Islands medal hopefuls for October India Games

Peter Rees




The same question is asked every four-year cycle: Can the Pacific nations rise to the occasion and win gold?
The feat has never been achieved at the Olympic level.
The closest the Pacific has got to ascending the top of the medal dais was in 1996 when Tongan boxer Paea Wolfgramm pummelled his way to a silver medal in Atlanta.
That historic feat came just two years after he won Tonga’s first and only Commonwealth Games medal in Victoria, Canada.
London hosts the next Olympic Games in 2012. But the question of whether the Pacific is any closer to breaking the medal drought will be answered when the 19th Commonwealth Games open in New Delhi, India on October 3.
The Pacific region has fared far better in the medal stakes at the Commonwealth Games level.
This is largely because of the success of our weightlifters. And many are pinning our island hopes on weightlifting yet again, with at least five island lifters ranked in the top three.
The ability of weightlifting’s administrators to consistently attract quality international events to the region over the past four years has helped maintain the sports’ strong profile and competitiveness among the top lifters in the islands. The Pacific also possesses some of the region’s top venues and facilities for weightlifting.
Thirteen islands nations will line up for this year’s Games—including for the first time, Tokelau. Some athletes will have realistic chances of challenging for medals.
But for the seven islands nations that have yet to win a Commonwealth medal—the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Niue, Kiribati, Cook Islands, Tuvalu and Tokelau—barring a massive upset, their chances are again slim.
Over 4,000 athletes and officials from 72 countries will flock to India and take part in 17 sports on the programme.
India, becomes only the second Asian nation to host the games in the event’s 80-year history (the first being Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1998).
The South Pacific Games is regarded by the islands nations as their Olympics, but for the region’s elite athletes, the Commonwealth Games is the barometer of performance for those good enough to step up to international competition, particularly in preparation for the Olympics.
At the last Commonwealth Games in Melbourne four years ago, Papua New Guinea swimmer Ryan Pini won the region’s only gold medal. Remembering the lanky Pini storm home past Australia’s Michael Klim and New Zealand’s Moss Burmester to win the men’s 100-metre butterfly is still a sight that makes many islanders beam with pride.
But after finishing in the final of the same event at the Beijing Olympics two years later, Pini pretty much slipped out into obscurity.
Papua New Guinea was the most successful islands nation in Melbourne 2006 with two medals; Pini’s gold combining with champion female weightlifter Dika Toua silver medal.
Nauru also won two medals, both in weightlifting; a silver to female lifter Sheba Deireragea and a bronze to Itte Detenamo.
Boxer Warren Fuiava won Samoa’s only medal, a bronze, while the Fijians completed the island nations’ slim medal haul when its sevens team won bronze.
The bad news four years later is that Toua is past her prime, Fuiava has since turned professional and the Fiji sevens team will not be taking part in Delhi after the suspension of Fiji.
Games concern
Less than two months away from the Commonwealth Games, that is a concern for Oceania officials.
After winning the IRB World Sevens series so impressively, Samoa was shaping up as a prime gold medal contender.
But those hopes have diminished slightly with several top line players now unavailable, including Samoa’s best player and IRB World Sevens Player of the Year Mikaele Pesamino. He won’t travel to India now after signing a contract with English club Sale Sharks in July. His unavailability is a big loss for Samoa.
He was the team’s top try scorer and without his speed out-wide, Samoa are now vulnerable.
The news doesn’t get better with England, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand reportedly stacking their Games' teams with their 15s stars.
Samoa’s weightlifting team, the best in the region, is stacked with gold medal hopefuls. And the main candidates all come from one family.
Having just returned from a two-year drug-ban, Niusila Opeloge (men’s 105kg) has quickly returned to form and is currently ranked number one in the Commonwealth with a best total of 354kg. Opeloge won a bronze medal at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games, so he will fancy his chances of adding to his tally.
Younger sister Ele is the pick of the bunch, however. In just four years of competing, the 120-kg lass now finds herself heads and shoulders above the competition at the Commonwealth level. Her best total in the women’s 75kg+ division is 281kg. Ele’s nearest rival is Australian Deborah Acason (235kg) who won gold four years ago, and Indian competitor, Geeta Rani (233kg).
