Podium finishes for Rainibogi, Jasmine

Taniela Tuisuva Rainibogi

Rainibogi opened the men’s 110kg snatch with 165kg, missed at 170kg, then took 170kg on his final attempt and reclaimed the Commonwealth Games record England’s Cyrille Tchatchet II had set at 166kg minutes earlier.

The clean and jerk followed the same shape. He missed his opener at 203kg and made it second time. Tchatchet II answered with 204kg, then 208kg. Rainibogi loaded 208kg for his last lift, made it, and finished on 378kg. Canada’s Xavier Lusignan then failed at 209kg and the gold was Fiji’s.

Three Commonwealth Games records in one session: the snatch, the clean and jerk and the total. Tchatchet II took silver on 374kg, Lusignan bronze on 356kg. Both Rainibogi and Tchatchet II clean and jerked 208kg. The four kilograms between gold and silver came entirely from the snatch.

What the record sheet doesn’t show is that none of it was his best. He has clean and jerked 211kg and totalled 380kg. His 173kg snatch is an equal Commonwealth record and still stands. Rainibogi won a Commonwealth title, rewrote the Games books three times, and had more in reserve.

He is Fiji’s first Commonwealth Games weightlifting champion since 2018. Four years ago in Birmingham he took bronze at 96kg, beaten by Samoa’s Don Opeloge. This time it was Don’s brother Jack who was expected to challenge. Jack Opeloge failed three times at 210kg and did not finish. “He’s a very experienced lifter, and the other lifters are very strong,” Rainibogi said.

Jasmine Daunakamakama

She has been boxing for three years. She was ten when she decided this was what she wanted.

She is now the first woman to represent Fiji in boxing internationally and the first Fijian woman to box at a Commonwealth Games.

She beat Adelaide Dede Djabatey of Ghana 5–0, every judge. In the quarter-final she beat Keshani Hansika of Sri Lanka 4–1, and with that win became the first Fijian woman to secure a boxing medal at a Commonwealth Games. The semi-final brought Michaela Walsh of Northern Ireland, the Birmingham 2022 champion, who won unanimously.

“It’s a bittersweet moment,” Daunakamakama said afterwards. Her coach Cameron Todd hugged her away from the crowd. She told FBC she was grateful for the experience and would come back stronger. Asked what carries her, she talks about mana, the belief shared across Melanesian and Polynesian communities, and describes it as the will to overcome fears that are not real.

The fortnight around them

David Young became the first Fijian swimmer to reach a Commonwealth Games final, finishing sixth in the 50m Freestyle. Anahira McCutcheon broke the Fiji record in the 100m Freestyle and made three semi-finals. Samuel Yalimaiwai broke the national 50m Breaststroke record. Gerard Takayawa finished seventh in the +100kg judo. Rusiate Matai cleared a season-best 2.05 metres in the High Jump final, and Sitiveni Konataci threw a season-best 27.54 metres in the Men’s Discus F42-44/F61-64 final. Rajnesh Prasad beat a former World Champion on the bowls greens on the first morning of competition. Team Fiji finished 20th, level with the Bahamas and the Isle of Man.

Thank you

Neither medal belongs to one person. Weightlifting Fiji head coach Henry Elder spoke afterwards about a journey full of obstacles and setbacks, which is the honest description of what sits behind both results. Thank you to the coaches who built these programmes over years, to the team managers who ran three villages and got athletes to the right venue at the right hour, to the medical and support staff, and to Weightlifting Fiji and the Fiji Amateur Boxing Association. And to the families who drove to training before dawn for years so this fortnight could happen.

Thank you also to Glasgow. To the organising committee, the venue staff, and the thousands of volunteers who pointed, translated and cheered through eleven days. Volunteers are the first people athletes remember.

Team Fiji comes home with a gold, a bronze, national records in the pool and a first for Fijian swimming.