Nauru’s heart has a special place for Australian Football. The men’s national team is nicknamed the “Chiefs”, the women’s side the “Aoreni” and the junior teams the “Stars”. They have competed in the Australian Football International Cup, the Arafura Games and the Barassi International Youth Tournament, winning gold at the Arafura Games and finishing as high as 5th at the International Cup, in 2008 and again in 2017. Since 2024 the regional tournament has been the AFL Pacific Cup, where the Nauruan men finished runners-up to Papua New Guinea and the women won the title on debut.

Another popular sport in Nauru is weightlifting, and every one of the country’s Commonwealth Games medals has been won in that field – 33 of them in all (10 gold, 11 silver and 12 bronze), enough to place Nauru 22nd on the all-time Commonwealth Games medal tally despite a population of around twelve thousand. The most recent came at Glasgow in 2026, where 17-year-old Femily-Crystie Notte took bronze in the women’s 63kg and Ezekiel Moses bronze in the men’s 71kg. The Nauru Soccer Federation is not a member of the OFC or FIFA, so the national soccer team is not eligible to enter either the World Cup or the OFC Nations Cup and has never played an official international. Tennis, golf and swimming are also some of the best spectator sports that can be seen in the country.

Linkbelt Oval in Aiwo, home of the Nauru Australian Football Association, has long served as the island’s main sports ground, but its age and its playing surface of phosphate dust fall well short of international standards. A replacement is finally on the way: the New Nauru Stadium, part of the Nauru Sports Centre being built on the Topside plateau in Meneng district, will seat 1,000 spectators around an artificial pitch and a ten-lane running track, and is due to be completed in December 2027.

Below are details of sports, sporting events and sports people related to Nauru. Is there something missing? If you know of something that should be listed here, please let us know.

Popular sports of Nauru

Nauru Sporting Success

  • 33 Commonwealth Games medals (10 gold, 11 silver, 12 bronze), every one of them in weightlifting – 22nd on the all-time Commonwealth Games tally.
  • Gold in Australian Football at the Arafura Games.
  • The women's team, the Aoreni, won the inaugural AFL Pacific Cup in 2024; the men finished second.
  • Best finish at the Australian Football International Cup: 5th, in 2008 and 2017.

Great athletes from Nauru

  • Marcus Stephen – weightlifter, winner of seven Commonwealth Games gold medals between 1990 and 1998 and three silvers in 2002. He competed at three Olympic Games and later served as President of Nauru.
  • Reanna Solomon – two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist in 2002.
  • Yukio Peter – Commonwealth Games gold medallist in weightlifting in 2010.
  • Femily-Crystie Notte – world youth record holder who won Commonwealth bronze at the age of 17 in 2026.
  • Winzar Kakiouea – sprinter, Nauru's sole representative at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Nauru Sports trivia

  • Nauru is one of the smallest nations ever to compete at the Olympic Games. It made its debut at Atlanta in 1996 and has sent a team to every Summer Games since, usually just one to three athletes, but has yet to win an Olympic medal.
  • Weightlifter Marcus Stephen, Nauru's first Olympian, went on to become President of Nauru from 2007 to 2011 and later Speaker of its parliament.
  • Sheeva Peo became the first Nauruan woman to compete at the Olympics, at Sydney in 2000.
  • Because the Nauru Soccer Federation belongs to neither FIFA nor the OFC, the national soccer team has never played a full international match.

Nauru at major events

Upcoming sporting events in Nauru

  • Micronesian Games, January 2028 – the first time Nauru has hosted the Games. They were originally awarded the 2026 edition, but construction delays at the new national stadium pushed the event back to 2028, when it will coincide with the 60th anniversary of Nauruan independence.

Annual sporting events held in Nauru

  • The Nauru Australian Football Association national championship, played at Linkbelt Oval.

Sporting Facilities in Nauru

  • Linkbelt Oval, Aiwo – the headquarters of the Nauru Australian Football Association and the island's principal sports ground.
  • New Nauru Stadium, Topside, Meneng district – a 1,000-seat stadium with artificial turf and a ten-lane track, part of the wider Nauru Sports Centre, due for completion in December 2027.