The youngest, Mary Opeloge is no slouch either. Ranked number two in the Commonwealth in the women’s under 75kg division, she is 15kg away from the number one ranked lifter in her division. Kiribati as well with 2004 Olympian, Meameaa Thomas, ranked inside the top three in the men’s 105kg division, alongside Nauru’s Itte Detenamo.
Historically, weightlifting and boxing have been the region’s most prolific medal winning sports. But the standard of boxing has dropped remarkably since the 1990s, while weightlifting’s stocks have risen with better training facilities, coaching and funding.
It is the one sport the Pacific nations have managed to keep abreast with the rest of the world due to a consistent investment of resources in the region by the IWF and OWF, and the setting up of state-of-the-art facilities in Samoa, New Caledonia, Fiji and Nauru.
Stage fright
The squat and strong physiques islanders tend to possess is also suitable to the sport.
Tiny Nauru won a mammoth 15 medals at the 2002 Games because of its weightlifting prowess, including two gold medals to Reanna Solomon. Current Nauru President, Marcus Stephen is easily the most successful island athlete in Commonwealth Games history. From 1990-1998, the pocket rocket won seven Commonwealth Games gold medals. He also holds seven games records, the most by any Commonwealth athlete.
If there was a consistent problem, it is the failure of top islands lifters to take their training form into competition. Stage fright has often got the better of top islands lifters at the Olympics and Commonwealth Games.
They get a chance to master their nerves before India by attending the World Weightlifting Champs in Turkey in September.
Other Pacific athletes to keep an eye on are women’s shot putter Ana Pou’hila (Tonga), who will be competing alongside fellow Tongan thrower and current Commonwealth champion, Valerie Vili, Papua New Guinea runner Salome Dell and champion Samoan middle distance runner Aunese Curreen. Of the minor sports, lawn bowls might spring a surprise with sporadic success in the past.
Samoa, Cook Islands and Papua New Guinea carry Pacific hopes in the Commonwealth netball competition where Australia and New Zealand are expected to vye for the title with England and Jamaica likely to fight it out for the bronze medal.
Australia will likely field one Pacific islands player, Mo’onia Gerrard of Tongan descent, while the NZ Silver Ferns will likely have Temepara George (Samoan/Maori), Leana Barrett-Chase (Maori) and Maria Tutaia (Samoan).
Three more islanders in New Zealand’s Games team are also medal contenders. Tongan shot putter Valerie Vili is all but guaranteed the gold medal as the current world champion, while 1998 women’s discus gold medalist, Beatrice Faumuina (Samoan) is returning to her best after a form slump in recent years. Both Vili and Faumuina hold the Games record in their respective events.
Rising teenage boxer Joseph Parker is the one everyone is talking about. After winning a bronze medal at this year’s World Champs, becoming the first New Zealander to beat a Cuban boxer, the Auckland youngster is tipped by many as an outsider for gold.
At just 18 years of age, many are calling him the next David Tua with his power punching and Samoan heritage.
Tokelau’s games debut will be a special milestone. But that is soured by Fiji’s omission and withdrawals of many high profile athletes.
Fiji had two genuine contenders for medals; Fiji’s sevens team and champion javelin thrower, Lesley Copeland.
It is not the first time Fiji has missed the Games. From 1986-1997, Fiji did not take part in the Games, but Fiji still holds the distinction of winning the first Commonwealth Games medal for the Pacific islands back in 1950 when Fijian athlete Mataika Tuicakau won gold in the shot put and silver in the discus.
The withdrawal of the Games biggest drawcard, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt has denied the Games its star attraction.
The world record holder is just one of a string of top athletes from athletics and other disciplines who have skipped the Games to focus on Olympic qualification events.
Murmurs the Commonwealth Games is dying a slow death have been around since the late 1990s and when the stars don’t show up, it gives those murmurs credence.
It certainly hasn’t been given the respect by many international sports organisations. But the biggest factor for this disinterest has to be the whole relevance of the Games. The Commonwealth Games, to many, is the last remaining bastion of Britain’s colonial empire. The ties to the old mother country have long since dwindled. Perhaps the games needs to reinvent itself? India may provide the answer. Pacific athletes will be hoping for the same.