Fiji_at_the_Olympics

Fiji at the Olympics

Fiji at the Olympics

Sporting event delegation

Fiji, having made its Olympic debut at the 1956 Summer Games, has competed at fourteen Summer Games and three Winter Games. Its athletes have taken part in archery, athletics, boxing, football, judo, sailing, shooting, swimming, weightlifting and rugby sevens.[1]

Quick Facts Fiji at the Olympics, IOC code ...

At the 2016 Summer Olympics, the Fiji rugby team won a gold medal, the country's inaugural Olympic Medal, which they retained at the 2020 Olympics. As of 2020, no other nation won a gold medal in the Olympic men's rugby sevens.

History

Qualifications

Prior to the introduction of rugby sevens, Fiji's national sport, at the 2016 Summer Olympics,[2] only two athletes had taken part in Olympic Games through reaching the required standards to qualify, rather than by receiving a wild card invitation. They are Makelesi Bulikiobo, who qualified for the women's 400 metre sprint at the 2008 Games in Beijing, and Leslie Copeland, who with a throw of 80.45 metres qualified for the men's javelin event at the 2012 Games in London.[3][4]

Invitations

Fiji's Winter Olympians were Rusiate Rogoyawa in cross-country skiing (1988, 1994) and Laurence Thoms in alpine skiing (2002), both participating by invite.

Notable participants

Fiji has had two competitors appear at five separate Summer Olympic Games. Windsurfer Tony Philp competed in five consecutive Games from Los Angeles in 1984 (when he was just 15 years of age) to Sydney 2000, finishing 10th on two occasions.[5] Swimmer Carl Probert matched the feat in Beijing 2008, having first appeared at the 1992 Summer Olympics at Barcelona.[6]

Medalling

Fiji earned its first ever Olympic medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, a gold in Men's Rugby Sevens.[7]

As a result, the winning team broke out in a victory song that drew considerable online attention and Fiji declared a national holiday for the win.[8]

At the 2020 Olympics the team successfully defended its title, while the women's team took a bronze medal.

Medal tables

See also: All-time Olympic Games medal table
More information Games, Athletes ...

Medals by Summer sport

  Leading in that sport
More information Sport, Gold ...

List of medalists

Summer sports

More information Medal, Name(s) ...

Multiple medalists

More information Athlete, Sex ...

See also

References

  1. [1]
    "Fiji". Sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 2016-08-05. Retrieved 2016-08-16.
  2. [2]
    Brewer, Jerry (11 August 2016). "Fiji's rugby sevens team on the verge of making history at Rio Olympics". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
  3. [3]
    "The London dream" Archived 2012-09-13 at the Wayback Machine, Fiji Times, 22 August 2011
  4. [4]
    Fiji at the Olympics, The Telegraph
  5. [5]
    "Tony Philp". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 2016-05-18. Retrieved 2016-08-16.
  6. [6]
    "Carl Probert". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 2016-12-03. Retrieved 2016-08-16.
  7. [7]
    Msallem, Habib (11 August 2016). "Fiji storms to first-ever men's rugby sevens gold at Rio 2016". rio2016.com. Rio 2016. Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
  8. [8]
    "The Fijian way: The people's team delivers 1st Olympic gold". Associated Press. 12 August 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
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