Cook Islands at the 2008 Summer Olympics events (with the exception of weightlifting, where the first round was the only round) and did not go on to win medals. Pera was the nation's flag bearer at the ceremonies. The Cook Islands are a collection of fifteen islands lying in the South Pacific Ocean that are governed under a single parliamentary entity. Some 10,000 people live in the dependency. The country is in a free association with New Zealand, who handles the nation's external affairs. The Cook Islands became self-governing in 1965. 23 years later, the Cook Islands sent their first delegation to the Olympics at the 1988
Culture of the Cook Islands the 1986 Pacific Cup and the 1998 Polynesia Cup. Native antiquities, defined as "native relics, articles with ancient native tools and according to native methods, and all other articles or things of historical or scientific value or interest and relating to the Cook Islands" are protected by the Cook Islands Amendment Act 1950. Cultural events are coordinated by the Cook Islands National Arts Council, which was established in 1985 by an Act of Parliament. The administrative mechanism was specially oriented towards promotion of culture of the islands and a Cultural Division was functional. In the late 1980s, the Prime Minister,