Auckland, New Zealand — 19 May 2026 · ONOC Media

The Oceania National Olympic Committees (ONOC) marked Day 3 of the XLVI Annual General Assembly Week in Auckland with a powerful cultural welcome at Ōrākei Marae and back-to-back strategic forums that placed parasport, Commonwealth Sport and the Pacific's Road to Brisbane 2032 squarely at the centre of the regional conversation.

The day's highlight was the Official Welcome (Pōwhiri) hosted by Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei at Ōrākei Marae, where IOC President Mrs Kirsty Coventry and NZOC Chief Executive and Secretary General Mrs Nicki Nicol led the manuhiri (visitors) onto the marae. The ceremony brought together IOC, ONOC and NZOC senior leadership in a traditional Māori process of encounter grounded in tikanga, whakapapa and manaakitanga. A shared kai (morning tea) and a media stand-up with President Coventry and CEO Nicol concluded the visit.

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“The Pōwhiri at Ōrākei Marae was powerful, and it centred the entire purpose of our AGA. As Oceania gathers here in Aotearoa New Zealand, we were reminded by Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei that we come together not just as administrators of sport, but as one Olympic family bound by culture, by respect and by the values we live every day through the Olympic Movement. That welcome will carry us through the rest of the week.” — Mrs Baklai Temengil-Chilton, President, ONOC

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Day 3 also included the Oceania Paralympic Committee (OPC) Forum, chaired by OPC Board Member Alison Cray with OPC President Paul Bird OAM PLY, which set a refreshed strategic agenda for Pacific parasport and a clear ambition of seventeen Oceania flags at Brisbane 2032, anchored by a new Oceania Classification Strategy supported by DFAT seed funding. The Commonwealth Sport Regional Forum followed, opened by Regional Vice President Craig Phillips AM and Commonwealth Sport President Dr Donald Rukare on his first official visit to Oceania, with Glasgow 2026 Chief Executive Phil Batty OBE delivering a detailed Games update at 65 days to opening.

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The day also advanced key governance business behind closed doors, preparing Members for informed decision-making at the formal Annual General Assembly Session on Thursday 21 May. Delegates closed the day with the NZOC Welcome Reception at Somm Wine Bar & Bistro.

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“The day's programme has been critical to developing clear collaborations and pathways for all of our NOCs and our partners. From parasport to Commonwealth Sport, every conversation today has come back to the same priority: putting the interests of our athletes across Oceania first, and making sure the systems, the partnerships and the pathways behind them are stronger because of the work we are doing together this week.” — Mrs Baklai Temengil-Chilton, President, ONOC

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Day 4 will shift focus to the full-day ONOC Workshop, alongside the ORADO Workshop, the ONOC Athletes' Commission Forum Briefing, and the UN Women Pacific Breaking Ground documentary screening and panel discussion on ending violence against women and girls in and through sport.

The XLVI ONOC Annual General Assembly Week runs from 17 to 23 May 2026 at the Hilton Auckland, with the formal AGA Session on Thursday 21 May.