Themed "Inspiration to Action," the forum drew approximately 60 participants from NOCs and Associate Member nations across the Pacific. Over three days, delegates engaged with sessions on athlete representation, anti-doping education, safeguarding, Olympic Solidarity programmes and games-time support, before committing to individual NOC Athlete Commission action plans on the final day.

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"My horizon and my thoughts have really broadened, and a lot of thinking outside of the box. I'm just as excited to go home and start using “Inspiration to Action” and just begin to do a few things." Manine Lynch, Cook Islands Athletes' Commission.

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For Manine Lynch, representing the Cook Islands at her first athletes forum, the three days left a clear impression. Being in the room with commissioners from across the Pacific, hearing different perspectives and sharing experiences proved to be the defining element. Observing the General Assembly alongside NOC presidents and secretaries general was equally significant, and Lynch described sitting in the front row as a once-in-a-lifetime experience, one that sparked questions she was eager to bring back to her own leadership team.

"I thought it was really cool to be in a room filled with majority Pacific Islanders and seeing that they were at the forefront of making decisions. I just think it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to actually see that and see myself in people." Manine Lynch, Cook Islands Athletes' Commission.

That sense of possibility was echoed by Jimzam Yoshi Harris of the Nauru Athletes' Commission. Attending the forum as a new commission chair while still competing in rugby sevens, Harris described the experience as both humbling and energising. Surrounded by veteran athlete representatives and passionate advocates, he spoke candidly about the question that stayed with him throughout the programme, where do leaders find their motivation when the reward is no longer a gold medal?

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"Listening to the collective group express how people find their drive, their motivation, not letting the people that you surround yourself with down, just making sure that you surround yourself with people with the same passion, the same drive, and then trying to push that onto the next generation of athletes. I find it very, very inspiring." Jimzam Yoshi Harris, Nauru Athletes' Commission.

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Harris plans to return to Nauru and share what he has learnt, carrying the forum's foundational message; that ONOC puts athletes at the centre of every decision, back to a community still building its commission from the ground up.

For Vanuatu's Ajah Pritchard-Lolo, attending her third athletes forum, the growth is already measurable. Where Vanuatu's commission once had little structure and no roadmap, she is now the one offering guidance to those newly joining. Each forum, she has made a point of bringing along an athlete representative from home widening the network and deepening the commission's capacity.

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"Our athletes commission was very dormant when we stepped into the role, it was really a lot of self-taught things. Coming here, I've been trying to bring an athlete rep each time, and now it's really opening their eyes." Ajah Pritchard-Lolo, Vanuatu Athletes' Commission.

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Pritchard-Lolo noted that observing the General Assembly reinforced what athlete leadership can become. The same difficult conversations, the same commitment to doing right by athletes, she left Auckland with a clearer picture of where the path could lead.

The 2026 Oceania Athletes' Forum was supported by Olympic Solidarity and hosted by ONOC as part of the XLVI Annual General Assembly Week in Auckland, New Zealand.

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