NAME OF NOMINEE: Robert Snow AUSTRALIA/PAPUA NEW GUINEA
The World Athletics Plaque of Merit is awarded for meritorious services to World Athletics. The Plaque is awarded to one person from each of the six (6) continental areas at each World Athletics Congress.
Bob is a previous Statistician of the Oceania and continues to work closely with the Oceania Area Association on history and statistical data. He has been instrumental in putting together athlete histories and statistics, which he is continuing to this day. He is currently the Chair of the Oceania Athletics Association, Selection Committee.
Bob began his career in the Pacific in 1974, when he was a teacher in Fiji, organising school carnivals and road running competitions, he is a long-supporter of athletics in this region. He is has lived in a number of the member federations, including Vanuatu, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.
Bob is a Life Member of PNG Athletics and continues to assist the Federation at all levels of the Federation. He continues to visit Fiji where he is still remembered by students from the 1960’s when he taught there.
The 1991 South Pacific Games were held in the Sir John Guise Stadium in Port Moresby, they were a huge success and it was Bob’s job to provide results to the press, as the computer system had broken down. Following the Games, he decided to put together a small publication giving details of Athletics in PNG and continued to do similar publications until the beginning of 2003. Port Moresby in 1991 was the first South Pacific Games he attended and in the years since, he has been to an additional 13 Pacific & Mini Pacific Games.
There is not much that Bob doesn’t remember about athletics in our region or for that matter around the world. In fact we could easily say that Bob has forgotten more than some of us will ever know about the sport. He is an expert on athlete performances in the region and as an announcer has better pronunciation than many of the locals.
He continues to be active by being an official – often an announcer at our Area Championships, Pacific Games and many other competitions. He is a prolific writer and continues to write commentary on all matters athletics both in the Oceania Area and across the world.
Bob has been fortunate to be able to attend World Championships in Edmonton, Moscow & Doha and also attended the World Indoor Championships in Istanbul. Bob is the only Pacific Islands’ member of the Association of Track & Field Statisticians where he is regarded as from PNG, and not Australia!
Bob received an Oceania Merit Award in 1997 and an IAAF Veteran Pin in 2013. He was later awarded Life Membership of Oceania Athletics in 2015.
