Weightlifting Fiji won three awards at the 2023 Fiji Sports Awards on Saturday and head coach Henry Elder hoped that it would garner the support they need.

The top awards in the 2023 Sportsman and woman of the Year went to lifters Taniela Rainibogi and Miriama Taletawa while promising young gun Nehemiah Elder was named the Young Male Athlete of the Year.

National coach Henry Elder was a joyous man on Saturday night as he stood to cheer on his athletes as they were recognized for their achievements.

“Weightlifting Fiji sticks by its scripture in Mathew 6-33. It is through God and God alone that we have achieved what we have achieved. My athletes have worked hard, and nobody knows the struggles they’ve been through, and I am so thankful that this has happened,” he said.

The struggles he said his lifters were too shy to share with him.

“For a good number of years, Taniela would walk from Nakasi to Suva to train and walk back in the afternoons. Sometimes during double sessions, he would walk from Nakasi to Suva, walk back and then again walk from home to the gym in the afternoon. In between that time, he would look for means of employment to support his family.

“I managed by chance to find out that he was walking, he would come occasionally late, I’d ask him why, but he would just apologise and not share anything. It was until one of the athletes said coach Taniela walks from Nakasi. I broke down because it was very hard to hear what he was going through. He did it until the Commonwealth Games where he won bronze in 2022. His struggles have been immense, but he persevered,” Elder added.

While the young lifters continue to pursue their goals, Elder hopes that their achievements would encourage businesses to support them.

“I hope people will see that we raise the flag of Fiji also. We achieve big, in the last three Commonwealth Games, weightlifting has won medals, so we raise our bar high, and we achieve high also. We hope that this will be something that can turn some heads.

“We want to win medals at the Olympics in 2028 and 2032. In 2032 we are targeting to win four to six medals, we are working hard and with the little support we have, we will achieve it,” Elder affirmed.

Musician Apakuki Nalawa is one of the few reaching out to the sport by providing nutritional support along with several businesses helping build a competitive environment for weightlifters.