The first of the weightlifters striving to win Olympic medals in Paris will take to the podium on August 7th.
Of the 122 athletes from around the world who are due to compete, 11, so nearly ten percent of the total, are from Oceania.
More significantly three of those lifters have qualified on merit, Don Opeloge and Luniarra Sipaia from Samoa, and once upon a time Fiji’s great hope, but now representing Australia, two-time Commonwealth champion, Eileen Cikamatana.
‘Her long-time coach, the veteran Paul Coffa, has always backed his young athlete to win Olympic gold one day.
And having announced his intention to retire after the Games, it would be the perfect end to Coffa’s long and successful coaching career in Oceania, were his number one lifter to finish on top of the podium in Paris.
As for Eileen herself her Olympic journey has been a decade in the making, after she fell out with the weightlifting federation in Fiji, and was forced to sit out the games in Tokyo in 2021.
Now though she is on her way, and with gold in her eyes.
Source link : https://www.abc.net.au/pacific/programs/pacificbeat/olympicweights/104061864
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Publish date : 2024-07-04 16:00:00
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