Fiji at the Olympics explained

Noc:FIJ
Nocname:Fiji Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee
Games:Olympics
Rank:98
Gold:2
Silver:1
Bronze:1

Fiji made its Olympic Games debut at the 1956 Summer Games. It 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]

Fiji has won four Olympic medals, three in men's rugby sevens, and one in women's rugby sevens. Olympics rugby was first contested in 2016 and the Fiji men's team is the most successful of any country, winning gold in 2016 and 2020, and silver in 2024. The women's team won bronze in 2020.

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 de Janeiro, a gold in men's rugby sevens.[7] The 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. At the 2024 Olympics the men's team won the silver medal.

Medal tables

See also: All-time Olympic Games medal table.

Medals by Summer Games

GamesAthleteswidth:3em; font-weight:bold;"width:3em; font-weight:bold;"width:3em; font-weight:bold;"TotalRank
did not participate
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
did not participate
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
did not participate
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
1 0 0 1 54
1 0 1 2 59
0 1 0 1 74
future event
Total 2 1 1 4 95

Medals by Winter Games

GamesAthleteswidth:3em; font-weight:bold;"width:3em; font-weight:bold;"width:3em; font-weight:bold;"TotalRank
did not participate
0 0 0 0
did not participate
0 0 0 0
did not participate
0 0 0 0
did not participate
future event
Total 0 0 0 0

Medals by Summer sport

List of medalists

Summer sports

MedalName(s)GamesSportEvent












Men's tournament
Men's tournament
Women's tournament













Men's tournament

Multiple medalists

AthleteSexSportYearsGamesGoldSilverBronzeTotal
M 2016–2024 Summer 2 1 0 3
M 2020–2024 Summer 1 1 0 2
M 2020–2024 Summer 1 1 0 2

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Fiji . Sports-reference.com . 2016-08-16 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160805141944/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/countries/FIJ/ . 2016-08-05 .
  2. Web site: Brewer. Jerry. Fiji's rugby sevens team on the verge of making history at Rio Olympics. 11 August 2016. Sydney Morning Herald. 11 August 2016.
  3. http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=178483 "The London dream"
  4. https://web.archive.org/web/20120613030517/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/countries/8662669/Fiji-London-2012-Olympics.html Fiji at the Olympics
  5. Web site: Tony Philp . sports-reference.com . 2016-08-16 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160518143142/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ph/tony-philp-1.html . 2016-05-18 .
  6. Web site: Carl Probert . sports-reference.com . 2016-08-16 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20161203201529/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/pr/carl-probert-1.html . 2016-12-03 .
  7. Web site: Msallem . Habib . Fiji storms to first-ever men's rugby sevens gold at Rio 2016 . Rio 2016 . rio2016.com . 11 August 2016 . 11 August 2016 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160826102939/https://www.rio2016.com/en/news/fiji-storms-to-first-ever-men-rugby-sevens-gold-rio-2016 . 26 August 2016 .
  8. News: The Fijian way: The people's team delivers 1st Olympic gold. 12 August 2016. Associated Press. 12 August 2016.