Don Opeloge Explained

Don Opeloge
Birth Date:1999 5, df=yes
Country:Samoa
Sport:Weightlifting

Don Opeloge (born 13 May 1999)[1] is a Samoan weightlifter. He won the gold medal in the men's 96kg event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham, England.[2] [3] He won the silver medal in the men's 85kg event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games held in Gold Coast, Australia.[4]

Opeloge comes from a weightlifting family.[5] His uncle Niusila and his aunty Ele both won gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, in New Delhi.[5]

At the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, he finished in 9th place in the men's 85kg event.[6] In 2018, he won silver at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, Queensland.[5]

In 2019, Opeloge won the gold medal in the men's 89kg event at the Junior World Weightlifting Championships held in Suva, Fiji.[1] [4] [7] A month later, he represented Samoa at the 2019 Pacific Games and he won the gold medal in the men's 89kg event.[7] The 2019 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships were also held at the same time and his total result also gave him the gold medal in this event. He qualified for the 2020 Olympic games, but was unable to attend due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[8]

In December 2022, he was named by the Samoa Observer as one of its people of the year.[9]

At the 2023 World Weightlifting Championships in September 2023, he set a new commonwealth record and qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.[10]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2019 Junior World Weightlifting Championships. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20200526190705/https://www.iwf.net/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2019/06/Results_book.pdf. 26 May 2020. 4 June 2020. International Weightlifting Federation.
  2. Web site: Samoan Opeloge snatches Games gold with monster lifts . RNZ . 3 August 2022 . 3 August 2022.
  3. News: Houston . Michael . 2 August 2022 . Opeloge family claim another weightlifting title as Don strikes gold at Birmingham 2022 . InsideTheGames.biz . 2 August 2022.
  4. News: 6 June 2019. Sport: Samoan weightlifter wins junior world title. Radio New Zealand. 4 June 2020.
  5. Web site: Meet the Opeloges: Samoa's first family of weightlifting . RNZ . 20 October 2021 . 27 October 2021.
  6. Web site: Weightlifting Results Book. 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20200530101026/http://www.ocagames.com/orb/files/3/54/AIMAG_WL_resultsBook.pdf. 30 May 2020. 30 May 2020.
  7. News: Pavitt. Michael. 12 July 2019. World junior champion delights home crowd with triple Samoa 2019 weightlifting gold. InsideTheGames.biz. 4 June 2020.
  8. Web site: 'Our whole country is behind them': Samoa's weightlifters chasing Olympic glory . The Guardian . Lanuola Tupufia . 15 July 2024 . 16 July 2024.
  9. Web site: People of the Year: Reaching for the top in weightlifting . Samoa Observer . Talaia Mika . 31 December 2022 . 31 December 2022.
  10. Web site: Don and Iuniarra qualify for Olympic Games . Samoa Observer . Talaia Mika . 17 September 2023 . 18 September 2023.

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