Oceania Weightlifting Federation Latest News September 16 , 2012 SIMPLY THE BEST Matthew Curtain, you have certainly delivered ! The London Olympics were simply the best. The event was a sporting theatre - it was not just a competition. The organisation was impeccable. But most important, the way the whole structure of the event was delivered was faultless. The training hall with all the Eleiko equipment was impressive. The facilities for the athletes, officials, staff members, IWF rooms, rest rooms, weigh-in room, etc, etc, were superb. There was nothing missing from the warm up room. And of course the presentation of athletes and victory ceremonies added to the sporting theatre. Matthew Curtain with the IOC President The weightlifting stage at the ExCeL Convention The magnificent training hall adjoined to the Dr Jacques Rogge and Dr Tamas Ajan. Centre in London. Weightlifting auditorium. The television coverage was delivered at the highest level. And of course Eleiko must be praised for producing such high quality equipment to fit in with such a high quality event. The staff members of the organising committee were hand picked and certainly assisted in the smooth running of the event. The competition itself produced some quite unbelievable results. A lifter from the ‘B’ session winning gold. World records were broken and the categories were fiercely contested. All in all Matthew, it could not have been better. On behalf of the Oceania Weightlifting Federation we thank you for a great job done. We thank also the IWF & Matthew Curtain for some of the photos used on this newsletter. The LOCOG weightlifting team together with The crowd at the weightlifting venue lining up as The warm up area with 16 platforms the IWF President and IWF staff members . early as seven o’clock each morning of competition . available with ample space. Dr. Tamas Ajan, IWF President, must have been very pleased with the outcome. The technical officials did an excellent job over the 10 day period. We also acknowledge the work done by the IWF Secretariat in assisting every country attending the weightlifting event. From the point of view of LOCOG delivering: the transport was extremely well organised, as was the ExCel venue and the Athletes Village itself. With regards to the accommodation and meals, no one ask could ask for better conditions. The Opening Ceremony of the Games was spectacular. Dika Toua (PNG), Paul Coffa and Steven Kari (PNG) Pacific Island lifters and officials at the village dining Past, present and future weightlifting at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics. hall with Mark Cannella, one of the USA coaches. Managers. From left Wang Yan 2008 Beijing, Matthew Curtain 2012 with Pedro Meloni Rio 2016 Manager. The Oceania region qualified 9 lifters (4 men & 5 women) at the Continental Qualification event in Samoa. 2 lifters qualified on their own merit and 5 lifters received tripartite invitation thanks to the IOC and the assistance of Dr. Tamas Ajan. The Oceania countries competing in the weightlifting were: Fiji 1 man,1 woman; Papua New Guinea 1 man,1 woman; Australia 1 man,1 woman, Samoa 1 man,1 woman; Kiribati 1 man, New Zealand 1 man, Nauru1 man, Solomon Islands 1 woman, Cook Islands 1 woman, FSM 1 man, Palau 1 man, Tuvalu 1 man. There was some excellent performances from the younger athletes as some attained their personal best on the international stage. Four lifters made the top 10. Ele Opeloge (Samoa) finished 6th overall, Seen Lee (Australia) finished 7th , Maria Liku (Fiji) finished 8th overall and Manuel Minginfel ( Micronesia) finished 10th. The OWF was pleased to see that six lifters from the Pacific region were the flag bearers for their countries at the Opening Ceremony. Tuvalu (Lapua Lapua), Samoa (Ele Opeloge), Kiribati (David Katoatau), Solomon Islands (Jenly Wini), Nauru (Itte Detenamo) Micronesia (Manuel Minginfel) Jenly Wini 58Kg Category Lapua Lapua 62Kg Category Itte Detenamo 105+Kg Cat. Ele Opeloge 75+Kg Cat. David Katoatau 94Kg Cat. Solomon Islands Tuvalu Nauru Samoa Kiribati Manuel Minginfel, the flag bearer for Micronesia put up a great performance on the stage - it was pure theatre. The crowd and media loved him. His photographs appeared in every English newspaper and his performance on the platform for his 4th consecutive Olympic Games was a sheer joy to watch. His 285kg was his best ever performance at the Olympics and this was done with only one clean & jerk. O.T.I.P. Program: The OTIP program which was launched in Samoa during the Oceania Championships by Dr Tamas Ajan has been extremely successful with the countries who have conducted the talent identification program on their islands. The program has concluded for the island nations of the South Pacific and has