Day 7 at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games will be remembered as a Golden Day in Samoan and Pacific Islands sport history.
Niusila Opeloge rounded out a great night for Samoan weightlifting and for the Opeloge family, with a comfortable gold medal in the 105Kg class to make it three Gold for Samoa and four medals overall topping their best ever performance at a Commonwealth Games and winning their first ever Gold medals to now equal Fiji’s overall Gold tally of 3. Niusila also became the first Samoan athlete to win medals at more than one Games having taken bronze in Manchester and joins Nauru’s Marcus Stephen to be the only Pacific Islanders to achieve this.
Had the same rules applied to weightlifting as when Nauru won its 3 Gold hauls, Samoa would have won 9 gold medals overall.
Ele Opeloge was also untroubled to win Gold today and take Samoa to three gold in weightlifting.
Ele Opeloge (SAM) smashed her own Commonwealth weightlifting record in the Women’s 75+kg category to claim Samoa’s second Gold in as many days at the Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Complex on Sunday.
As the best-ranked weightlifter across any category in Delhi, Opeloge was always overwhelming favourite and didn’t disappoint in the 75+kg category.
The 25-year-old lifted 285kg to win Samoa’s second Gold in Commonwealth Games history, and in the process, broke her own Commonwealth overall record by 4kg.
Maryam Usman (NGR) claimed Silver with 255kg, and Deborah Acason (AUS), the Gold medallist in the women’s 75kg at the Melbourne Games, claimed Bronze with 245kg.
The medal places seemed confirmed after the Snatch section, when Acason (AUS), Usman (NGR) and Opeloge (SAM), opened a huge gap from the rest.
All three progressively broke the Commonwealth Games Snatch record as they completed their lifts, but Opeloge ended up with the record at 125kg.
The Samoan, who finished fourth at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, was then guaranteed the Gold medal when she hoisted 150kg in her first Clean and Jerk, before going on to set a new Commonwealth record of 160kg.
India’s Geeta Rani (IND), who won Gold in the 75+kg category at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games and previously held the overall Games record, finished fourth.
Faavae Faauliuli (SAM) became the first Samoan Gold medallist in Commonwealth Games history when he won the men’s 94kg on Saturday.
Having a bronze in Athletics and a chance to win something in Rugby, Samoa will remember these Games for some time to come.
In a special day for the Pacific Tonga qualified 2 boxers into semi finals to guarantee 2 medals and a best ever performance at a Commonwealth Games.
