FOR someone who has become accustomed to walking up Baba settlement, travelling to and from the steep hill is not an issue but for a first timer even mustering the courage up the hill takes a considerable amount of effort.
Baba settlement is located behind Levuka town. It is also the place in which the Fiji Weightlifting Federation High Performance Unit is located, a somewhat half hour climb up the hill.
Taking a detour on a trip that was primarily for rugby 7s we sought to have a fair idea of what normal training session was like for the athletes that have camped for close to a year in Baba as they seek to qualify for the Olympics either on an individual basis or through a team effort.
Weightlifting is one of the sports in the country that has consistently bagged medals at either at regional competition or at the world stage with Apolonia Vaivai being the most recent example having won gold at the Commonwealth Weightlifting championships in India.
While Vaivai and Manueli Tulo are currently seeking to qualify on individual merit, there are much younger prospects to travel should the national team win and qualify for the Olympics at the Oceania Weightlifting Championships next year.
Upon entering, we were greeted to a female dominant training unit, each taking turns to lift weights that for some people the same age seems unimaginable.
Imagine trying to lift four bags of 10kg flour all at the same time or even seven bags of 10kg flour. As far as weight lifting goes, Olympic standard bars alone weigh 20kg with the additional plates adding to the total weight being lifted.
With FWF development officer Joe Vueti emphasising that should they have an opportunity to go to Rio and only the best performer be selected, competition has become a little tougher for a group of girls that have lived together for a while to consider each other as family.
However, knowing the importance of the road that lies ahead and the milestone that could be achieved qualifying for a world renowned event that gathers the best of the best in sports, the girls have committed themselves to training.
Take Julia Timi for instance. By the time they concluded training she was attempting to lift 105 kg and she is only 19 years old. Vueti had picked her out as one of the best bets for national representation to the Olympics, provided all goes well.
Timi has been residing in Baba with the Vueti family for close to a year, committing to her training. When queried on the decision she made to focus full time on the sport she said she had been inspired by her cousins Maraia Liku and Manueli Tulo.
“My interest in weight-lifting started when I was 12 years old and along the way it has helped me become more confident. I’ve been camping here since last year and spent Christmas and new year with the Vueti family and the rest of the team.
“My family supports me in my decision and they live relatively close so it’s not much difference. I am just grateful for Joe for all he has done for us. If it wasn’t for him and his family, we wouldn’t have reached this far,” he said.
Timi participated in the Commonwealth Games, the Oceania Youth Weightlifting Championships winning bronze and the Youth Olympic Games to name a few. She, along with others who have followed the same process, has been successful with medals to prove it.
Other major potentials include Maraia Moana and Ulina Sagone. Both were part of the Samoa Commonwealth Youth Games winning silver and gold respectively.
The duo have undergone the same routine that Timi has, camping and training for lengthy periods of time to reach their respective targets.
At the unit, they had continued to successfully lift weights progressively clearly outlining their potential.
Speaking of their experiences at the CYG in Samoa, both said they were expecting stiff competition but was surprised to note that it wasn’t as hard as they thought it would be.
“Our competitors were not very tough. They were continuously lifting the same weights, which is very different from what we are taught here,” Moana said.
Sagone shared the same sentiments saying while it was tough it “was not up to expectations”.
At 17, Sagone has participated in several international tournaments. Other than the CYG she has participated in the 2014 Youth Olympic Games, The Pacific Games in PNG and also attended a scholarship training stint to the Oceania Weightlifting Academy in New Caledonia.
For Moana knowing that they are all vying for that one spot had given them a more determined outlook.
“I guess it gives us motivation to always do one better. I think if each of us do our best the results will show and we will always support whoever is selected to go for the Olympics no matter what,” she said.
Seruwaia Malani is one of the names that is synonymous with weight-lifting. She won Fiji’s first gold at the Pacific Mini Games in Wallis and Futuna and took Bronze in PNG. In the Pacific Games in New Caledonia she won silver and bronze and placed 7th in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
It is definite that Vueti and the rest of the federation will have a hard task of selecting the best possible female to represent Fiji at the Olympics should they win at the Oceania Weightlifting Championships.
Vaivai’s gold in India sets her up in a good position to qualify for the Olympics with the World Championships in Houston, Texas being her last shot. Should she rank in the top 15 she gains a spot to go to Rio de Janeiro.
With all their achievements, sometimes you question the factors that contribute to these individuals success. Perhaps it is perfectly summed up by Vueti when he says a lot has to do with the way the federation is administered.
“We are grateful to have good administrators who tell us that the only thing we should worry about is training and competing and they take care of everything else. With other sporting bodies, they go to events to gauge their performance. While they go for performance based we go for medals and that should always be the target,” he said.
