Sir John Awarded

President of the PNG Olympic Committee, Sir John Dawanincura is the sixth recipient of the Inaugural PNGOC’s Order of Merit Award.

He received the award yesterday during PNGOC’s team bonding in Port Moresby. 
Sir John has been instrumental in building the image and growth of what use to be Papua New Guinea Sports Federation & Olympic Committee (PNGFOC) since 1984 from humble beginnings as the first official staff member to what is now a high profile and a widely respected entity known as the PNGOC today.

Sir John was PNGOC Secretary-General from 1984 to 2010, a total of 26-years. In June 2012, he was elected President and currently serving his final term ending in June 2024.

He has been involved in the Sport and Olympic movement as an athlete and administrator for a total period of 56 years, 38 years of which has been with the PNG Olympic Committee. 

He was a member of the 2009 Bid Committee that successfully won the bid to host the 2015 Pacific Games and assumed the role of Deputy Chairperson for the 2015 Pacific Games Authority from June 2012 to 2016.  Sir John served as President of the Pacific Games Council from 1995 to 1999 and Vice President of Oceania National Olympic Committees (ONOC) from 1993 to 1997 and from 2001 to 2005. During his tenure on the ONOC Executive, he chaired the ONOC Development Commission from 1993 to 1997.

He was also a member of the Executive Board of the Association of National Olympic Committee (ANOC) from 1993 to 1997 and 2001 to 2005. He currently serves on the ANOC Marketing and New Source Finance Commission since 2015.

Sir John is Honorary Life Member of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) and current member of the CGF Ethics Commission since 2018.

He was an athlete in the PNG Rugby Union Team to the 1966 and 1969 South Pacific Games and captained the team in 1966.
Sir John is the current President of PNG Weightlifting since 2011 and Vice President of the Commonwealth Weightlifting Federation since 2014.

Upon receiving the Award, Sir John said: "We do things because we love to do things for our athletes.  A small part of our contribution. Thank you for the award.” 

Author: 
Press Release