Our goal is to win gold in LA, says Fiji Airways Fiji men’s 7s head coach Osea Kolinisau.
Kolinisau shared his team’s vision for the road that lay ahead towards the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, in his presentation on day one of the FRU Symposium at Albert Park in Suva on Monday.
“Our goal towards LA 2028 after the Olympics in France is to win gold and our theme is Vuvale and Vuvale means family,” Kolinisau said.
While he acknowledged Fiji’s two Olympic gold medals wins from Rio in 2016 and Tokyo in 2021, he described their silver medal win in Paris last year as something that “hasn’t sat well with me.”
“And I’ve told the boys that we have unfinished business, and we should go back and try and get back the legacy that belongs to us, and that is getting another gold in USA in 2028,” he stressed.
For him, this mission was an important one, stating it stemmed from how vuvale (family) was the genesis of many things before players would become a part of the Fiji Rugby family.
The theme was derived after the former 7s skipper turned coach contemplated on what it would be, carrying on the same intent of the team’s theme of veilomani in 2016, the same year they bagged Fiji’s first Olympic gold medal under the guidance of then coach Ben Ryan.
“You can see that we have two gold (medals) and a silver, and the legacy we have always wanted is for Fiji to win the gold,” he said.
“And that’s a good legacy; to always have Fiji upfront and always at the top and that’s the goal that’s driving a lot of the boys and driving me.”
Meanwhile, the symposium continued yesterday and will end this Friday.