The 2027 Pacific Games (; ), officially known as the XVIII Pacific Games, and commonly known as Tahiti 2027 or Pirae 2027 () is an upcoming

continent A continent is any of several large geographical regions. Continents are generally identified by convention (norm), convention rather than any strict criteria. A continent could be a single large landmass, a part of a very large landmass, as ...

multi-sport event A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organized teams of athletes from (mostly) nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of intern ...

for

Pacific Island The Pacific islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of several ...

countries and territories that is scheduled to take place in Pirae,

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...

French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...

from 24 July to 8 August 2027. It will be the third

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

to be held in Tahiti after the

1971 South Pacific Games The 4th South Pacific Games (; ), also known as Papeete 1971 (), held in Papeete, Tahiti from 25 August to 5 September 1971, was the fourth edition of the South Pacific Games. Approximately 1,500 male athletes and 500 female athletes participate ...

Papeete Papeete (Tahitian language, Tahitian: ''Papeʻetē'', pronounced ; old name: ''Vaiʻetē''Personal communication with Michael Koch in ) is the capital city of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of the France, French Republic in the Pacific ...

and

1995 South Pacific Games The 10th South Pacific Games (; ), also known as Papeete 1995 (), held in Papeete, French Polynesia from 25 August to 5 September 1995, was the tenth edition of the South Pacific Games. The 1995 games were affected by the decision by France to r ...

in Pirae.

Host selection

Six countries and territories expressed interest in bidding for the games.

American Samoa American Samoa is an Territories of the United States, unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States located in the Polynesia region of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. Centered on , it is southeast of the island count ...

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

, and

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

were among them. When the competition was known as the South Pacific Games, Fiji, Guam, and Tahiti hosted it in the past. Tonga, who were the initial winning bidders for the 2019 Games but later withdrew as host, also indicated their interest in hosting the games. As a result of their unsuccessful bids for the

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and

2015 Pacific Games The 15th Pacific Games, also known as Port Moresby 2015 or POM 2015, was held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, from 4 to 18 July 2015. It was the fifteenth staging of the Pacific Games as well as the third to be hosted in Port Moresby. More tha ...

, American Samoa and Vanuatu also expressed interest. Fiji withdrew its bid earlier in 2021 owing to the effects of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and chose to concentrate on the 2031 Pacific Games instead. The Pacific Games Council narrowed down the remaining candidate nations and territories, eliminating American Samoa, Guam, and Tonga from consideration as hosts in favor of Tahiti and Vanuatu. On 25 June, both Tahiti and Vanuatu presented their official bids for the Games hosting rights. The 22 PGC members that participated in the teleconferenced PGC General Assembly on 6 November 2021, voted in favor of Tahiti's candidacy.

The Games

Sports

The program of the 2027 Pacific Games is expected to include events in at least 24 sports, including 17 of the "core" sports contested since 2023. In their official bid in 2021, the Tahiti 2027 Organizing Committee shortlisted nine proposed sports for consideration as optional events for these Games:

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

powerlifting Powerlifting is a competitive strength athletics, strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: Squat (exercise), squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athle ...

shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missile ...

squash Squash most often refers to: * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (plant), the fruit of vines of the genus ''Cucurbita'' Squash may also refer to: Sports * Squash (professional wrestling), an extr ...

surfing Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suita ...

, and

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

. In November 2023, the Pacific Games Council omitted

and

from the list while approving the other seven as part of their policy of introducing Games-specific sports to maximize local interest and growth. It is also mandatory that at least six sports have events in

parasports Parasports are sports played by people with a disability, including physical and intellectual disabilities. Some parasports are forms of adapted physical activities from existing non-disabled sports, while others have been specifically created f ...

. * * * * ** Basketball (2) ** 3x3 basketball (2) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** Volleyball (indoor) (2) ** Beach volleyball (2) * *

Venues

Venues will be located in various cities in the two islands of Tahiti and Mo'orea which are part of the

Windward Islands The Windward Islands are the southern, generally larger islands of the Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean islands or the West Indies. Located approximately between latitudes 10° and 16° N and longitudes 60° and 62° W, they extend from D ...

. Pirae, the official host city, will host the

opening Opening may refer to: Types of openings * Hole * A title sequence or opening credits * Grand opening of a business or other institution * Inauguration * Keynote * Opening sentence * Opening sequence * Opening statement, a beginning statemen ...

and closing ceremonies at the Pater Stadium. Listed are 20 proposed venues for the 17 compulsory sports only.

Tahiti

Mo'orea

References

{{Pacific Games Pacific Games by year International sports competitions hosted by Tahiti Papeete