THEY call him the memory of the games because Bob Snow lives up to it.
The former school teacher’s style of recalling fact has left many, especially local television viewers, in awe.
One may wonder how he is able to remember the history of the games so precisely – for Snow it just another part of his life.
“For many years I have been collecting information about the athletes,” he said.
“I remember all these facts and figures because I remember the athletes. It is the athletes that make up the games and the figures.”
“Sports are about people and not about the facts and figures of the games.”
Snow is enjoying his first trip to Cook Islands and is involved as a co-commentator with the host broadcaster supplying live coverage of the 2009 Pacific Mini Games.
“I have been involved in the South Pacific Games since 1975,” he said. “When I was a school teacher back then in Taveuni, Fiji, I got heavily involved with the Pacific Islands athletics between 1975 and 1976.”
Snow’s first fall for athletics was back in 1956 at the Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia.
The Australian citizen was inspired by then sprinter Betty Cuthbert, who achieved global fame for her splendid performance in 1956 Olympics.
He pursued his passion not as an athlete but as an athletics analyzer and soon gained Pacific recognition for his outstanding work.
Snow has spent half of his life roving around the Pacific Island countries.
And during this time, he has helped development of sports in various countries like Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.
He was the Pacific’s athletics statistician from the 1990s until 2003.
“I was later honoured with the privilege of being the Oceania statistician in 2000,” he said. - Rashneel Kumar: Cook Islands News