association (OAA) is the governing body for the

sport of athletics Athletics is a group of sporting events that involves competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and racewalking. The results ...

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern and Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of and a population of around 44.5 million ...

. The OAA head office is located in Varsity Lakes, Gold Coast,

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Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

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 (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...

, then

Territory of Papua and New Guinea The Territory of Papua and New Guinea, officially the Administrative Union of the Territory of Papua and the Territory of New Guinea, was established by an administrative union between the Australian-administered territories of Papua and New G ...

, at the time of the 3rd

South Pacific Games The Pacific Games (French: Jeux du Pacifique), is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from Oceania. The inaugural Games took place in 1963 in Suva, Fiji, and most recently in 2019 in Apia, Samoa. The Games wer ...

. The name was changed to Oceania Athletics Organization (OAA) in February 2007.

Presidents

The current president of the association, Geoff Gardner (Norfolk Island) was firstly elected at the OAA Council held on the Gold Coast,

, Australia, in February 2007. and re-elected on February 4, 2011 at the OAA Council held in

Tweed Heads Tweed Heads is a town in New South Wales. It is located on the Tweed River in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia, in Tweed Shire, next to the border with Queensland and adjacent to its "twin town" of Coolangatta, which is a suburb of the ...

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, Australia.

Competitions

The OAA holds the following championships: *

Oceania Combined Events Championships The Oceania Combined Events Championships are an annual athletics competition organized by the Oceania Athletics Association (OAA) for athletes representing the countries of its member associations in men's decathlon and women's heptathlon. Th ...

Oceania Cross Country Championships The Oceania Cross Country Championships are a biennial Cross country running competition organized by the Oceania Athletics Association (OAA) for athletes representing the countries of its member associations. They were established in 2009, and we ...

Oceania Marathon and Half Marathon Championships The Oceania Marathon and Half Marathon Championships are an annual Road running competition organized by the Oceania Athletics Association (OAA) for athletes representing the countries of its member associations. They were established in 2008. R ...

Oceania Race Walking Championships The Oceania Race Walking Championships is an annual race walking competition not only for athletes representing countries from Oceania, organized by the Oceania Athletics Association (OAA). It was established in 2011 and has featured races for se ...

* 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

Associate member associations

A modification of Article 4.2 of

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

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." As a consequence, the OAA made constitutional amendments to its Article 2.5, introducing an associate membership to allow territories like

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Niue Niue (, ; niu, Niuē) is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, northeast of New Zealand. Niue's land area is about and its population, predominantly Polynesian, was about 1,600 in 2016. Niue is located in a triangle between T ...

, and

Wallis and Futuna Wallis and Futuna, officially the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands (; french: Wallis-et-Futuna or ', Fakauvea and Fakafutuna: '), is a French island collectivity in the South Pacific, situated between Tuvalu to the northwest, Fiji ...

to participate officially "in OAA activities, including area and regional competitions". This also applies for

Tokelau Tokelau (; ; known previously as the Union Islands, and, until 1976, known officially as the Tokelau Islands) is a dependent territory of New Zealand in the southern Pacific Ocean. It consists of three tropical coral atolls: Atafu, Nukunonu, a ...

, where the first athletics event ever took place recently. In 2008,

became the first associate member, Niue followed in 2009.

References

External links

OAA official website
{{Oceania Athletics Championships Athletics organizations Ath Athletics in Oceania Sports organizations established in 1969 1969 establishments in Oceania