The talented Samoan weightlifters were treated with a well-deserved lunch by the National Bank of Samoa as a reward for winning 15 gold and nine silver medals for Samoa at the Pacific Games.

The medal haul was the biggest by any sport in comparison and according to N.B.S., this was a way to say thank you to the team who have never stopped making Samoa proud at any international sporting platform.

Samoa Weightlifting Federation Inc. presented some souvenirs to the N.B.S. as well while acknowledging their support for the Pacific Games for this year.

Samoa’s gold medalist, Don Opeloge expressed his gratitude to the people of Samoa and his family for the unwavering support throughout his games as well as praising God for the strength, confidence and guidance that enabled him to get these achievements.

“First and foremost, I just wanted to praise God for giving me the strength and the confidence that guides me to do my best to get these gold medals for Samoa,” he said. 

“It was hard and very challenging because every other country came to win, but God made it possible for me.

“I would also like to give thanks to our coach Tuaopepe Jerry Wallwork, my team, family and friends as well as Samoa for the love and support throughout my games.”

According to the coach Tuaopepe Asiata Jerry Wallwork, Don Opeloge will be leading the weightlifting team to the Olympic qualifiers that will take place in Doha, Qatar and he is hopeful that Don will win gold medals and break more records for Samoa.

“Don Opeloge has the highest performance in lifting, his last lifting of 214kg in clean and jerk secured fourth place for Samoa on the world ranking,” he said. “But the overall team had good performances as well.

“With 15 gold medals, eight silver medals, four Pacific Games records, and three Oceania senior records broken, this was undoubtedly our finest performance in a Pacific Games ever. It was outstanding.”