Lawn bowls has kick-started the revived Cook Island Games in Rarotonga this weekend, with close to one fifth of the country's population set to participate in the multi-sport event.
Lawn bowls has kick-start the revived Cook Island Games for the first time since 2015. Photo: Facebook / Cook Island Bowls
It's the first of 24 sports set to be played over the next three weeks, which also featured traditional cultural sports, as well as the popular rugby league, sailing and beach volleyball codes.
President of the Cook Islands Sports and National Olympic Committee (CISNOC), Hugh Graham, said it had been an emotional week.
"It's a huge year...we had George George, one of our former executive board members, at the Games last night and he was very very emotional," he said.
"The teams, the colours, the seriousness of the competition [is] unheard of, so it's been a real buzz with the first lot of Games for lawn bowls."
Of the 15 islands that make up the Cook Islands 11 are participating in the event with over 3000 athletes competing.
Cook Islands players celebrate Moeroa Harmon's opening goal. Photo: Oceania Football
Secretary General, Owen Lewis, said he had never seen anything like it on the island before.
"We've got over 3000 athletes [and] 24 sports, now if you compare that to the Pacific Mini Games in Vanuatu in 2017, there were 14 sports and 2000 athletes so we're bigger than a Mini Games.
"Everyone's flying their colours and really proud to get out there. There's this Games feeling around and I think that's probably the way to sum it up. Everyone's buzzing."
The official ceremony to open the event will get underway this weekend and despite being on a "very tight budget" Graham said locals and spectators watching online could expect to witness an incredible production.
"We're on final touches at the moment because we are operating on a budget that is very very tight, but I went to the dress rehearsal last night and the cultural entertainment is magnificent."
Graham said he was also humbled to receive a video message from the President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach.
Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic committee. Photo: RNZ / Diego Opatowski
"There were a few tears when I first watched it... but we are very humbled because one of the comments he makes is that the Cook Islands are showing the world that even during these troubled times, a small island like ours can put on a sporting event of this nature."
"We are just so proud that someone of that stature has sent us a message with words of encouragement to all our athletes and the people of the Cook Islands."
It's been five years since the event was last held but has been revived as a way to bolster sporting competition in the country in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ironically Lewis said the Games wouldn't be as successful as it was if it wasn't for the coronavirus pandemic.
"To be fair, I'm not sure that we could have done this if we didn't have Covid. I don't think we'd have the same response."
"I think this is one of those things that's been a real positive thing about Covid is that it's brought the community a lot closer together. It's made us re-think about our values and what we believe in, and it's made us even more proud to be Cook Islanders."
And while CISNOC hoped the event would boost local talent, one of the five overseas-based athletes set to represent the country in the delayed Tokyo Olympics next year was expected to make an appearance.
"We have one of our olympians here who came prior to the lockdown, our Sportsman of the Year, sprinter Alex Beddoes.
Lewis said there was already some controversy over which island the gold medalist belonged to.
Alex Beddoes, double gold medalist at the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa, was named 2020 Cook Islands Sportsman of the Year. Photo: Facebook / Cook Islands Sports
