Fiji dominated the relay events on the last day of the 1979 South Pacific Games, winning three gold medals.
The Fiji team did well on the last day of competition that was held in Suva, an article in The Fiji Times on September 9, 1979 read.
“We knew we had it right from the start,” said a jubilant Ana Uate after she and three other Fijian girls won the gold for the 4×400 metres relay.
Uate, Make Liku, Liku Galala, and little Alena Waqasiwa turned it on for the home crowd to finish the race three seconds ahead of New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea.
Uate thought Fiji had great prospects in the 400 metres, with 15-year-old Waqasiwa and Make Liku at 16.
Minutes after the women ran and won, the men’s 4×400 metres relay team added to the gold tally. Taniela Racule, Mosese Seruvakula, Jo Logavatu and Ilimo Daku performed superbly.
They won gold in a time of 3 minutes 16.94 seconds ahead of PNG and the Solomons.
Like the women, the Fiji men led from the start and never looked back.
“I just took it easy,” said Daku.
“It was great team effort.”
For the first time since the 1963 Games, Fiji won the relays.
A large crowd cheering “Go Fiji, go” spurred the local team on to fend off a strong challenge from a good field.
The team, Penasio Cerecere, Jo Rodan, Samuela Yavala and Inoke Bainimoli clocked 41.86 seconds, 0.06 seconds outside the existing record set in Tahiti by French Polynesia in the 1971 Games.
