Warriors of Oceania rise: Pacific athletes make their mark in Paris

What a start! Even before the boats took to the water for the Opening Ceremony, staged on the River Seine in a historic first, Pacific athletes were already deep into Olympic competition. In the opening games of the men’s Rugby Sevens, Olympic-debutantes Samoa notched up a convincing win against Kenya, while defending gold-medallists, Fiji, had big wins against Uruguay, the USA, and France.

Fiji’s Joji Nasova claimed the first two tries of his Olympic career in the first match of his team’s campaign.

"I was just out of high school during the last Olympic Games and while watching the rugby matches, I told myself that one day I will represent Fiji at that level,” he says. “The Olympic Games experience is just different and is on another level. This will be a moment to remember for a lifetime.”

Ultimately, the home side claimed the men’s Rugby Sevens gold, with Fiji earning a silver medal. But the Games were only just beginning…

Week One highlights

The first few days of competition saw Pacific athletes competing in Swimming, Boxing, Judo, Table Tennis and the women’s Rugby Sevens. Already, the men and women described by the Oceanic National Olympic Committees (ONOC) as the ‘Warriors of Oceania’ have created many magic moments.

• Two Pacific Olympians surpassed expectations in the pool, notching up individual personal bests while also breaking their home countries’ national records for their respective events. Lanihei Connolly from the Cook Islands achieved the dual feat in the women's 100m Breaststroke heats on the first Sunday of competition. Vanuatu’s Johnathon Silas matched her efforts on Tuesday in the men’s 100m Freestyle heats, swimming the distance in under one minute for the first time. Johnathon is Vanuatu’s first ever Olympic swimmer and, fittingly, his superb performance fell on Vanuatu Independence Day.

• At just 16, Nera Tiebwa from Kiribati is one of the youngest Pacific athletes in Paris. Nera featured in the preliminary rounds of the women’s Judo for her Olympic debut, competing in the same women's -57 kg category as Maria Escano from Guam. In the men’s Judo, the Pacific was represented by William Tai Tin of Samoa.

• At the age of 13, Table Tennis player Vicky Wu was the youngest member of the Fijian team at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. In Paris, Vicky had another big moment, competing in the preliminary rounds as the first male player from Fiji ever to play the sport at Olympic-level.

• Swimmer Tasi Limtiaco from the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) represented his country for the second time, having had his debut in the Tokyo Games, and was proud to be selected as a flag bearer for his country in the Opening Ceremony. “For the young boys back home, dream big, don't dream small,” he says. “I would not have swum in my second Olympics if it was not for me personally wanting to be a two-time Olympian and also wanting to elevate the love of the sport back home, not just in Micronesia but all of the Pacific.”

• Fe'ofa'aki Epenisa made history by becoming the first female boxer to represent Tonga at the Olympics. Although she lost to Vietnam’s Thi Linh Ha in the preliminary round of the women’s 60kg category, Fe'ofa'aki was proud of her achievement, telling the ABC: "I don't have to be the first person to win a medal for Tonga but hopefully it inspires someone to be like, 'Hey, I'm going to hop on the wagon and soon we'll have a whole team of women'." 

• Papua New Guinea’s Josh Tarere is another Olympic debutante, representing his country in the men’s 100m freestyle. The 24-year-old won his heat in a personal best time of 53.85 seconds, telling the Canberra Times: "If I can inspire one kid or maybe two back at home to swim, I'm happy with that."

• And on the evening of the Opening Ceremony, the Pacific community was shocked and saddened by the sudden death of Samoan boxing coach, Lionel Fatu Elika. Samoa's only boxer at the Paris Games, Ato Plodzicki-Faoagali, responded on social media, writing, “I first met coach Lionel when I was 15, trialling for Samoa’s Youth team. He was a kind and generous coach, not only with his time [and] material things, but also his knowledge. You will be sorely missed coach, your dream was to attend an Olympics with me and dad, now you’ve left too early - we haven’t had our first fight at the Olympics like we planned! Rest well old man, gonna miss you out there…!" Papua New Guinea's boxing coach, Peter Morrison, stepped in to assist Plodzicki-Faoagali, and while the young boxer put in a courageous effort, he was beaten in the first round and has since returned home to Samoa.

For ongoing updates on the Olympic achievements of the Pacific teams, follow ONOC on Facebook, or keep an eye out for Facebook updates from Paris 2024.