The Olympics qualifying list set to be released by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) mid-June will confirm whether Pacific Games gold medallist Taniela Rainibogi has qualified for the Olympics in France later this year.
Rainibogi was the only athlete who represented the country at the recent IWF World Cup in Thailand earlier this month, the last qualifying tournament for the upcoming Olympics.
Fiji Weightlifting head coach Henry Elder said while Rainibogi did not performed to what they expected, he was happy with the effort and determination displayed in competing in the biggest, and one of the toughest qualifying tournaments for the Olympics.
“Though he didn’t lift the expected weigh we had been anticipating, he had done extremely well looking at this tournament which is one of the toughest in the world,” he said.
Rainibogi was able to snatch 162 kilograms along with 202kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 364kg.
“We did what we could, based on the preparation we’ve had but I still we could have better to support our athlete.”
Taniela was not accompanied by any medical team of management staff to the tournament but was able to finish in second place in his group.
“Looking at other countries that have their full medical teams and management staff, we did very well according to the support we got.”
Taniela was accompanied by his coach, Elder, to the tournament.
“We did not have anyone else here with us like a medical team or anything like that, but he managed to do well, coming second in his group which is very impressive.”