reached almost 3000 entries from 55 schools including some Australian and New Zealand students. The first group of students are scheduled to arrive at the Oceania Weightlifting Institute in Noumea on September 20th for a special camp. The students have been identified by their own national federations. The second group which are students from countries who follow the USA school year will be brought in to the Institute at the end of the year. The OTIP program is funded by the International Weightlifting Federation through its regional development program, the Oceania National Olympic Committee (ONOC) through its Institute program and the Zhen-Ao Group (Essence of Nutrition). It has been organised by the Oceania Weightlifting Federation. Coaching and Administration Clinic: In the month of November, the General Secretary of the OWF, will visit Tonga and Fiji to run a coaching clinic funded by the IWF regional development program. A similar clinic will be conducted in the month of December for the Northern Marianas, Micronesia (State of Yap) and Marshall Islands. CTOS Executive visit Institute : Quite a few Directors of the Comite Territorial Olympique Sportif (CTOS) paid a visit to athletes going to the London Olympics. During their visit they presented each of the athletes with t’shirts and wished them the very best of luck on behalf of New Caledonia sports. Mr. Charles Cali, President of CTOS, praised the Institute in his speech for the hard work done to achieve so much success in having 10 lifters from the Institute going to the London Olympics. CTOS Committee Member M.Olivier Pecqueux presents Mme Patricia Patane also Committee Member CTOS President Charles Cali presents a t’shirt Maria Liku from Fiji with a t’shirt. of the CTOS with Toromon Takenibeia (KIR) to Manuel Minginfel (Micronesia) Australian Youth Olympic Festival: Below is the list of weightlifters who will take part in the Australian Youth Olympic Festival to be held in January 2013 in Sydney. The group will represent the Oceania region at this event. Australia and New Zealand will have their own teams. There will be quite a few other teams competing at this event including teams from China and Chinese Taipei. The lifters selected in the categories stipulated by the AYOF Committee are as follows: BOYS GIRLS 62Kg Elson BRECHTEFELD (Nauru) 53Kg Arieta MUDUNAVOCE (Fiji) 77Kg Otang KARITEMA (Kiribati) 58Kg Mathlynn ROBERT-SASSER (Marshall Islands) 85Kg Steven KARI (Papua New Guinea) 63Kg Fakaola TUIPULOTI (Tonga) 105Kg Petunu OPELOGE (Samoa) 69Kg Sandra AKO (Papua New Guinea) The officials nominated and appointed are as follows: Paul Coffa, Jerry Wallwork, and Mrs.Tressa Lolohea. OWF Executive Board Member, Phil Maunder, has been appointed Manager of the Australian Team for this event. World Youth Championships – Kosice From the Oceania region only Australia has lifters taking part in next week World Youth Championships held in Kosice Slovakia. The lifters are: Joshua Wu, James Norman, Bassel Rana and Jacob Daniel. The OWF wishes each of these young lifters all the very best. ZKC Email International Club Tournament: The ZKC Email International Club Tournament which concluded on June 30th , was once again a great success for club lifters. The winning club in the male section was Manu Club from Samoa, whilst in the female section it was the Haunabada Club from Papua New Guinea. This is the third successive year for the Haunabada Club to win the female section. Both clubs will each receive on Olympic barbell set from ZKC who is the sponsor of the tournament. The OWF would like to thank the General Manager of the ZKC Company, Mr. Zhang Zhiguo, for his support and contribution toward this event and also towards the development of weightlifting at club level worldwide. We also like to thank the IWF for their support in promoting the event. The Oceania Weightlifting Federation wishes to thank every club which took part in this year’s tournament and congratulations to the individual winners and to the two winning clubs. Aldo Radicello from Italy (centre) with some of Stevick Patris(Palau) with world and Olympic Champion Steven Kari (PNG with Fiji’s Cheaf de the Pacific Islands lifters and officials. Sampanis Leonidas(Greece) and Lapua Lapua (Tuvalu) Mission Chris Yee and Manueli Tulo(FIJ) Paul Coffa OWF General Secretary OUR OCEANIA WEIGHTLIFTING MEMBERS AT THE LONDON OLYMPICS Seen Lee -Australia Stevick Patris - Palau Damon Kelly- Australia Manueli Tulo- Fiji Palau Toafito Perive Samoa Lapua Lapua- Tuvalu Richard Patterson- New Zealand David Katoatau- Kiribati Maria Liku- Fiji Itte Dtenamo- Nauru Dika Toua –Papua New Guinea Ele Opeloge- Samoa Jenly Wini-Solomon Islands Manuel Minginfel- Micronesia Steven Kari- Papua New Guinea Luisa Peters- Cook Islands .